Deer Vet
> Feeding
Feeding
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Copper
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Copper Deficiency: Diseases Factsheet |
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Nutrition Factsheet |
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Orphan Deer: Basics Factsheet |
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Orphan Deer: Feeding Factsheet |
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Rumen Overload Factsheet |
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Australia
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1 |
We often hear about changing deer to a new feed. It seems that to
completely change ruminants to a new diet |
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the process takes about 2 weeks in order for the stomach's flora to adjust.
I am curious to know the time taken for the old flora to die. Eg: if I
am feeding my deer oats every day at a rate of about 1kg/animal and I go
away for a period, is there a time limit where I should be careful about
re-introducing the prior feeding regime? |
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This is a question that causes angst among all ruminant farmers. In
the case of deer, if they have been correctly trained to grain eating (over
say a 2 - 3 week period) and have been on that diet for some months, then
there is very little problem removing the grain for up to one month and
re-introducing without the gradual build-up.
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2 |
Are there any health problems encountered in feeding day-old bread to deer? |
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The problem is not with how old the bread is, but with just how much is safe
in a single feed, for deer that are currently grazing on pasture.
Any ruminant animal (which includes cattle, sheep, deer and antelopes) can get
into trouble if it is offered an excessive amount of carbohydrate in one feed.
This most commonly occurs with grain so the condition is usually called grain
engorgement or acute ruminal impaction (rumen overload), but it can occur with
any source of fermentable carbohydrate - including bread, fruit, vegetables
etc. The animals need time to adjust their digestive processes to a new feed
that is high in carbohydrate, compared to pasture. This process of adjustment
takes at least 10-14 days, and to be safe the new feed should be gradually
introduced over that time.
I have seen deer lost trough the tipping of a trailer load of bread into a
paddock without any period of adjustment to this large feed of bread. An adult
red deer on pasture can safely be offered one loaf.
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3 |
Could feeding lucerne/alfalfa to newly pregnant deer cause them to abort the
foetus? If so, when is it safe to put |
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pregnant deer into a lucerne
paddock? We regularly feed our deer lucerne, mainly as hay lage or lucerne
silage but want to know if we can safely put them straight into the paddock. |
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I know of no reason why you should not use lucerne as you suggest. I guess
if the feed in question had high levels of oestrogens it could interfere with
conception, but I am not aware of this happening with deer.
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4 |
We have about 90 Jarvan Rusa whose fur is very patchy, and at the end of
their backs where the tail starts their |
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hair is scruffy and sticks up in the air. Some of the larger females
have large patches of black hair and the rest of their coats seem drab.
We have been feeding them corn and steamed flaked barley as well as the
natural grass (spear) with some legume in it. Is there a nutrient
problem as many of the deer came from drought affected areas where they
received no supplementary feeds apart from sorghum hay?
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This could well be some form of feed deficiency or imbalance in these tough
dry times. I would only be guessing beyond that. You may need to
think about an investigation of the situation, if it really does seem to be
bothering them. It may pass off with time anyway, if they are now on
better feed.
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5
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We have had a hard winter and a person I know has been feeding primarily
white bread to a small group of deer that come to their yard each night.
Is this causing more harm than good to the deer? |
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Small amounts of white bread cannot do any harm, but if a single deer were
to eat anything more than a few slices of bread there is always the
potential for life-threatening lacticacidosis. It is certainly not wise to put out large
amounts because you cannot control how much each deer might eat. You can kill
them with kindness if you are not aware of this risk. |
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6
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We have planted some leucaena trees as a part of our pasture regime for the
future. Is it necessary to have deer inoculated with the bacteria to digest this
plant, as we have read that cattle and sheep require this? |
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I am not aware of any need to inoculate deer as you suggest. I believe
that if they do choose to eat this plant that they will alter their gut
flora as a matter of course. |
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7 |
We have been feeding our deer since winter (no rain - no grass) a mixture of
sorghum grain, molasses and a |
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PHOS MIX supplement, as well as bales of green
Rhodes grass. However their coats are terrible: patchy, lighter and the hair
pulls out easily. But only some of them seem to be like this. Others are shiny
and darker. What are we doing wrong? |
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It is not really possible from this distance to tell you with any certainty
what is causing some of the deer to have coat problems, but I would strongly
suggest a proper nutritional evaluation, including copper. It is
unwise to put out such minerals unless you have defined a deficiency state
by testing.
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8 |
As a part of our winter-feeding, we presently give our Rusa molasses with
sorghum. We are considering changing |
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to one of those pre-mixed molasses based
supplements. They have urea in them from which the high protein levels are
obtained. Are deer able to consume urea in a supplement like this? Appreciate
your website. |
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No problems with urea in this form as long as you introduce it gradually
over a week or so.
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International
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| 1 |
Hi, I have some questions about feeding the Columbian Black-Tailed deer where I live on the California |
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coast. They are protected here and live all around my neighborhood. I may throw out an apple to them now and then, but I am generally wary about giving them anything at all because I don’t want to do anything that would make them sick. Not only that, but I have a neighbor who feeds them all kinds of fruits and vegetables. Not large amounts at any one time, but he gives them things like grapes, squash, lettuce, peas, strawberries, raspberries, pears…….it seems like all of these things should be fine, but I just want to make sure that there is nothing there that is bad for them! What’s more is that he has started throwing out unsalted peanuts, with the shell on. Now the deer almost ignore the apples, which used to be their favorite, and they prefer those peanuts more than anything else. They eat the whole peanut, shell and all. Could this be bad for them? Right now there are a lot of very bulging pregnant does, and I just want to know if any of the things I mentioned could be bad for the deer, including their babies. I do not want to be a busy body telling people what to do or not do, but if these things would not harm them I will just leave it alone.
One more question…..can it make a deer sick if it drinks water out of a bird bath?
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The question of whether feeding wild deer is a good thing or not comes up quite frequently, and there is probably a simple answer - NO in most cases. If there is good natural feed available then it is best not to feed them at all, for the following reasons. If they become habituated to being fed it can change the dynamics of the group, with high densities at the feeding site. Disease transmission becomes an issue, and if they lose some of their fear of humans they may become vulnerable to illegal hunters using firearms and bows.
If individual deer are offered a quantity of a high carb feedstuff (grain, bread, fruit etc) they can develop lacticacidosis and diie very quickly. To prevent this the deer must be brought slowly on to a high carb diet. Peanuts –shell only, if at all. Just be at your diplomatic best and suggest that wild deer will do best on a natural diet.
Bird bath – not much to fear there.
(1 March 2011)
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| 2 |
Do deer "lick" salt blocks? |
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Deer will certainly lick salt blocks, but the extent to which they do so
will depend on how much salt they get from other sources, and also on what
other attractants there may be in the block, eg. molasses. There is
also usually some individual variation within a group, with some animals
never using a block. |
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| 3 |
I am hoping you can help settle a disagreement with my buddy. My
friend and I both have fallow deer. I have 2, |
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he has 18. Here in Central New York it gets very cold and the water
freezes, so I take out 2 gallons of fresh water a day for my 2 deer.
My friend does not give any water to his animals, and says they can eat
snow. I say they cannot survive on snow and must have fresh water
twice a day. Who is correct? |
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I must say that the issue of deer eating snow does not come up too often in
Australia, but it is my belief that deer can certainly survive by eating
snow if that becomes necessary. However, it would always be wise to
offer them clean drinking water whenever this is possible. |
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4 |
Hello, I have a question - should I feed deer corn in the winter? |
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All ruminants can be seriously affected by lacticacidosis (grain
engorgement) if they have access to a sudden increase in the levels of
carbohydrate in their diet, and this includes deer. If you do feel
compelled to feed corn then start with very small amounts each day and
progressively increase the amount fed over 10-14 days. The deer should
also have access to roughage like alfalfa hay.
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