A few FNG questions

Hi everyone this is my first thread.... but i have been lookin in to the whitetail business for about 6 months now and i plan on starting one up bout middle of next year. i live in texas and plan on starting out with at least 6 acres and I had a few questions and wanted to see if yall could help me out.



1. whats the monthly operating cost?

2. is 6 acers enough to start out with?

3. what about barn design, i have tried lookin at pics to try and figure out a design but i dont know what all i need in it?

4. do i need a barn?

5. my pins lay out, and how big does the pins need to be?



thanks for yalls input, and not just on mine i have got a LOT of info from other peoples threads.... thanks

How many deer do want to start with? How many do you to grow to? Are going to produce stockers, breeders or both?

Go & visit deer farms this a good way to get started - look & look & look some more before you start anything. Good Luck it is a fun & exciting business & but it is also very challenging at times.

i figure i will start out with bout 3 or 4 bred does and a breeder buck and i want to produce stockers at first and maybe eventualy move up to breeders.

In that case there's no need to worry about a barn right now. Just leave room in your pen design to add one down the road if you need to. 6 acres is plenty to do what you want to do. I would have as many pens as you can to allow for more seperating options down the road. The size of the pens will be up to you. With 6 acres, you'll want to optimize as much space as possible and you can certainly accomplish that. I've seen pens from 80' x 150' up to a full acre, they'll all work. Like mentioned above, you want to visit as many farms as you can and ask lots of questions. There's no manual for this business, so you'll rely a lot on your contacts in the business for help getting started.



There is a ton of knowledge of this site and if you use the search function to look up topics you should find a lot of what you're looking for. If you can't find an answer please don't hesitate to ask.

thanks for your help

I live in Mauriceville, Texas e-mail me a phone number and we can talk or you can come buy and see the place. My email is [email protected].

I am new to this forum I really like what I see with everyone being so willing to share information. I am looking at buying an existing deer farm that was very lucrative until CWD hit WI. At that time the ranches that were being sold to stopped purchasing and the farmer slowed down his production. How much of a problem is this now with other states not letting deer raised on a farm to be transported into the state? I have looked and found some information nothing positive, unfortunately.

Hi Debi, it depends where in Wisconsin you are located. Some states do not allow importation of deer at all from a stated that has CWD. Some allow it but not if you are within a certain number of miles of a confirmed positive. Some just need your herd to be monitored for 5+ years

I am directly in the area Southeastern WI. Where is a good source to find this information. The deer farm I am considering buying is mainly red deer but two whitetails are on the property. They have not sold deer for 8 years.

I don't know all the specifics and know nothing at all about the red deer industry so can't help you there. I know it helps sometimes if the farm is double fenced. I also know that states are a quite a bit more restrictive if your farm is located near a positive CWD case. My advice would be if you are looking at being in the whitetail end of it then make some calls to some of the states you would be trying to sell animals to and see if they would allow deer from your farm. If your options for selling are very few you might want to reconsider your plan of buying. I hate to deter new prospective farmers in any way but I would definitely try to find out some of that info before you buy. Hope that helps.



Jarrod.