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How many doe's to keep

R&J Whitetails

R&J Whitetails

Joined Jan 2013
286 Posts | 0+
Cando, ND
How many whitetail does do u want too keep in a smaller operation?

Is there a market for does? I'm going to raise them to sell for preserves and was wondering how many doe's I should keep. I'm mainly talking about the new born fawns. Hope this isn't a dumb question I just don't want to be feeding them if I can just sell them
 
Depends on genetics which will determine how easy it will be to sell your Doe fawns. Also how many does you keep just depends on how much pen space and ect you have.
 
The more Does you keep the Higher the Feed cost.......But The more Does you keep the more Bucks you can get to help with a return...................But the more Does you keep the more Doe Fawns you can get that you then have to try and move..............But.......



Well I think you see how the cycle works!! LOl
 
Whitetail Sanctuary said:
The more Does you keep the Higher the Feed cost.......But The more Does you keep the more Bucks you can get to help with a return...................But the more Does you keep the more Doe Fawns you can get that you then have to try and move..............But.......



Well I think you see how the cycle works!! LOl
Click to expand...



Lol yea it like a never ending cycle. Is it hard to sell them? Depends on genetics like the other guy said I suppose
 
Oh yah the Genetics...................The more you spend on "hype" vs "production" ................Means the MORE you need back in price from those Genetics.

In Todays Market...............Genetics are ALOT more affordable to create early matureing genetics that will pay the bills.................And Feed bills are a Reality! Lol
 
[quote name='Whitetail Sanctuary']Oh yah the Genetics...................The more you spend on "hype" vs "production" ................Means the MORE you need back in price from those Genetics.

In Todays Market...............Genetics are ALOT more affordable to create early matureing genetics that will pay the bills.................And Feed bills are a Reality! Lol[/



Should a guy be able to spend $5000 on one bred doe and have a good deer? I say one deer cus I got to start small so I was thinking I'd by 2 bred doe's
 
ndwhitetails said:
[quote name='Whitetail Sanctuary']Oh yah the Genetics...................The more you spend on "hype" vs "production" ................Means the MORE you need back in price from those Genetics.

In Todays Market...............Genetics are ALOT more affordable to create early matureing genetics that will pay the bills.................And Feed bills are a Reality! Lol[/



Should a guy be able to spend $5000 on one bred doe and have a good deer? I say one deer cus I got to start small so I was thinking I'd by 2 bred doe's
Click to expand...

Oh yeah you can spend five thousand today and have two awesome does.....heck I am giving away does with better genetics than does I paid 8k for years back.......now it is a buyers market without a doubt.......problem is we don't know where the industry is headed.....so this being said ....you can get the deer cheaper than ever before...but what will they be worth in a few years is the question........I hope a lot!
 
Where I really need help in is showing profit and expense. I made a bracket up for the wife last night to show expense for the first 3yrs if I started with 1 bred doe and having twins all the way down the line for 3yrs and at the end of 3yrs it was like $16,000 in expense for 16 deer @$500 a deer per yr. MINIMUM. she didn't like that so much. Now I need to figure out how to show profit. Who can help me there
 
In my opinion, the best way to start out would be to use sexed semen and get all bucks for a few years. Buy into good genetics/production so that at age 2-3 all bucks can be sold as shooters. Once you get through 2 or 3 years, you can pick and choose your breeding weather it be the flavor of the week or breeding with your own stock. It seems easier to sell shooter bucks than does. The first years are the toughest, budget for it. We are most likely going to *** semen off a buck or two from our farm and breed with male semen this fall with a few exceptions. We will have about 30 does to breed with another 15 or so doe fawns on the ground. Just my thoughts if I were to start over. I originally thought grow the herd quickly.
 
Show Me Racks said:
In my opinion, the best way to start out would be to use sexed semen and get all bucks for a few years. Buy into good genetics/production so that at age 2-3 all bucks can be sold as shooters. Once you get through 2 or 3 years, you can pick and choose your breeding weather it be the flavor of the week or breeding with your own stock. It seems easier to sell shooter bucks than does. The first years are the toughest, budget for it. We are most likely going to *** semen off a buck or two from our farm and breed with male semen this fall with a few exceptions. We will have about 30 does to breed with another 15 or so doe fawns on the ground. Just my thoughts if I were to start over. I originally thought grow the herd quickly.
Click to expand...



I am going.to be growing for shooters and sell at 3. I'm going for 200" at 2yrs of age. The guy I'd get them from is groing 200+ at 2 and averageing 215" so if I can get a see linked doe I should be sitting good?
 
That is great if you can average 215" at 2. I do not know who you are talking to, but speak to many different farms and visit any you can. Do your homework, ask the forums what they think about the pedigrees of the deer you are buying, and make sure any deer you purchase are DNA'd. We are all glad to help. No question is dumb.
 
Show Me Racks said:
That is great if you can average 215" at 2. I do not know who you are talking to, but speak to many different farms and visit any you can. Do your homework, ask the forums what they think about the pedigrees of the deer you are buying, and make sure any deer you purchase are DNA'd. We are all glad to help. No question is dumb.
Click to expand...



The guy I'm talking about is the president on the North Dakota deer foundation. I am going to his place as soon as I'm done with springs work. I'm going to another farm this Thursday and he supplies this guy with some of his deer also.
 
A two doe breeding herd will become quite a few deer in a short time, so your available space/number of pens will dictate what you can keep. If you want to estimate your income, figure out what stockers in different size ranges are bringing, figure out how many you are expecting to raise, then estimate about 2/3-3/4 of that figure actually coming to fruition (death loss/ depressed prices, etc.) If your bucks are consistently over 200 at 2, I would sell them at 2 if the prices are fair. Don't bank on high dollar doe sales. I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but unless you spend mega-money getting started or hit the lottery genetics-wise, you won't be getting big dollars for does.

Is your expense estimate including your startup fence/materials cost, and if so, over how many years did you divide the cost? $16,000 a year will take care of quite a few deer...
 
Jeff23 said:
A two doe breeding herd will become quite a few deer in a short time, so your available space/number of pens will dictate what you can keep. If you want to estimate your income, figure out what stockers in different size ranges are bringing, figure out how many you are expecting to raise, then estimate about 2/3-3/4 of that figure actually coming to fruition (death loss/ depressed prices, etc.) If your bucks are consistently over 200 at 2, I would sell them at 2 if the prices are fair. Don't bank on high dollar doe sales. I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer, but unless you spend mega-money getting started or hit the lottery genetics-wise, you won't be getting big dollars for does.

Is your expense estimate including your startup fence/materials cost, and if so, over how many years did you divide the cost? $16,000 a year will take care of quite a few deer...
Click to expand...

The $16,000 didn't include fence or anything just feed for the 1st 3yrs.
 
ndwhitetails said:
So would or do you breed all of your doe's then?
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Don't make much sense business wise to feed the does and NOT breed the does, Seem to be a bit of a financial burden for sure?
 
Whitetail Sanctuary said:
Don't make much sense business wise to feed the does and NOT breed the does, Seem to be a bit of a financial burden for sure?
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Rrrright. I just wonder how many I should keep for my set up. MAyb its to early to tell
 
I'm sorry I misunderstood earlier- you were saying $16,000 for three years and I thought you meant $16k per year. Ooops.

I will say this, we have an average density of just under 4 deer per acre. We have enough pens to rotate deer around to let pens sit empty at times and for ease of mowing, etc. I don't know what your pens will be like (wooded/open/wet/rocky, etc), but we don't intend to be over 6 deer per acre in our setup. As you have already figured out, a couple does can become a lot of deer in a couple years. If you are fencing about 8 acres, I would suggest a 4 doe breeding herd might be a realistic starting point. (That would only allow for a couple young replacement does at a time.)
 
Jeff23 said:
I'm sorry I misunderstood earlier- you were saying $16,000 for three years and I thought you meant $16k per year. Ooops.

I will say this, we have an average density of just under 4 deer per acre. We have enough pens to rotate deer around to let pens sit empty at times and for ease of mowing, etc. I don't know what your pens will be like (wooded/open/wet/rocky, etc), but we don't intend to be over 6 deer per acre in our setup. As you have already figured out, a couple does can become a lot of deer in a couple years. If you are fencing about 8 acres, I would suggest a 4 doe breeding herd might be a realistic starting point. (That would only allow for a couple young replacement does at a time.)
Click to expand...



You can take a look in my other thread and see what I had planed for a setup. There is a picture. I think I am going to start with one bred doe and have it bred late in the season and she should drop a buck. Mayb ill get bred doe's not sure yet
 

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