Bucket raising fawns

I feel after first month bucket would work great cause deer are already friendly. After that as long as you are rite there by the bucket they should remain used to you. I have a bucket with the nipples and hoses but can't get some of them to use the different kind of niple other than that i think it would work great for peole usin red cap. Most will stop eating when full without blowing up but i have two that i have to limit a little bit. If i was dong more than 11 at one time i would try a little harder to get them to use the different niple but as for now i gave up on the bucket. PS Rob, got one fawn bon on 5-11 who is drinking 50-60 oz per feeding not bloatin at all poops pellets like BB's everytime. He is a monster and doing great. So don't knock it till you try it.

WOW. Didn't know I was opening such a big can of worms. More like a barrel of pythons. No one can say Whitetail breeders aren't passionate. I suppose I should have jumped in earlier to guide the discussion around my question. For this I apololgize.



My original question of asking if anyone has any experience feeding fawns with buckets was answered quickly. I also found Dick Cain who does feed with buckets and loves it. Thanks ZZ for the reference. We do things almost the same as Dick. The goals are the same and the end result seems to be the same.



We weren't completely ignorant going into this project. I know some very successful bucket feeding operations in the sheep industry. Using their protocol as a model we started our own project with 6 head. 3 doe fawns and 3 buck fawns. The fawns are 3 weeks old today.



Now, I have learned that in the Whitetail industry, "CHANGE' is a 4 letter word. What we want to see is if there more than one way to skin a cat.



We use square buckets with 6 nipples mounted on 3 sides. The nipples are at the bottom of the bucket. I found that the nipples with tubes can be frustrating for a new fawn since the milk doesn't stay up in the tubes after feeding. It falls down to the level of the milk. The new fawn has to take several sucks of air to get milk. With the nipples on the bottom the milk is there upon demand. The 4th side faces the wall and is attached there via a bucket holder. Yup, that means the fawns get milk 24/7. I know this blows some of your minds, but hang with me here. I'll explain it all before this is over.



We are feeding ADM Kid milk replacer at less than $3.00/liquid gallon. (Again trying to skin that cat). One of the main reasons we picked ADM powder was the price, under $3.00 / liquid gallon. It also has everything we wanted in a fawn feed. So far it has worked very well. Next year we'll run another study comparing a different milk against what we now use. Trying to skin the cat.



Of course, when the fawn comes in we started it on a bottle with a pritchard teat. Then we switch it to the bucket with a pritchard teat on it. The transition is flawless. The pritchard teats on the bucket leak a little, so as soon as they are sucking well, we switch to a soft latex nipple. They're hooked by then.



The fawn pen is only about 6' X 8'. It could probably be even smaller. We bed with saw dust over a concrete floor. Keeping the ammonia smell down is a top priority. I would prefer doing this over our sandy soil with straw.



One of the questions we were asked is about the difference between wild fawns and tame lambs. It seems the babies don't really care what the nipple is hooked up to. The fawns emotional attachment is now to the bucket, not to the person holding the bottle. The fawns don't run to me as I enter the pen. Instead they run to the bucket and take a drink. We don't necessarily need deer to run up to us in the pens. Sure it makes us humans feel great to have the deer come up and go through your pockets looking for a treat, but our real goal is to produce deer that are easy to handle in the chute, the alley and during transportation. To keep the stress at a minimum. That doesn't mean the fawns never get handled. All of the fawns are handled from their nose to their toes each day as they're feeding. They are very calm.



One of the other questions we have is about scours. Lack of sanitary feed equipment is the main cause of scours in fawns. We handle this by cleaning the buckets every 3-4 days. Now some of you may have to do this every day in hotter climates, but we help the milking equipment stay bacteria free by freezing coffee cans of milk replacer and putting them in the bucket. I also add liquid milk replacer mixed with cool water to the bucket to give the fawns something to drink while the ice milk slowly melts. This helps us with several problems. It keeps bacteria down. It limits the amount of milk the fawn will drink at one time, (thus eliminating overeating). It forces the fawn to drink more often which mimics the interaction between the fawn and the doe. This actually causes the fawn to drink more milk overall per day. It also keeps scours to a minimum. I have not noticed a drop in consumption, in fact the opposite is happening.



Two factors limit the amount an animal will eat. One is called the "fill factor". They will eat until their stomach is full. Like me at Thanksgiving. One more bite and I swear I'll explode. Some of us also have stretched our stomachs more than others. The other factor is "Blood sugar level". Like me eating the corner piece of the wedding cake with ton of frosting on it. After about 3 pieces it's just too rich. I can't eat anymore. Sometimes these 2 factors get out of whack in animals. That's when we either vaccinate for over eating or regulate intake by limiting the amount of milk they get. Most of you do this by only feeding a certain amount. We're trying to do this with cold milk. So far it has worked well.



One other thing. Since the fawns are consuming more milk, their BM's are of sufficient size to drop off by it's self. We did stimulate the first week, but after that I saw the poop always on the ground. I got very little by stimulating at that time so I quite by week 2.



As far as efficiency goes, I spend an average of 15 minutes per day with these fawns. I check their milk first thing in the morning and add a can of frozen milk immediately. Then add enough cool liquid milk to last them through the day. I then add another can of frozen milk in the early afternoon and another before I leave at night. most of this time is waiting for the milk to thaw enough in the bucket so it'll fall out of the can. This takes all of 10 minutes throughout the day. I also clean up the wet spots in their pen daily.The other 5 minutes is spent handling and gaining their trust.



I don't figure it matters much what brand of milk you feed. That is not the point here. The project is to look at a way to more efficiently feed the fawns with the goals of calm deer, good health and saved labor being met.



From my perspective, this is a good way to feed fawns. Are we switching all of our fawn feeding to buckets at this time. Nope. We're going to look at this more later in the summer when we can have several buckets working at the same time.



So, should all of you switch from what you're doing to bucket feeding? Nope. Do what works for you. Do what makes you feel good about your results. Should you disregard what I've just explained to you as an alternative way to raise fawns? Nope. Just remember that there might be more than 1 way to skin that cat. - Thanks for your patience, Randy

Thank-You for taking the risk and sharing your new found knowledge.

Randy,



Thanks. I enjoy reading about new innovative ideas. This whole industry was built on innovative ideas. Without them the industry would go stagnant. This is just like me feeding my milk mixture compared to yours, figure out what works FOR YOU and share it with others so they can see if it works FOR THEM. Every ranch has a different group of deer, different pen design, different way they work their deer, and on & on. Thanks again.

I agree whole heartedly guy's! wish more people would post thier thoughts or ideas about stuff thats the only way we learn new ideas and techniques to help ALL of us out on our farms. because what WORKS FOR ONE DON'T ALWAYS WORK FOR ALL!!!!!!!! just my two cents worth.

Sorry I found it a little late

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Thanks Billiejo thats what I was talking about in an earlier post and I beleive it was H&M that asked for more info. She said she found it a little late, not for next year! Thanks again, keep up the good work. You get an atta boy! ZZ

thanks zz and billiejo