Lots & LOTS to learn. Looking for answers

I will give you what I can for input on your questions.



What brand of feed to recommend of what you listed?

None. Sorry, but I am not any help with this question since I don't believe in any of the commercial feeds. We use a personal mix instead.



Breeder pens and guarding against diseases?

In my opinion the best advice for this is control numbers of animals per pen and rotate pens to give the pens a "rest" every couple of years.

I myself have not been doing a very good job of this until now. We now have enough pens (for our size of herd) that we will be able to leave a couple of pens sit idle all summer. This will give us a chance to cut the pasture as short as possible and then till the soil. Then leave it sit and be heated and dried by the sun lite. This helps kill any junk in the soil. We can then reseed with what ever we desire for best browsing for our animals.

During the years when a pen is being used we do like to keep the greens cut so that as they get about 8"-10" high we cut them back to about 4"-6" high. (Some pens shorter) The cutting provides new growth every few days and allows the sun lite to maybe kill some parasites sitting on top of the soil.



As to midge flies?

I am from the north and must admit I don't know a lot about those buggers. My understanding is that many people spray with permectin (spelling) to control the fly numbers and hopefully reduce their herds exposure to EHD carrying flies.

As to how it affects fish? I again am not sure but I thought they use permectin around ponds as well. But others here should know those answers.



Good luck with your reading and learning.

we mow our pens every 10 days,helps with manure break down and provides fresh greens for the deer pasture rotation is good also if available,feed brand if i used off the shelf would be Record Rack the textured kind but just my thoughts keep asking ? and weigh all your options! Good Luck