Breeding of antler deer

The physiological characteristics of antler deer sexual maturity and appropriate first mating age sexual maturity is the reproductive physiological maturity, when the deer can produce mature sperm and eggs, and have sexual behavior. The sexual maturity of antler deer is related to breed, type, sex, genetic status, nutritional status and ontogeny. Sika deer is earlier than red deer, females are earlier than males, and the same breed of deer have good nutritional status and rapid ontogenetic sexual maturity. General maturity period: sika female deer is about 16 months old, well-developed deer reaches sexual maturity at 7 months old, male deer is about 20 months old, red deer is about 28 months old, but some deer reach sexual maturity at 16 months old.

The suitable first mating age is 16 months for female deer, 40 months for male deer, 28 months for red deer and 40 months for male deer (triple saw stag).

Antler deer in estrus are seasonal estrus animals. In the north of China (north of 40 degrees north latitude), the estrus season of antler deer is from September to December, and some of them can last until February to March of the following year. There can be 2 ~ 3 estrus cycles during the whole oestrus. However, the normal estrus of sika deer is from September 15 to November 15, and the peak period of estrus is from September 25 to October 20, while the mating period of red deer can be advanced about 10 days, the specific time is from September 5 to November 10, and the peak period is from September 15 to October 10. About 80% of antler deer can conceive in the first estrous cycle.

In the estrous cycle, the interval between the two ovulations is called the estrous cycle, 12-16 days for sika deer and 16-20 days for red deer. The estrous cycle is also related to age, health status, external environment and other factors, the strong age and healthy deer are slightly shorter, and vice versa.

The duration of estrus is the duration of each estrus: 24 hours to 36 hours for sika deer, 11 hours to 24 hours after estrus, 24 hours for red deer and 6 hours to 7 hours after estrus.

The performance of estrus includes three aspects: behavior, reproductive tract and ovarian changes. The estrus of male deer is characterized by fighting, horn sharpening, lip curling, scratching, neck thickening, top person or thing, long roar, loss of appetite, twitching penis while urinating. At the beginning of estrus, the female deer is excited and restless, wandering, tapping his mouth, sometimes whining, willing to approach the male deer but refusing to mate; in the heyday of estrus, it is characterized by standing still, raising the tail, accepting climbing, often showing the opening of the lacrimal fossa, frequent urination, vaginal swelling, the flow of egg white mucus, uh-huh, or rubbing the head against the male deer, posing for mating by the male deer. At the end of estrus, the doe becomes stable and refuses, and the vaginal mucus changes from egg white to orange, and finally reddish brown, and dries up on the pubic hair.

Estrus can be judged by the performance of the deer. In recent years, red deer use the method of touching ovaries like cattle and horses to determine the condition of oestrus; the method of trial can also be used to determine the estrus of female deer, that is, a male deer of the same breed is used to operate its penis or put on a test cloth, and then put into the herd of female deer. If the female deer stands still and accepts climbing, it means that the female deer is close to ovulation, and the pregnancy can be basically guaranteed by driving out the trial male deer and putting in the buck or artificial insemination.

First of all, according to the antler production, breeding ability and breeding direction, a good breeding male deer should be selected according to the antler production, breeding ability and breeding direction. the male deer with age 3 ~ 7 saws, energetic, strong libido, good semen quality and high antler yield. Required antler yield: the fresh weight of sika deer saw standard antler is more than 3.5 kg, red deer is more than 5.5 kg (three branches) or 7.5 kg (four branches), and the breeding of male deer will be strengthened after mid-July.

The breeding female deer should be weaned in the middle of August, and the population should be composed according to age, body condition and breeding plan (15 ~ 18 sika deer per group and 10 ~ 12 red deer per group). The breeding of female deer should also be strengthened, and the middle and upper fat condition should be reached when entering the mating period, but it should not be too fat, and the male and female deer houses should be arranged reasonably and the breeding records should be prepared.

Breeding methods the breeding methods of antler deer include group male group female breeding method, single male group female breeding method (divided into one match to the end and intermediate replacement), trial breeding method, timing pair breeding method and artificial insemination method. But the common method is to match the female to the bottom of the single male group. The specific method is that sika deer should be placed in the herd of male and female deer on September 10 and red deer around September 5. If there are no special circumstances for male deer, they will be separated at the end of mating. However, if the superior breed of male deer is less, the trial breeding method or timing matching method can be adopted. The breeding male deer and the trial male deer are kept separately in a small circle. At 4: 00 to 6: 00 in the morning and from 16:00 to 18:00 in the evening, the male deer or male deer are regularly put into the female deer house to look for the estrus deer, and then breed. When it is confirmed that there is no estrus female deer, drive the buck back to the small circle and put the buck back in the small circle at the end of the test. This method can maximize the breeding performance of superior buck. Each male deer can be matched with about 35 female deer in a breeding period. at the same time, the pedigree of the offspring is clear, but the workload is larger.

The problems that should be paid attention to in antler deer breeding work: to prevent close relatives during the selection of male and female deer, and to prevent male and female deer with the same character defects from mating, and the first mating male and female deer should not mate; the male deer replaced in the middle should be raised separately, otherwise it is easy to be attacked by other male deer because of its smell of estrus female deer. At the end of breeding, choose a sunny day, set aside the buck before 8 o'clock in the morning, and assign a special person to take care of it, so as to prevent a strong fight between each other and cause losses.

The causes and countermeasures of female deer infertility the causes of infertility are complicated, but there are roughly the following reasons:

Congenital infertility. It is mainly caused by dysplasia of reproductive organs, and such deer should be eliminated as soon as possible.

Nutritional infertility. Due to disease or poor feeding and management, the physical condition of the doe is too poor, resulting in embryos and even follicles can not develop normally, so can not conceive, or disappear after conception. This kind of deer can reach above medium nutrition level by treating diseases and strengthening breeding, and it is completely possible to breed. However, some infectious diseases that seriously threaten the deer herd should be eliminated.

Due to the infertility caused by inbreeding, the age of female deer is too old, or the herd of female deer is too large, measures can be taken to improve the survival rate of deer reproduction.

The pregnancy and delivery of antler deer after mating, the mother deer is no longer in estrus and can generally be considered to be pregnant. In addition, it can be seen from the appearance that the pregnant deer have an increased appetite, a better and better body condition, a bright coat color, a gentle temperament, and a cautious and stable movement. by March to April of the following year, more than 90% of the pregnant deer with significantly enlarged abdomen before eating were pregnant. The gestation period of antler deer is related to the species of antler deer, the sex and number of fetus, feeding mode and nutrition level. The average gestation period of sika deer was 229 ±6 days, 231 ±5 days for male lambs, 228 ±6 days for female lambs and 224 ±6 days for twins, which was about 5 days shorter than that of singletons, and the pregnancy period of all kinds of red deer was basically the same, such as 243 ±6 days for northeast red deer, 244 ±7 days for Tianshan red deer, 245 ±4 days for male lambs and 241 ±5 days for female lambs.

The birth period of sika deer and red deer is basically the same, generally from early May to early July, and the peak period is from May 25 to June 15. However, the childbearing period is also related to the age, region or feeding conditions of the deer. The formula for predicting the childbearing period is mainly based on the mating date and the days of pregnancy. Usually, the sika deer is the mating month minus 4, the day minus 13, the red deer month minus 4, and the day plus 1 can calculate the birth date.

The parturition showed that the breast was enlarged before delivery, and the time from the beginning of dilatation to delivery was generally 26 ±6 days. 1-2 days before delivery, fasting or fasting, walking, looking for the place of delivery, individual deer walked and screamed, collapsed, urinated frequently, egg white-like mucus flowed from the vaginal orifice during labor, repeatedly crawled, stood, and then discharged yellowish blisters, and finally gave birth to the fetus. Individual newborn deer or hateful deer see blisters, panic, eager to circle or run. Most deer are born with their head and two forelimbs exposed first, and a few deer with their hind legs and buttocks exposed first, which is also a normal birth. Except for the above two kinds of fetal position, they all belong to abnormal fetal position and need midwifery.

The normal stage of labor takes half an hour to 2 hours for the female deer and 3 hours to 4 hours for the first time.

Matters needing attention during the childbirth period the birth circle should be cleaned, thoroughly sterilized before the birth period, and a clean mattress should be padded. The birth circle should be disinfected every 10 days during the whole childbirth period.

Keep quiet during childbirth and refuse to visit.

Special care should be set up during the childbirth period, dystocia should be dealt with in time, measures should be taken in time to find hateful deer, and various abnormal conditions of postpartum deer should be closely watched, and those who are sick should be treated in time.

A deer protective fence shall be set up in the circle during the birth and lactation period.

The birth record should be filled out.

The technical measures to improve the reproduction and survival rate of antler deer on the basis of the selection of male and female deer, selection and selection are closely related, which are two continuous links in the unified process of constantly improving the quality of deer herd and the whole species. The selection of deer must be based on the appearance, physique, production performance, source of breeds and the quality of offspring. Selection is to consciously improve the quality of deer according to people's needs, so only by giving consideration to both can the overall quality of deer be improved.

In the whole herd, the adult female deer should account for 77.3%, the adult female deer should account for 10.5%, and the offspring deer should account for 12.2%. This structure is beneficial to the normal development of the herd, otherwise there will be age faults and developmental disorders.

Breeding female deer should have a reasonable nutritional level. Because of abnormal follicular development, most of the breeding female deer are empty, and the lean deer can not estrus and ovulate normally, so the breeding deer should be raised scientifically and reasonably.

Timely and reasonable elimination of male and female deer and reserve adult deer whose productivity is very low and does not conform to the direction of breeding, if there are addiction, it should be eliminated in time, otherwise it will affect the economic benefits and development of the deer industry.

Reasonable arrangement of the number of males and females is too large than that of female deer, which exceeds the bearing capacity of male deer breeding, there will be a "leakage" phenomenon, especially red deer, its large and bulky body, can not bear the burden of continuous breeding. Therefore, the large number of female deer will cause the phenomenon of low conception rate.

The feeding and management of pregnant female deer should be strengthened to maintain an appropriate level of nutrition, do not easily change the deer house, to avoid sudden disturbance and whipping, stick beating.

All the work during the childbirth period should be done well to improve the survival rate of the deer.