Feeding of adult male deer during antler growth period

The physiological activities of adult male deer have strong seasonality. According to their different physiological and production characteristics, the production of adult male deer is divided into four periods, as follows: ① antler period (mid-March to early August), ② mating period (late August to early November), ③ recovery period (early November to mid-January), early antler stage of ④ (late January to early March). The above production periods are not completely separate, but relate and influence each other, but each has its own characteristics.

The antler growing period of male deer is generally in spring and summer, with rich food, exuberant metabolism, strong growth and obvious increase in weight. From March to April to the first ten days of August, adult male deer can generally gain 15kg to 30kg; autumn is the mating season, with frequent sexual activity, obvious loss of appetite and weight loss; after the end of the mating period, the sexual activity of male deer is in a relatively static state, the appetite begins to increase, and the body condition gradually recovers, so as to prepare for the antler next year. In order to achieve good results, scientific feeding and management should be carried out in stages according to this law in production.

According to the characteristics of strong growth and metabolism and high nutrition demand of male deer during antler growing period, the following points should be paid attention to in feeding and management in production.

(1) strengthening nutrition the antler growing period of adult male deer is the most vigorous period of the year, not only its weight gain needs rich nutrients, but also raw antler needs higher energy and better protein feed.

According to the nutritional needs of deer, the scientific and rational combination of full-price diet is the key to raising male deer during antler-growing period. at the same time, attention should be paid to gradually increasing the amount of feeding to prevent the phenomenon of jacking or gastrointestinal diseases caused by excessive feeding. The daily feed intake of concentrate is 1.5 kg 1.75 kg for sika deer and 2.5 kg for red deer. Roughage can be branches and leaves of young trees or silage. Deer should be kept full of coarse feed, which accounts for 40% and 60% of dietary dry matter. This can not only meet production but also save feed costs.

In order to reduce the cost, the deer after collecting the first stubble antler in the production mostly reduced the amount of concentrate feed, but for the deer after the age of 6 and 7 years old, because the time of disassembly was early and the production time of the second stubble antler was relatively long, the corresponding nutrition level should be maintained in the production. Keeping nutrition for more than 20 days could increase the yield of the second crop fresh antler by 100g and 150g, which was much higher than the cost of the feed consumed.

(2) to reduce stress and prevent damage to male deer during antler growing period, we should reduce outsiders' visits, reduce external noise, maintain a quiet production environment, set timely feeding and sweep circles, reduce unnecessary stress, and prevent male deer from damaging antler antlers due to shock. Timely stop fighting, gnawing antler and other bad habits, reduce unnecessary damage antler.

(3) to strengthen hygiene and epidemic prevention and reduce the antler period of the disease, the enclosure should be disinfected regularly to prevent the occurrence of the disease. 2% caustic soda solution is used to disinfect the sink, material trough and ground, and 0.5% bleach is used to disinfect drinking water, so that the food trough, sink and drinking water are clean and hygienic, so as to give full play to the production performance of deer.

(4) prevent heat and cool down, ensure hot drinking water in summer, deer generally feed in the morning and evening, feed in the morning and evening, the enclosure should be shaded to let the deer lie down, and if necessary, domesticated deer should be sprayed with well water to cool down, and ensure adequate and hygienic drinking water, preferably cool well water, shower equipment or bath can be set up if possible, and faeces and residues should be removed in time, which is conducive to the health of deer. Anaesthesia saw antler should be carried out in the morning and evening to reduce the danger caused by hot weather and rumen gas of deer after anesthesia.

(5) to do a good job of market research and reasonable collection of velvet antler to do market research. According to the growth and development characteristics of deer antler and market demand, reasonable collection of Erzhan or trigeminal antler is the key to obtain good economic benefits. This link should be taken into reasonable consideration in the management of deer farm.