Oh well, here are some boring figures which won't prove anything. Last year I had to put in a new borehole to supply the house and the farm. I took the opportunity to add a water meter because I was interested to know how much water we use. The farm is 100 acres, average number of deer 200-300 depending on season. Only two of the paddocks have access to a stream, all the rest have troughs. Only 2 of us in the house but we do have a holiday apartment let out during summer. Checked the meter yesterday, total usage since June 20th 2010 is 150 cube. So 555 litres per day for everything. No idea how much of that is household, pressure washing tractor and deer handling system etc but I think it does show that the deer are not in danger of causing a drought in the South west just yet!