separating fawns before breeding

I think it would be more cost effective not darting the fawns seeing as you have to dart the does to put cidrs in just remove the does as you put them down

Aren't you able to open and close gates and over a couple of evenings time separate them?

I agree Roger, it takes me a couple days or even 3 days but thats what I do I trick them with treats and before you know it they are seperated

Hi, Have any of you noticed a better conception rate when the fawns are taken away from the doe before AI vs just leaving them in the pen with the mothers during AI? All or fawns are always in the main pen with the does until late winter or very early spring.

I separate ALL fawns from the mothers Sept. 1



We have plenty of gates and do it all by myself in one day. This year 2 pens 30 fawns



Best of Luck!

I too seperate fawns from their mothers in early Sept . I just run them in the handling facility a sort them in the building. I leave the fawns out as I sort through them and simply run them down into a different pen then the remaining does are left out together. Takes me about 20 minutes once I have them in the building if I do it by myself , less if I have a helper but prefer doing it alone . I would build a building long befor I'd ever dart to AI , but thats just my opinion as the cost of darting with AIing and testing is more than the building and chute.

I sometimes find it funny how we try to do things "better" than it is done successfully in the wild. Does in the wild here don't have any problem breeding even though their fawns are still hanging with them. If a doe is in proper condition it should not matter whether fawns are present or not. I would expect most farms that are AIing do have their does in good condition even before pulling fawns, if not might want to reassess feed regimine. With that all said, I know we use expensive semen and want to "maximize" the potential for successful breeding so if this gives an edge in favor of successful AIing then by all means pull fawns. I haven't been in the deer business nearly as long as many on here so take this for what it is worth. I do usually pull fawns from when I insert cide's (used to much earlier) and haven't notice a difference with my small sample size. I know cattle and deer are different, but we never wean calves to breed cattle, as a matter of fact a cow in good condition a calving will breed back in 40-60 days no problem with calf at side. Anyway, this is just my opinion so go with what has either worked for you, more experienced deer farms, or whomever you trust in. Good luck!

I always do mine sept first

Take mine out Sept. 1st or so. I open gate and separate. Sometimes takes a few days. Most of my fawns walked through about a week early this year and I closed the gate. I figured that was a good time to separate. LOL. They have done fine.

All of my deer , 20 , run together through the year and in the fall I open a gate a little in a locked position . This lets the does squeeze through and not anybody with antlers. I call it my deer strainer. To separate fawns from does I do the same with a smaller opening but you need to also limit the height of the opening as some old does will crawl under a very small space. Get them hungry and put some feed on the ground on the "other" side of the gate and give them time and they usually will make it through. Sometimes it helps to have some old tame doe to go through and they will follow and you can get her back easy later.