Roe farming

[willie_gunn]

Sometimes wonder why I bother, I only asked if anybody had heard of Roe farming, now im getting lectured on a roe deers ability to jump a gate...

Lectured??

Been around deer long enough to know what im looking at..

 

[8x57]

I'm really still very curious as to where any initial start up breeding stock would come from - possibly caught up deer such as was done in New Zealand with reds to start some deer farms?

Surely if this was the intention then special licences would have to be sought from Natural England/Scottish Natural Heritage/Natural Resources Wales or whatever relevant body. I'm just wondering how willing these bodies would be to facilitate such a venture by granting said licences?

 

[McKenzie]

If it's an open topped five-bar gate they are as likely to go under or through it as leap over the top. I remember watching a couple of roe in a field in Dumfries & Galloway and the colleague I was with told me to watch them as they approached the gate. Expecting them to leap over the top I was staggered when they limbo'd underneath the gate.

I've seen muntjac leap a 6' stock fence before, and this from a standing start. The twin wires on top had caught a roe buck before, but the muntjac cleared it with ease.

View attachment 58613

I passed the deer this morning on the way to a stalking outing & saw them. There is indeed a five-bar gate that it would be hard to imagine would contain them & yes, they looked happy & stress-free, with wild deer within a few hundred yards. I had a careful look for someone to ask about the venture but no-one was to be seen; next time.

I don't really see this as being an attempt at farming; they are in a small enclosure (more of a big run), perhaps half an acre. It rather has the feel of pet roe deer, if such a thing is possible. I wonder if perhaps he reared a couple of abandoned fawns & perhaps the gate is to allow them to make their own way out when ready?

 

[sharkey]

I'm really still very curious as to where any initial start up breeding stock would come from - possibly caught up deer such as was done in New Zealand with reds to start some deer farms?

Surely if this was the intention then special licences would have to be sought from Natural England/Scottish Natural Heritage/Natural Resources Wales or whatever relevant body. I'm just wondering how willing these bodies would be to facilitate such a venture by granting said licences?

Why would it be any different to red deer?

Sharkey

 

[8x57]

Why would it be any different to red deer?

Sharkey

I didn't suggest that they are any different to red deer.

 

[nell]

Lectured??

Haha

 

[nell]

I passed the deer this morning on the way to a stalking outing & saw them. There is indeed a five-bar gate that it would be hard to imagine would contain them & yes, they looked happy & stress-free, with wild deer within a few hundred yards. I had a careful look for someone to ask about the venture but no-one was to be seen; next time.

I don't really see this as being an attempt at farming; they are in a small enclosure (more of a big run), perhaps half an acre. It rather has the feel of pet roe deer, if such a thing is possible. I wonder if perhaps he reared a couple of abandoned fawns & perhaps the gate is to allow them to make their own way out when ready?

These deer have nothing to do with the original post regarding farming roe, I just used them as an example of roe being stress free in a pen, which many seem to think impossible...

 

[slider]

the Scottish Venison Partnership are having a big push to increase deer farming - but with Reds, not Roe.

Demand for venison has exploded in recent years yet the Scottish wild cull is pretty static at around 100,000. Venison from farmed deer is a tiny amount. So, we import massive amounts - mainly farmed deer from eastern Europe and NZ.

And yes, harvesting velvet is illegal in the UK (but is a valuable income for NZ deer farmers.

 

[sauer]

Couple that with red tape / regulations & the amount of cash needed before you even start & it's no wonder folks are put off trying .

Paul

 

[sharkey]

chinese medicine, same with red deer tails, etc etc. You should see the boxes and boxes of velvet stag antlers I have seen at game dealers getting cut up for China- all from wild stags shot out of season under fc licenses, and I mean hundreds of them at a time often 8 to 14 pointers..its no wonder reds are thin on the ground in Scotland these days

If you blokes bring in a stag with antlers around 50 day growth into the wholesaler do you receive the $160 per kg for it? The wholesaler would be getting more on this & then the exporter much more again.

I never doubted that this would be happening because the money is so good, just curious about how it gets shared.

Sharkey

Edit to add
Sika velvet is worth much more than red deer & fallow has very little value. If a red deer antlers has developed to a 12 or 14 point head this would also be of little value. Basically the velvet would have to be cut just as the bulb is forming for the trey (about 50 days since casting), wait any longer & there is too much calcium & phosphorous deposited & the antler is down graded.

 

[palmer_mike]

Pretty sure they would be out of season at 50 days growth?

 

[slider]

chinese medicine, same with red deer tails, etc etc. You should see the boxes and boxes of velvet stag antlers I have seen at game dealers getting cut up for China- all from wild stags shot out of season under fc licenses, and I mean hundreds of them at a time often 8 to 14 pointers..its no wonder reds are thin on the ground in Scotland these days

your kidding right??? Deer numbers have exploded in Scotland (and the rest of the UK) in recent years while cull numbers have remained static at about 100,000 per year

In 2005 the Deer Commission for Scotland/ Mammal Tracing Partnership estimated the Scottish deer population to be around 667,000 (350,000 Red, 300,000 Roe, 9,000 Sika and 8,000 Fallow).1
In 2011 Scottish Natural Heritage estimated the Scottish deer population to be around 777,000 (360,000-400,000 Red, 200,000-350,000 Roe, 25,000 Sika, and 2,000 Fallow).2


1Joint Agency Strategic Environmental Assessment, Draft Strategy for Wild Deer in Scotland, Oct 2007, Appendix 3, Environmental Baseline Information 2.3
2 Scottish Parliament, Written Answer, Oct 2013.