Got me thinking about costs of feed per deer....

Sandridge Whitetails · Jun 23, 2011

Uncle Harley - Just like it's been posted in these forums, it's about genetics, age, and nutrition. Genetics is leaps and bounds ahead of nutrition, and by saying this I'm not suggesting that you under nourish your genes. You must keep them healthy and nutritionally balanced, but no matter what you feed, no matter how old they are, if they haven't got the genes, they are only going to be ''so much''. Those branches you are cutting certainly can't hurt. I feed mine branches as well. Mulberry and elm are what they seem to really like or of course any fruit, apple, pear, etc. I prefer the mulberry and the elm cause it seems there are more leaves per branch. And as you know, they love them, hence why you referenced the branches as treats. Question: Do you you give her access to grain all day long, or only when ''she comes up'' to feed as you described. I asked that cause deer don't eat alot of grain all at once. It's incremental throughout the night and/or day

ANTLER VALLEY · Jun 24, 2011

I spend $295/adult deer per year on feed alone. It is very difficult to justify even paying that much for me, and my cost per ton is now around $470. Doing a little math, those of you paying more per ton are saying you are spending less per deer than I am-how many are limit feeding? I feed full feed. My goal is to have just a handful of feed left in the pan when I do chores. Does anyone grind their own feed? I wonder what the cost difference would be? Who has pellets, who has textured, does anyone do meal? Who buys textured in bulk? Does it flow out of the bin well? My fear was always having moldy textured feed if stored in a bin, but the pellets have too many fines when the deer are done sorting. It is worse when the humidity is high-almost like the pellet isn't holding together.

Uncle Harley · Jun 24, 2011

Sandridge Whitetails said:
Uncle Harley - Just like it's been posted in these forums, it's about genetics, age, and nutrition. Genetics is leaps and bounds ahead of nutrition, and by saying this I'm not suggesting that you under nourish your genes. You must keep them healthy and nutritionally balanced, but no matter what you feed, no matter how old they are, if they haven't got the genes, they are only going to be ''so much''. Those branches you are cutting certainly can't hurt. I feed mine branches as well. Mulberry and elm are what they seem to really like or of course any fruit, apple, pear, etc. I prefer the mulberry and the elm cause it seems there are more leaves per branch. And as you know, they love them, hence why you referenced the branches as treats. Question: Do you you give her access to grain all day long, or only when ''she comes up'' to feed as you described. I asked that cause deer don't eat alot of grain all at once. It's incremental throughout the night and/or day

even when I had her on full feed ( because I thought I had to) I would only see her come up in the morning and in the eve. So now I feed her ( by hand usually) as much as she wants in the morning and in the evening which is usually about a 1- 1.5 cups per feeding. This also helps keep he super tame. I can touch her anywhere, bear hug her put her in a head lock with my arm to administer meds orally injections by hand whole nine yards. ( I realize this isnt feasable for large farms but I need a deer I can put my hands on to feel muscles and anatomy to help me with my taxidermy)

Her little fawn Im bottle feeding I actually lift it's legs and rub them, that way when she gets older she will let me inspect and trim if need be her hooves

Got me thinking about costs of feed per deer....

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