Prime Movers sector report: Deer

By JANET TYSON

Near Westport, Paul Hateley is waiting for a wet day so his team can finish converting a covered sheep yard into a deer one. Close to the Kaingaroa Forest, Peter Carson's stock managers are taking hair follicle samples from fawns for a DNA confirmation of their parentage. At Te Anau, Ollie Dickson's people are feeding out grain and balage to keep their hinds gaining weight despite the summer drought.

That's just one item from the list. Each Landcorp farm manager is conducting an orchestra of activity by staff, casual workers and contractors, as they work towards the national target of 200,000 head of deer by 2007. In this season's mating - starting later this month - the aim is to lift herd numbers from 83,000 to 114,000.

Landcorp is 18 months into a five-year development plan in which the state-owned enterprise will become by far the biggest deer farmer in New Zealand. At the same time, it is developing more dairy units, and aims to maintain current sheep and beef production.

It is development on a huge scale and at impressive speed, but the planning process has been deliberate, says Landcorp general manager of farming Bernard Card. "We're doing it to get a better spread on the bottom line, ultimately aiming for 50:50 sheep and deer and dairy rather than the 70:30 at present."

Twenty-six of Landcorp's deer farms are involved in the expansion, which will always integrate some sheep and beef for pasture management.

The completed plan will see an increase of 300,000 stock units, largely on existing land. The target makes a huge call on resources but is exhilarating for those making it happen.

Landcorp is literally breaking new ground, while at the same time testing new boundaries in genetics, nutrition and animal management. Deer farming, pioneered in this country less than 30 years ago, is still on a huge learning curve. New Zealand has become the world's leading exporter of venison as it builds up a body of knowledge.

Landcorp's elite red deer herd, selected for fast growth and high liveweight (90kg at 12 months), originated from a mass screening of hinds in the 1980s. Now land development, a viable option as prices rise in other farming areas, makes it possible to fully exploit this potential.

At Cape Foulwind, Hateley can't wait to boost the land that he has been unable to lift above average productivity by traditional means. He will put 5000 hinds to the stag this year and sees the herd growing to at least 10,000. As he speaks, huge mechanical diggers are carving 1000 of his 4080ha to create four new dairy farms using the process known as flipping. His next priority is to seek resource consent to redevelop the deer blocks the same way.

In three weeks, flipping can transform a paddock from waterlogged pakihi to fine, free-draining soil already sprouting blades of pasture. The diggers lift, turn and mix the soil, loosening the hard iron pan and compacted mud. Elsewhere on the coast, dairy development is using the more expensive process of humping and hollowing. Both techniques radically reorganise the soil profile to sustain more productive growth.

"We're bringing Canterbury land to the West Coast," Hateley says. It is a radical change that, with new pasture species, can triple the number of stock each paddock can support. Because of the changes to drainage, each step needs resource consent, critically to monitor water flow and quality.

The whole Landcorp team sets the corporate targets for deer development. Individual farmers carry out the work in locally appropriate ways.

Potato-growing contributed to the development being done by Carson's team at Goudies Station, near Rotorua. A major grower leased his free-draining pumice soils. In a win-win situation the potato cultivation also clears out the persistent but poor-quality browntop grasses. As the potatoes move on, the land is planted with high-energy chicory and clover "superfeed" combinations designed by Landcorp agronomist Simon Moloney.

Deer nutrition is a particular challenge, Moloney says, because the animals are so selective about their forage. "As well, deer virtually shut down from May to the end of August, with minimal feed requirements.

"Once they switch on again and start grazing in spring, their feed needs soar. If you give them specialist feeds like lotus corniculatus, high in easily absorbed energy, they'll reward you with up to 700g a day in growth.

"Lactation is a key time. A well-fed lactating hind gets the fawns to a higher weaning weight [60kg at the end of March is the target]," Moloney says. Good growth rates set the platform for success at mating and lift the already high fawning percentages (the number surviving to be tagged).

At Goudies, Carson has jumped in at the deep end with deer, going from none to 1400 in two years. His team have their first crop of fawns and are just preparing for artificial insemination again. He hopes for approval to convert another 400ha for deer this year.

In a new breeding approach, Landcorp geneticist Geoff Nicoll has created a "dispersed nucleus" from the elite herd at Te Anau. Now individual farms like Goudies will set up and select for their own elite herd, which will accelerate genetic gain, tailored to local conditions.

The success of Carson's investment depends on deer becoming the major contributor to the farm income, earning out of proportion to their numbers.

An impressive level of support and expert advice is available for Landcorp's deer farmers, on the phone and often on the farm. There are also focus groups, meetings, and visits to the Invermay research centre. A genetics and nutrition team is responsible for the technical aspects of the breeding programme. But when it comes to stock handling, local knowledge rules.

"When it comes to animal behaviour, we want all our staff to be experts," says Card.

Much of the appeal of farming deer is their unique character. They flow across the paddocks as one multiheaded entity - "like whitebait", Hateley says. But in the shed they are strong-willed, independent-thinking animals. More than one farmer has had to relocate a gate so the deer will go through it. The newest yards at Cape Foulwind will be the "Smiley" design, a circular enclosure with a central crescent that encourages the deer to flow easily through the handling and weighing processes.

While many stockmen love working with deer, others find them intimidating. Thirty years of genetic selection hasn't wiped out all their strong wild instincts. Training in animal handling is an important part of the Landcorp Worksafe programme, while management to reduce stress is an important part of the FarmPride quality assurance system.

Successful deer farming manages the tension between the natural needs of the animal and the requirements of the farm, something most obvious at fawning. Hinds like to fawn in seclusion, away from other hinds as well as from humans, while the newborn fawns instinctively seek out safe hiding places where, having no scent in the first weeks, they are protected. There's no question of assisting with fawning, so it's easy to see why DNA confirmation of parentage is welcome.

Reduced stress on stock and their handlers is one reason Dickson is maintaining the 100ha paddocks at Mararoa Station near Te Anau. Within them, though he is introducing high-energy pastures, he is also maintaining as much of the natural vegetation and shelter as possible. A long-time deer farmer who came to Mararoa three years ago to oversee development which has brought in 8000 deer being run in equal proportions with sheep and beef, he says deer seem much more relaxed in larger spaces. Within practical limits, the trend is being followed on other deer blocks.

Elsewhere in the deer industry, eyebrows have been raised at Landcorp's decision to expand its herd so dramatically when venison prices have been dismal.

Card says while the prime motivation has been to balance their own product mix, there should be a positive spinoff in boosting the supply base for the venison industry, which at times struggles to meet demand or fill ongoing orders. "Without a consistent supply, everyone is vulnerable. We are producing more venison because we think there is a market for it, and we want to develop it for the long term."

Facts:

Value: 450,000 head processed for venison last year, earning $257 million

Farmed deer: 2.2 million

Landcorp: 379,380ha, 131 farms, 83,000 head of deer, $129.3 million gross operating revenue last year