Deer Production
The methods of production used for cattle and sheep in Ireland are also suitable and similar to what is required for deer. Deer breeding stock can be kept like a herd of suckler cows or a flock of ewes for producing young. These can then be sold off as weaners or they can be kept for finishing out of a house at a year old or finished off grass at 12 to 18months of age.
The main differences between cattle, sheep and deer are that deer have to be kept behind 6 to 7 feet high fences and the calving time is May June. Handling of deer also requires a specialised yard and crush.
Deer eat the same type of feed as cattle or sheep but the grassland management for deer can be more difficult due to late calving. The peak stocking rate occurs from June to September when grass growth tends to be gone past its best. Some deer farmers may consider putting down alternative swards to ryegrass; these could be high clover swards, clover and chicory, or clover and plantain. This should ensure good calf growth while they are suckling their mothers during the summer and autumn. If deciding to use a straightforward mix then it is best to opt for a late heading variety and more clover.
The breeding season or rut occurs between September and December therefore the breeding herd must be kept at grass till the end of November or early December. If careful management is not practised, this can lead to late grass growth in the spring. There is usually only one cut of silage taken but it is important to take an early cut (end of May) so that the regrowth is available for peak milking from mid to late June onwards.
Mineral and Vitamin supplementation on an all year round basis is essential for deer health. Copper in particular is a very important mineral for the long term health of a deer herd. Regular rotational application of lime to pastures is important but all paddocks should not be done in the one year, instead do a quarter of the paddocks very year. A high ph in all the paddocks could upset the uptake of minerals. Calves in there first winter are fed concentrates in the form of whole grain with added protein like soya- beans, linseed, or field-beans. The amount of concentrates fed depends on the predicted finishing date.
Venison
One of the strengths of deer farming in Ireland is that it is operating at world market prices at present and sustainability is not dependent on EU protectionist policy.
However, unlike beef or lamb there can be competition from wild shot venison, which can depress the price of farm venison during the game season of September to February. Food Safety laws are to some extent removing wild shot venison as a large scale threat to farm venison.
There is competition to Irish farm venison in Europe from imported farm venison from New Zealand.
The availability of farmed venison on a year round basis makes it suitable for retail outlets like supermarkets. Generally due to a lower volume of throughput venison is mostly sold through supermarkets as opposed to butcher shops. It is in boned out vacuum packed servings for one or two people. In Ireland at present it is available in Superquinn under the brand name of Oisνn/ Finnebrogue venison. It is now available in many more restaurants and even in fast food outlets as burgers and sausages. The high iron content of venison makes it a very valuable source of iron for women and children.
The majority of venison produced in Ireland is exported out of the country, at present, most of the red deer venison goes to the UK, and all of the fallow venison goes to Denmark. It is worth noting that both those countries are outside the Euro zone, which is an important factor in the prices that are available for venison.
Scale of enterprise
Like most other farming enterprises scale is important in deer farming, both at an individual farm level and from a national critical mass point of view.
One person could manage a 300 red breeding herd or 600 fallow herd with their followers on roughly 40 50 hectares of good quality farm land. The minimum size recommended to start off with is 10 hectares. People who are unsure of the suitability of deer for their situation could consider finishing only (possibly indoors or on a stand off pad) for a couple of years. This will allow them to build up experience without an initial large capital outlay for establishment.
On a national basis, one of the processing plants (FinnebrogueVenison, DownPatrick) has the capacity to process up to 40,000 red deer per year. At present they are only working at 25% to 50% of capacity.
The Irish fallow venison that is being exported to a single outlet in Denmark makeup the equivalent of just 10% of that plants throughput of venison. The Danish outlet is price sensitive and they do tend to source Irish deer when it is least available elsewhere. They have said that Irish farmed venison is the most consistent and the best.
Deer Production Systems
Two systems of deer production will be looked at. One is a breeding system under organic REPS production and the other is a conventional breeding and finishing system.
Organic Deer Production
Deer are not eligible for direct payments and as farmers have become accustomed to the concept of direct farm supports this system goes some way towards meeting this aspiration. The stocking levels of deer under the nitrates directive and organic production are not very different and this is the reason for suggesting organic.
Producing deer to the weaner stage and selling the calves at four months of age is the easiest system to operate in an organic system. The stocking rate required by Organic is more economically feasible and workable if dealing with the breeding herd and calves under six months only. To allow some leeway for difficult grass growing years 150/kgs of organic nitrogen should be considered the upper limit. This will give a stocking rate per hectare of: 6 red breeding deer, 11.5 fallow breeding deer or 15 sika breeding deer.
This system is based entirely on feeding grass and grass forages with hardly any concentrates.
Finishing deer as organic venison will involve feeding concentrates at some level. Economically, in an organic system this will require you either to have your own home grown organic grain or else have easy access to a reasonable source. There are also restrictions on the amount of concentrates allowed to be fed. This impacts on finishing age, will impact on selling dates and consequently on the average stocking rate. Currently there is no outlet that will give a higher price for organic versus conventional venison. The concentrate feeding factor and the related issues make a breeding finishing system probably only feasible if carried out in a large-scale operation with a large acreage and low stocking rates. Producing weaners only or finishing only can be carried out in smaller units.
| Potential returns from a breeding Unit under Organic REPS | |
|---|---|
| 20 hectare unit with a stocking rate of 120 red hinds and 2 stags | |
| Income | |
| 102 weaners at average weight of 50kgs at 2.50/ kg | 12,750 |
| 20 hectare organic @ 242/ha | 4,840 |
| Disadvantage area compensatory allowance 84.73/ha | 1,690 |
| Total income | 19,280 |
| Expenditure | |
| Annualised charges | 433 |
| Direct costs at 210/hectare | 4,200 |
| Total expenditure | 4,633 |
| Gross margin | 14,647 |
| Gross margin per hectare | 732 |
Establishment Costs
The establishment cost of the unit on owned land is in the order of 80,000 or 4000 per hectare. The farming system must be carried out in strict adherence to the Organic and nitrate rules or regulations at all times otherwise there will be deductions in the form of penalties the regulations could lead to a demand for the repayment of all moneys paid.
Conventional Breeding Finishing Production System
20 hectares carrying 150 red or 300 fallow breeding females
Progeny finishing of grass at 14 to 16 months of age
| Income | |
|---|---|
| 7400kgs carcass venison @ 4.00 per kilo | 29,600 |
| Expenditure | |
| Total variable costs (575/ha) | 11,000 |
| Gross margin | 18,600 |
| Gross margin per hectare | 930 |
Market outlets for deer
| Red deer | ||
|---|---|---|
| Finnebrogue Venison Company, 20 Finnebrogue Road, Downpatrick, Co. Down BT30 9AB Mark Brennan Supply Chain Development Manager: +44 28446 17525 |
Finns Meats A Venison Company Mitchelstown, Co. Cork Greg Potterton: +353 25 24138 |
B & F Meats, Pleberstown, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny Theresa: +353 56 7724268 |
| Fallow, Sika and Red deer | ||
| B & F Meats, Pleberstown, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny Theresa: +353 56 7724268 |
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Prime Venison
- Reds 3.90 to 4.60 per kilo cold carcass weight
- Fallow 3.50 to 4.00 per kilo cold carcass weight
Weaner Trade
Trade in weaned deer at 4 to 6 months of age is usually farm to farm by word of mouth or by adverts in the farming press. It can also be done via www.idfva.ie. The price is in the region of 2 to 2.50 per kilo liveweight collected in the yard.
Cull Trade
Culled deer generally go into the wild game market; prices in 2004 were in the region of 2.50 per kilo cold carcass weight.
Deer Farmers Representative Body
The deer farming representative body is now the Irish Deer Farmers & Venison Association (IDFVA) www.idfva.ie
Deer Health
The Department of Agriculture and Food are at present discussing the whole area of TB in deer. Some incidence of TB has shown up from time to time in the slaughtering plants and at post-mortems in the Vet labs. The Department has done work with some deer herds for research purposes, however there are no clear findings as of yet with regard to the effectiveness of a testing programme for deer.
Advice and Training
Further information on deer farming can be obtained by contacting: Marie Kelly.
