How to feed a fallow deer

Dear Karen,

Thanks for your email. You don’t mention where you are but we are guessing in New England somewhere? We were happy to hear that you have more than one animal. As you know fallow deer are herd animals, so we are always sorry to hear about a lone animal.

Our deer have pasture from April till November and are fed hay in the winter months.

We do not recommend bread as it can ferment in the stomach and you have no way of knowing how much yeast, sugar, etc. is contained in one loaf or another.

We feed our deer whole corn (about 2 cups each) once a week as well as carrots and apples. They will also eat barley and oats in the winter. We have heard of their liking pumpkin but we haven’t tried it. After eating corn the bucks become very energized and will push and shove each other, so it is best for the keeper to stay out of their way. They will also push and shove to get to the corn.

Apparently there is a special enzyme that the deer have to develop in order to digest corn completely. So introduce the corn gradually in small amounts once a week working up to the 2 cups. Also spread it out in small separate piles on the ground, so that each buck gets a small amount. They love corn and will eat every kernel

At first we did hand feed some of the bucks. However, now we try very hard not to hand feed and to put all food on the ground. If the deer associate your hands or body only with food, they can become aggressive when wanting food and go for your hands/body with their heads. This not fun when they have a full set of antlers and you do not. This is especially true of fallow deer bucks during mating season (fall/early winter) but it can happen at any time. Generally the bucks will not eat too much during the rut as their throats swell up, but this does not mean they are not hungry or potentially aggressive.

Please do not consider castrating the bucks if they are over 3 months of age as this causes them disfigurement and pain. Some people believe this is a good way to curb aggression. It is better to respect their wildness and learn how to work around it. Even if these animals came from a farm, they are not domesticated, in our opinion, and people have been injured by not understanding this, especially during the rut or when the animals are under stress when being moved.

We also supplement their diets with a block of blue salt and a mineral lick (18 protein). The mineral lick is always available to them but is used most as the antlers are growing from April to August. The licks are always placed near water. Each animal drinks about 1.5 litres of water per day.

Hope this helps. Please let us know if there is any other information you need. Most of initial information came from the book, Fallow Deer, written by Norma Chapman and her husband last updated in the 1990s. You may find a copy online.

Jane McDonald & Allan Park, Deer keepers

All Grown Up

Here's a photo of Spike taken today -- one of two young bucks who we guessed were about 2 years of age when they became part of the Fallow Deer Reserve herd. He has certainly grown up and is entering his prime. If you check out the photos of Spike from 2006 you will see how fallow deer bucks mature, how antlers and body change and grow. This photo also gives you a good idea of how the rut changes a buck's appearance. Everything bulks up!

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Rut behaviour

Dangling dilemma

Here's a good look at the dilemma that Bash is in these days. Usually we see a buck with velvet one day, then a few strands, then the velvet is gone. Bash must have started thrashing off his velvet too soon as it came off in pieces that have been dangling from his antler beams for several days. Hopefully he will be shred-free by the end of the weekend as he certainly is anything but comfortable.

Perfect resolution

Broken piece from left antler

KoKo

This photo (taken August 23, 2009) shows KoKo doing quite well, still with shreds of velvet at the base of his antlers. If you look closely, you'll see that his left antler is missing its tip. During the combined efforts of Allan and KoKo to escape from the fence, the "hook" must have been weakened. Yesterday morning, Allan found it in the place where KoKo likes to chill out. Here's a photo of that piece, too.

We had been considering ways to try to cut off the "hook" so that KoKo couldn't hook himself on to anything, but once again, nature takes care.

Close Encounter

Yesterday afternoon, Allan and I decided to take a walk inside the enclosure for no particular reason (or so we thought).

In the morning, Allan had noticed that Murph had lost most of his velvet and we wondered if there were others in the same state. From observation in the years past, all the bucks seem to lose their velvet within one week towards the end of August.

We came upon KoKo behaving oddly near the fence in the east marsh area and quickly realized that one of his oddly curved spellers (points) of his antler was caught on the fence. He was twisting and bucking in all directions and could not get loose. The curved point had effectively become a hook.

The possibility that he might break his neck occurred to both of us. A buck at the Scotland Road farm had been found dead after having caught his antler in fencing, but we had never seen our bucks engage with the fencing at the Florida site other than to stick their noses through for apples when visitors come.

Allan came to KoKo's rescue by quickly getting outside the fence, waiting for a moment when KoKo stopped fighting/twisting, and then pulling the antler "hook" through the fence, then down, then pushing it away. KoKo ran off and we left him to calm down. The area near the fence where he was caught was beaten down from grass to mud. It was obvious that KoKo had been attached to the fence for some time.

This morning Allan saw the buck being somewhat shy and standoffish, but alive and well.

Lessons for KoKo: Adapt to the shape of this year's antlers and avoid any close encounters with the fence.

Lessons for Deer keepers: During the period when the bucks shed velvet from their antlers, increase number of daily fence-line inspections. Always take gloves and wire cutters. Be aware of and respond to subtle messages, quietly transmitted. They may have a purpose.