Joined Feb 2011
395 Posts | 0+
Pierre SD
ND, I also farm and I go thru the pens first thing in the morning and mark or chip any new ones so I know who they are out of and then when I get home that evening, I go thru em again and then sometimes if they are really popping out I'll go thru em at midnight or so, I'm a night owl anyways. I usually tag and vaccinate in the evening, thats when mine are the calmest. You would think deer would be more spooky at night but they are SOOO much calmer after dark. I usually have about 12-15 does per pen and it usually happens that I will have about a doe have fawns every day per pen and maybe 2 every other day if they are buck bred, AI bred does will be alot closer together. You just have to be able to read your deer and they will tell you when they are close and you need to get em tagged or chipped soon there after in case another doe fawns also, the doe will hide em and sometimes act like shes not them mother at all and if you dont have em marked it's easy to loose track of who is out of what doe which is important for your records so you know your deers pedigrees. If I have alot going on, I make sure I put a microchip in the ones and mark it down in my book so I can tag it later and know who its out of. Putting a chip in takes about 10 seconds, then when you get time you can go back and tag em if you have something(farming stuff) that you really need to get done. Don't wait more then a couple days though unless your a track star, they are tough to catch after about 3 days old and a pain to hold still while you tag and vaccinate em!