We just started deer farming and i'm interested in experienced farmers opinions on the pros and cons of bottle feeding compared to leaving them with their mothers. All opinions will be appreciated.
Bottle Feeding versus nursing with does
- Thread starter alabowhunter
- Start date
pros....the deer are easier to deal with as are tame and more enjoyable to be around.....they also don't crash the fence everytime someone comes around.....i believe in the long run it is a lot less stress for the bottle fed deer.........cons.....you can't compete with mother nature....seems the fawns left on the mothers always grow bigger ...but i think the bottle feds catch up in time.....
The only con that I can think of is that it is a lot of time and work to bottle feed, but the benefits far outway the work it takes. the deer are much calmer and easier to handle. If you need some help getting started or you have any other questions call me or drop me an email. 334-346-2255 Ask for Troy. I'm planning on bottle feeding around 25 this summer.
DD i agree 100%. They take up all your summer time but it is worth it. It is so much fun being that close to part of nature. It all pays off. If there is anything you need help with email me at [email protected]. I can send you pictures of my fawning facility. Good Luck!
Joined Apr 2009
1,428 Posts | 0+
Northeast Wisconsin
Cons - they are more difficult to run through a handling system. Instead of moving away from you they turn around and come toward you.
We did some bottle feeding initially, but now don't do any unless we absolutely must. Even then we will bottle feed for a short time and try to get them back in a pen with new mom. Our deer are not wild fence crashers - even though they aren't bottle fed. You can have calm deer without bottle feeding. Also, for someone just starting out I wouldn't recommend bottle feeding - there is more to it than just feeding them a bottle. Seems like sooner or later they will get the runs or something else, and you have to know what to do or you will lose them quickly.
Just our opinion.
We did some bottle feeding initially, but now don't do any unless we absolutely must. Even then we will bottle feed for a short time and try to get them back in a pen with new mom. Our deer are not wild fence crashers - even though they aren't bottle fed. You can have calm deer without bottle feeding. Also, for someone just starting out I wouldn't recommend bottle feeding - there is more to it than just feeding them a bottle. Seems like sooner or later they will get the runs or something else, and you have to know what to do or you will lose them quickly.
Just our opinion.
Another con to bottle feeding is if a tame buck ever gets out in the rut he has no fear of man and could hurt someone. a pro is if you don;t have a shoot they are slot easier to handle and put down.It all depends on what you want to do i guess. Myself i like them bottle fed cause you can interact with them alot more however if you spend lots of time in your pens they will calm down.
Joined Apr 2009
2,617 Posts | 0+
Edgar, WI
If you deal in high numbers of deer like Wild Rivers then heck no you don't want bottle fed. A 1000+ deer would take weeks to run through the system one time.
But if you have lower numbers and want to actually enjoy your deer then bottle fed in my opinion is the only way to go.
Besides being tame and more enjoyable you can also inspect them easier each day watching for any health issues that may pop up.
However I agree with Virgil that a bottle fed buck should only be done when there just seems to be no other choice.
But if you have lower numbers and want to actually enjoy your deer then bottle fed in my opinion is the only way to go.
Besides being tame and more enjoyable you can also inspect them easier each day watching for any health issues that may pop up.
However I agree with Virgil that a bottle fed buck should only be done when there just seems to be no other choice.
Most of the pros I know have been mentioned. One other is that by bottle raising fawns you learn a lot about deer behavior, individual and as a group, that can be applied to the adult deer. By knowing the different personalities of the deer, when they become adults, herd checks go smoother.
Cons of them being harder to work are usually solved by leading them where you want them to go rather than pushing them as you would do pen raised deer. There is always danger with bucks in rut. With bottle raised bucks some folks seem to think they are safer because their more tame. Negative! They are sooo... much more dangerous! Know this and move around them accordingly.
Cons of them being harder to work are usually solved by leading them where you want them to go rather than pushing them as you would do pen raised deer. There is always danger with bucks in rut. With bottle raised bucks some folks seem to think they are safer because their more tame. Negative! They are sooo... much more dangerous! Know this and move around them accordingly.
Wild Rivers Whitetails said:
I agree-tame deer are tough getting into a handling facility-when I try pushing mine they either laugh or think it is playtime. And if by chance you haven't heard yet, absolutely do NOT raise a buck on a bottle. I've only ever had one, glad he is gone now. Copped a real attitude with me a time or two.
I feel having a mix is good.......bottle raise your doe and let your bucks be raised by mom...I may do a few bucks from time to time. Having a tame deer in with deer that were not bottle raised helps to tame them down.....I had a buck that was a fence crasher the second you stepped one foot in the pen.......i put him in with a couple bottle raised buck yearlings and now he will come up to you to about 30 feet and never crashes the fence.......so a mix is good i think! just an opinion.......there are a lot of good points made!!!!
Joined Apr 2009
1,428 Posts | 0+
Northeast Wisconsin
I totally understand bottle feeding if you want to be able to walk up and pet your deer or something similar. If you have just a few that you want to be able to approach bottle feeding will get you what you want. We have bottle fed deer over the years and those are the ones that were more or less pets. Just don't want people to think you need to do it to have calm deer - not necessarily so.
Everybody has a different idea about raising deer and has to do what works for them.
Our deer will come close to the truck if we throw peanuts to them - close enough that we can get a good look at them to check if anything is wrong. Now we can't put our hands on them, but if one looks funky enough then we'll proceed to dart them. Gary has sort of a routine where he goes around the breeding farm a few pens each day or evening to keep a check on everyone. Funny how they'll come up to a truck but not a person. Oh well, one of the interesting aspects of raising deer.
Everybody has a different idea about raising deer and has to do what works for them.
Our deer will come close to the truck if we throw peanuts to them - close enough that we can get a good look at them to check if anything is wrong. Now we can't put our hands on them, but if one looks funky enough then we'll proceed to dart them. Gary has sort of a routine where he goes around the breeding farm a few pens each day or evening to keep a check on everyone. Funny how they'll come up to a truck but not a person. Oh well, one of the interesting aspects of raising deer.
Bottle feeding takes up your summer, but for us a small farm we bottle feed the does. We have them in the house for the first couple of weeks then in the garage for a couple of weeks then in a pen till they ween. My kids (9, 7, 15 months helper this year) love to be around them help with the cores. When the does are older my children are out in the pen playing with them combing out their winter hair, in the winter they go sledding in the pen and the deer run up and down the hill with them. When people come around (seems every other day) I don't want the deer to run to the other side of the pen I want them to run up to us, they feed them treats, pet them, it is more injoyable for us that way.
I have not bottle feed any bucks, but most will eat hay, branches out of my and the ones that don't are only 10 feet behind them.
It is all what you want this is why we bottle feed.
It may be a little tougher on the kids to sell them, but you can't keep them all.
I have not bottle feed any bucks, but most will eat hay, branches out of my and the ones that don't are only 10 feet behind them.
It is all what you want this is why we bottle feed.
It may be a little tougher on the kids to sell them, but you can't keep them all.
Most of us would agree that some bottlefeds will appear to be a non-bottlefed deer when you put them into a larger pen due to their personalities and some deer appear bottlefed when they're not. I had one buck that ate apples out of my hand who was not bottlefed at all but was out of the tamest doe we ever had.
If your does are very tame, the majority of your bucks "shouldn't" be fence crashers and actually come up close for daily treats. If you have to bottlefeed a buck fawn, don't pet the top of his head and, instead, scratch under his chin.
If your does are very tame, the majority of your bucks "shouldn't" be fence crashers and actually come up close for daily treats. If you have to bottlefeed a buck fawn, don't pet the top of his head and, instead, scratch under his chin.
The thing with bottle feeding is how much time you actually spend with the fawns......If you just go in and feed the fawns as quickly as possible and get out they will not be that tame.....however, if you spend time with them and pet them and play around in there often they will be very tame......it's all in how much time you spend with them.....there are some that just won't tame down like others but for the most part it is the time you spend with them when they are young. Also, if you turn them in the pen and don't take them treats often or visit them often they will wild back up quick in a hurry.
I bottle fed two doe fawns last year in the same pen. One was from better genetics so naturally I offered more time to her but her demeanor was much different. Today, the better gened doe is about an eight footer and the other is a scratch my back kinda girl! Time spent with them helps but it is not the only contributing factor.
Call it ironic but my tamest doe came from a fence crasher and my tamest mother had my wildest doe. Go figure!
Thanks Virgil on the head rubbing thing. I did not know about that.
Call it ironic but my tamest doe came from a fence crasher and my tamest mother had my wildest doe. Go figure!
Thanks Virgil on the head rubbing thing. I did not know about that.