Who has a shrinking herd?

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They have to come from accredted herd and be able to come to IN. I also have stalls I can keep them separate tills feel there good enough to go out to the pens.
 
I have done the math; I think I can save $10,000 per year if I cut my herd to 25, which happen to be the best-producing deer I've ever had. I'm guessing that if everyone is doing their job in increasing the quality of their herds, they're in the same boat. Looking forward to the savings, bigger antlers, less choring and trouble...just still haven't decided what to do with my empty pens. Maybe a daycare???? Just put in a tape of Dora on a TV and have a hot chocolate dispenser with Dixie cups! Maybe a toilet paper dispenser, I don't know...
 
I dont know how you can supply feed and only charge 50.00/month, assuming a deer eats 4lbs a day x 30 days= 120lbs...... Feed is approx 600.00 ton to feed one deer is 36.00 month, not counting hay etc.... You only make max 14.00 per head per month...you must really love taking care of deer cause you aint makin no money. I was just curios about this myself that is why i commented
 
Talked to a few guys who suggested goats, buy some weaned kids in the spring, sell them off in the fall. I've been told they are Blue Tongue carriers. How serious is the risk, what if they have an empty pen or alley between them? Goat eat everything, so that would keep my unused pens clean until I decide to grow more deer in the future or sell, whatever.
 
Rick if you were paying $600 per ton you were being robbed. The commercial feed I was using was high priced at $400 to $500 per ton. I am all but done feeding that high dollar feed. I will be back on my own mix shortly and even though grain is high I will still save money. And I know my mix works because that is what I was using when I produced Max Thrust, Downdraft, Updraft and many other bucks that we just never advertised.
 
RLAwhitetails said:
I have half as many doe's now that I had this time last year. I moved out everything that I thought was not worth spending the time doing a.i. on them. I plan to add a few more real good breed doe's by summer and then remove some more as soon as I get the 2012 fawn's from them. With feed cost I am wanting to just keep good animal's. But with deer price's lower it's hard to not buy some of the good female's that I think are better than what I have here now.



I am thinking about adding a few sheep. I want to try dall's a.i.ed to bighorn. I for sure want to get a few when it warm's up and I can find some good dall female's.



I dont know if I would want feeder cattle in my deer pen's. I use to have the best luck with old cow's then selling feeder's and not finishing them.
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Rodney - not sure if you noticed that I have 3 really good bred does in the Buckeye auction that is coming up in a couple of weeks. Two are bred to X-Factor (Moses mother and a Moses daughter) and I have a Buckster x Drifter doe bred to Walks New Image. Just thought I would let you know since we are so close to each other it would be real easy to move them.:)
 
WICKED WHITETAILS said:
roger I was thinking the same thing I just paid for a ton of my own mix cost me $350
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My last run came in at $475/ton with a $40 premix thrown in there. I could use some advice-I used to be the cheapest in the pack, but not lately...deer doing much better on what I have, though.
 
One thing I recently did that cut my cost some is that I get my feed shipped bulk to my inlaws dairy farm when they buy feed and they just auger it out of the truck into a gravity wagon and then I sack it myself from there as I need it. idk if you get it bagged or loose by thats an option. Heck if I really wanted I could just drag the gravity wagon to my house and just pour into buckets each day to make it even easier.
 
I am feeding an ADM pellet and am paying around $472 a ton. Myself and another farmer buy at the same time so to get a minimum of two tons which drops the price a little. This averages out to $11.80 per bag.



I know a couple people that use a dairy pellet/cracked corn mix that is much cheaper. I am a lttle reluctant to go to this kind of mix.



Jarod and Roger what ingredients do you have in your feed?
 
I switched to cattle ration but have them make it in 3/16 pellets. I Bring in 10 ton at a time at 277. a ton. I run 50% pellet ration and 50% local grain like wheat, peas, barley which I blend with soybean meal and corn, minerals and Vit E. I bring in the grain at less than 200 a ton. Last time I checked on my deer mix that we had made it was over 500. a ton which made me go this other route.
 
Sounds like Jack has done his homework. Jack I'd like to see the specifications (nutrition tag) on that dairy pellet you've got. There are some cattle products that have 32% Protein that we could feed out in our mix to boost protein but they have "animal protein products" that may be a no-no for our herd.



Doing business with the local mills or feed distributor you get consistent supply but can't beat that farmer-direct price on your grains.



Anyone know how to boost a good standard 13% Protein feed to 20% Protein shooter-grade feed in a digestible and cost effective way?
 
You could add soybean meal at about 400 lbs/ ton mixed with the 13% feed. However this could throw the minerals out of balance and lower your fiber. If you are feeding hay or grazing this needs to be considered. Cheap feed with bad results could be the most expensive feed you can feed. I feed a balanced 18% from Performance Feeds for about $340/ton for pen deer. A ranch blend of feed 16% Exotic/Deer would run about $260/ton. This grows great antlers along with good native habitat.
 
I have 19 bucks for sale, delivery to MO farms only before April 1st (antlers off). I will have 11 coming 2-year olds, 3-4 three year olds, and the remaining bucks will be 4 years old. Many will be in the 160+ range, most should fall between 140-160", all from typical genetics. This is part of my strategy to shrink the herd. I need $12,000 on delivery. First MO farm to make a commitment gets the load. I realize it is a little bit of a gamble, not knowing what they will grow out to be, but I guarantee that if I sell them all in the fall to my normal buyer, they will cost much more. PM me if you have any questions. Please, serious inquiries only.
 
Phillip, Don't you think you could get a beter return on them even after feed & med. expences if you kept them till fall and then sold them ?
 
Wayne,



Given the price of fuel and my hauling capablities, not to mention the time involved in loading and hauling, on top of the drugs used to bring them down and the cost of darts-and out of 19 deer, one will surely commit deer-suicide before the velvet sheds in September. Add it all up, it's really a wash to wait. Between the check I'm asking for and the savings I'll gain for not feeding them, along with all the other costs I just mentioned, I'll get roughly $950/head. I agree, it's a little on the lower side, but I'm trying to make a difference in my overall bottom line, starting now, here.
 

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