who thinks we could push for a better venison market?

Dennis there is one call me I'll give you the info and you can decide.(724)735-9924

I am pretty sure whitetail meat is not usda approved for sale only red deer

It can be....you have to live load it and get it to a facility that can process them.

I have one 15-20 miles from me I prefer not to...I will do my own and eat them but not process them in front of a USDA PERSON... so call me if you have questions...

I went with "no way, never work" for the options available.

My reason is simple. Whitetails do not have the feed to meat ratio to make it worth the time.

Red deer, elk, and maybe others like sika or something (I have no real knowledge about the other cervids out there) are fine for this idea. My understanding is elk are easy to raise, and with enough pasture can be raised for very little cost. The return in LBS of meat versus the feed put into them then becomes worth the time and effort.



All that said I know of one person who has made a couple of dollars slaughtering whitetails and turning them into snack sticks and such for resale. Therefore I think on a small scale SOME of the "over production" does from low end quality herds could become a way of OFFSETTING feed costs. But I don't think it is a good idea to pursue it on a large scale as a way of making money with whitetails.

I think the best end market for whitetails is the hunting ranches, and I think a properly run national campaign to draw in more hunters will give us the effect we all hope for.

Just my humble opinion.

I believe it would not work in the real meat market as the cost of production will not produce enough meat for a profit to the producer. Check out the prices paid by the meat dealers to people who are willing to sell their deer with this method. Last time I looked it was $80 to $125 per deer. We as deer farmers will have to make our own local meat market with our cull animals and come up with products we can sell. This of course mean we have to use a USDA facility to kill our deer to sell deer meat to the public.

Elk was mentioned but it also will not cover the cost of production for the meat return. Our type of meat conversion to the table will always take two to three year old animals to take to slaughter. Cattle can do this in one year and make a lot more meat to consume.

Until the meat prices of these animals comes in line with what is charged for the final product we producers will not be able to make our feed costs back selling meat to middle men.

If you are doing it just as a way to cull animals from your herd you can make some money back...We have sold everything even their hide, bones,and guts to people for their dogs raw diet...(plus we have huge doe) I could make money... but will not put my deer through the process of the USDA thing...

I will shoot them here for me, but I don't just see deer as a way to make $$$... so I won't send them to a slaughterhouse, if Some of the rules would get more humane for deer I could do it...but as it stands...I will not

Also

If you are doing it for a living...Fallow deer are better because you can feed them cheap corn and scratch feed... never have worm problems...any problems for that matter...

They are a lot cheaper to care for and feed.



Just my thoughts and feelings for my animals

painted meadows has a point ,this is not what we want for our TOTAL end market but as a portion of our market ,just as could selling doe pee, sheds,hides or what ever else we can come up with we sell sides of beef and most everyone we sell to asks about if we sell venison ? If you sell from the farm to on person let them pay for processing you can get somewhere in the range of 6.50 - 9.50 lb hanging 40-90 for the hide ,not selling for breeder price but better than just keep feeding a doe that should not be breed with again .like I said before not the only option but a option .

yes... deer was bringing around $2.00-$2.50 on the rail if you drop them at the slaughterhouse and let a company market them.The price goes down around hunting season for obvious reasons ...

If you market them to local restaurants or to people yourself you can get a lot more.

Like I said before we sell sides of beef but we also sell live cattle and to be truthful live cattle can be less work but I like to know how our stock was treated to the end and just who is the end consumer . We really do not go out anymore and look for new buyers either they are returns or word of mouth ,like any other word of mouth can be your best and worst advertisement . One happy person will tell at least one other person about a good experiance , one UNhappy person will tell at least 10 about a bad one .

That's why I said to call me in my first post...I will send you a personal email I just sent someone else...I found you care about your animals also...

To put it nicely...Deer do not line up to go to slaughter...You can not use drugs of any kind (OF COURSE) and think of the ways USDA kills things... I DO NOT want that for my deer. I can shoot them in my field and kill them dead with no stress and the least amount of pain as possible...but that is not the USDA way.



Anyone who says deer don't understand death and the smell of blood from one of their friends and herd members have not seen deer killed.



I personally could not and would not do that for $$$

Not putting down anybody that does I just am to close to my deer ...Heck I couldn't do it to a cow... but I am glad there are people who can

How about a class-action suit on those states (like mine) who say we cannot sell anything but hide or antler, even though we own these animals??

Good luck with this one. If you can take a native game animal and make it a sellable comodity, then you would have superceeded most state laws and some federal regulations. The sale of venison from native game animals will promote poaching of the free-ranging animals and this is a concept that will never be accepted by regulating agencies. The only place I know of that WT venison is a sellable product is at the Sanctuary Ranch in Michigan. This is due to a special permit the state gave them. Are there any other states that allow the sale of WT or native game meat? Let me know if you are aware of any.

We are allowed to sell venison from our herds hear in Ohio. We do own them so I always thought in all states we could sell then for meat. we have to put down who we sold to name and address. I have only sold a few wilder does that way and main reason I could not get close enough to dart them. Most of all my does now are baottle fed and I love how they calm done all the other deer. The fawns of my bottled fed does will come up within few feet of me and are not spooky at all. It is nice to have clam herd.

The only way the venison market for whitetails could be successful is if it were marketed as a high price specialty. It would need to be sold as WHITETAIL venison to distinquish from red deer. People would have to believe it was something special and not plentiful. The push would have to be in the big cities where it would seem exotic. Wisconsin Whitetail venison for example in Chicago - a specialty of the house - or something like that. It all revolves around the marketing.

If you hit people and places at the right time ...Go to gun shows,sport nights ect...You can sell a ton of jerkey...I like to stick with the plain old me here's my stuff. It's a good local product.

As someone who lives off the meat business, I think many miss the point of a vension market. You dont raise deer for the meat business, the economics are too thin right now to just grow meat. And In the longer run, you can not expect higher prices for meat, because the consumer is fickle. this is just another form of red meat and anyone can just buy beef, or pork or whatever, if the price goes too high. If the price is too high, you wont have a market.



For us, the Meat is the salvage value for animals that have a higher purpose, be it breeding, trophies or in the case of elk, velvet production.



BUT WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH THE CULLS ...... the old, the ugly, the non-producers, the below average critters??



selling them to other breeders? Great, half the animals out there are BELOW AVERAGE. that is not so good for the state of the industry, breeding with below average animals. thanx goes to some greedy breeders palming off crap.



Eating them yourself? hmmm I am sick of venison day in and day out.



Just Shooting and burying them?.... no money in that.



Well deer farmers, you make meat out of them! Salvage the meat! Increase the genetic value of the entire industries herd.



Just like my old Ford Pickups. A new one is $40K, and older worn out one without all the fancy dodads is maybe $5K. Eight fold less than a fancy new one. Is it any different for an old DOE? I'll pay you $150 for a big Northern White Doe. Not as good as $1200 (8X$150) for a fancy new doe, but it is cash flow! Pay your bills with the cash flow!



You are missing a critical portion of any livestock business.



CRITTERS MUST HAVE A SALVAGE VALUE! A meat business is the salvage value.



A real-life lesson for all you guys. What happened to the horse business when slaughter was prohibited???? You know the answer to that one!



EAT MORE MEAT! DEER

We don't raise deer for meat - but they raise red deer for meat and it all gets marketed as venison. That is why whitetail venison would have to be distinquished. It could garner a high price in the right restaurants. It is not plentiful since this is not the primary reason we raise deer and whitetails don't produce as much meat as red deer. That is why with the right marketing campaign it could be a delicacy - it is low in fat and healthy for you. The right people with the right marketing could do it - if they had the time and money.