Introduction
Summer is the most important seasonfor
deer farmers. Offspring production will refect
the effectivness (or ineffectiveness) of management strategies for the entire year. Control. of
breeding season,~ppropriate year round nutrition
and animal health preventive medicine programs
are all components resulting in a successful fawn
crop. All managementtasks have been geared
towards the production of a healthy crop of
fawns. Ideally, a 'healthy fawn crop' means;
100% pregnancy rate of does 2 years and older,
100% of fawns live born, 100% of fawn born
large enough to survive to weaning. In reality,
except on small operations which may reach
these levels of performance, 90 to 95% fawning
rate is more than respectable. Numerous factors
which affect each of these parameterswill be
covered in this publication.
A tight fawning seasonwill depend on a
well controlled breeding season(ie. bucks put
with the does from about mid October to mid
December). This ensures that no fawns are born
later than mid-July.
ratory rate and body temperature. The temperature at which deer become hypothermic changes
as the winter progresses,ie. deer can tolerate
colder temperatures in January than in March.
This is due to the deterioration of body reserves
in deer throughout the winter. All this emphasizes the need for high energy feed during the
winter to minimize the effects of seasonalanorexia in deer.
In late spring several major changes occur.
This seasonis the last third of gestation, a time
when the fetus begins to grow very quickly.
Becauseof the increase in photoperiod (as the
days become longer and the nights shorter) there
is a physiological change in the does as well.
During late spring and throughout summer there
is a reactivation of metabolic activity which
stimulates increased foraging and feed intake.
This behavioural change allows rapid weight
gains in deer despite the metabolic demands
associated with late pregnancy and lactation.
The does should get through the harsh
winter seasonin average body condition. They
require sufficient feed to provide for metabolic
demands during the winter despite a decreased
appetite. From spring onward, they can gain the
weight necessary for good fawning perfonnance.
Researchhas shown that smaller animals have
higher relative heat losses than larger animals.
This applies to deer also. Observations have
shown that deer exposured to temperaturesof
-200C or lower do not increase their metabolism,
but rather they show decreasedheart rate, respiPublished with supportfrom the WesternDiversification OffICe,
Northern Lights Big Game Corpopration,
and the SaskatchewanAgriculture DevelopmentFund
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Often in northern great plains and Rocky
Mountian areasthe increase in appetite occurs
before there is good established spring growth.
The pastures have begun to grow but require
several weeks to become well established,
before they can be grazed without danger of
destruction of the root systems by overgrazing.
During this time supplemental feed must continue to be fed and at a higher rate than winter
maintenance levels.
Cover ideally would consist of trees or low
bushes, but in areaswhere these are not available, bales may be leaned together to fonn
shelters, boughs can be cut and piled into cornors, or the pasture can be left long and rank in a
few areaswhile the rest has been mown to
provide young lush growth for feed for the does.
Predatorcontrol
In most fanning areas in Canada, there are
predators which can do serious harm to a crop of
In red deer, late pregnancy digestible energy tiny fallow fawns. Predation results in grave
(DE) requirements are 1.5 X that of non-preglosses which may go entirely unnoticed unless
nant hinds and lactational DE demands are 2.5 X the managerobserves the herd closely every day.
that of non-lactating animals. Until we have
Fawns are killed and taken away without any
similar trials with fallow deer, these guidelines
evidence that a predator has beenthere! Foxes,
should be applied to fallow as well. Additional
coyotes, dogs and even eagles and vultures are
feed in late gestation provides for good growth
potential predators. There are numerous ways to
of the fetus and allows does to regain condition
predator-proof the fawning paddock. To dislost over winter, to ensure a productive lactation
courage digging predators, the fencing must go
and to maintain or increase body size as well.
tight against the ground. Chicken wire may be
Dystocias (fawning difficulties) in overfat does
attached along the bottom third of the fence and
are quite rare although in other species obesity is along the ground outside the fence for 1 to 2 feet.
well known to cause problems (ie. wapiti and red Electric wire outside the fence and scent marking
deer). It is prudent to encourage continued
the perimeter have been used against ground
exercise in order that the does maintain good
predators, as have snares set on coyote runs.
muscle tone for fawning.
Bird predators are effectively discouraged by
close daily surveillance of the paddock. Llamas,
Paddock preparation
which are naturally curious, tend to be aggresThe fawning paddock should be prepared to sive towards predators invading their territory.
ensure the safety of the fawns and the comfort
Llamas have beenused for this purpose with
(and nourishment) of the does. The paddock
good results in fallow mobs. The most important
should provide areas with good cover for fawns,
point of all this is to take surveillance of the does
to accomodate their fIrst few weeks of hiding
during the fawning seasonvery seriously.
behaviour. The cover protects them from dehydration in very hot weather, it offers some
Preventive Medicine
protection from cold or heavy rains and also,
Four to six weeks pre-fawning the does
very importantly, it allows them to express their
should be given their yearly booster vaccination
normal behaviour of 'freezing' inconspicuously
against clostridial diseases.(At this time they
in a concealed position to avoid detection.
may be assessedvisually for pregnancy status as
well). The fawns will receive protective antibodies through the colostrum. Spring vaccination may offer the best protection for the fawns,
although some managersfeel that there is too
much risk stressing the does this late in pregancy
and prefer to vaccinate them along with the rest
of the mob during autumn roundup. There have
been no conclusive trials to prove which of these
vaccination schemesis better. Clostridial vaccination is an important part of yearly deer managementto minimize chance of deaths from the
diseasescaused by these bacteria.
VaccinationprotectsagainstBackleg,
MalignantEdema,TetanusandEnterotoxemia,
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fatal diseasesfamiliar to most livestock producers. The fIrst three diseasesoccur secondarily to
trauma such as deep muscle bruising, open
wounds from fighting,
birthing, surgery or
accidents and even
focal liver destruction
secondary to parasite
migration. Anyone
who has worked with
deer is well aware how easily they can hurt
themselves even when carefully handled. The
fourth common clostridial diseaseis Enterotoxemia or 'over-eating disease'. This is most likely
to occur after animals used to fairly coarse,
lower quality feed suddenly get accessto large
amounts of highly palatable, high carbohydrate
feed. This causes proliferation of the bacterium
Clostridium perfringens in the gut which in turn
produce toxins which kill the animal within 48
hours if left undetected and untreated.
tion. Of course all dead deer should have post
mortem examinations as this often provides very
valuable information. For example, necropsy
results could distin,,"
",',.w.,*.,,"Cc~
guish management
related deaths (dehydration, misadventure,
predation etc.) from nutritional problems (nonviable fawns due to low
birth weight, maternal agalactia etc.) from infectious diseaseproblems (E. coli, Salmonella etc.).
Fawn Identification
Individual farm managers should decide
whether they want to sex and ear tag the fawns
shortly after birth or at weaning. Fawns under
24 to 36 hours old can easily be caught, blindfolded, sexed, weighed and eartagged (by convention males in the right ear, females in the left)
without causing them undue stress. They should
not be handled if they are still wet from recent
All the commonclostridial diseasesare
birth becauseof the possibility of maternal
quickly fatal, with affectedanimalsusuallybeing rejection. Alternatively, fawns can processed
found deadwithout having beennoticed sick.
during fall weaning and roundup. The advantage
Thereis rarely an opportunityto treatthem. Di- to early weighing and identification is more inagnosis,therefore, dependsuponastutepost
formation. It has been well established that
mortemexamination,so preventionis obviously fawns born under a critical weight (3.2 to 3.4 kg)
the only satisfactorysolution.
have poor chancesof survival. Often these small
fawns are just found dead with no obvious
Fawning season
explanation on necropsy examination. Low birth
The does should be introduced to the fawnweight generally does not indicate premature
ing paddock about one month before the exbirth in fallow deer.
pected fawning date. This allows them time to
become familiar with their new surroundings.
The paddock should provide enough feed to
support 150-180 gIn/day weight gain on the
fawns throughout lactation!
Fawns will be born during June and the fIrst
2 weeks of July at the latest, given a well restricted breeding season. If they are born much
after this date they will not have enough time to
grow to a vigorous size (19 to 22 kg) by weaning
in October, and they will spend the rest of their
lives behind the rest of the herd.
During fawning, daily paddock checks
ought to be carried out. This may be done by
walking the paddocks in a set pattern, possibly
when bringing feed, so the does become accustommed to the routine. During these walks any
dead fawns would be found, as would does
having fawning difficulties, both of which may
easily go unnoticed without very close observa-
Production Assessment
At the end of the fawning seasontime must
be made to review records of birth weights,
death losses, necropsy reports etc. to plan any
necessary managementadjustments.
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Low birth weight is related to low pre-rut
weight of the dam, especially among the 2 year
olds. The solution to this type of loss would be
to provide more and better nutrition to the
yearlings so they could reach good pre-rut
weights (ie. 38 kg) by October. Early studies
(Figure 4, from Asher 1986) show the relationship between pre-rut weight and weaning percentage , and more recently, Paul Wigglesworth
(long time fallow manager from New Zealand
now in British Columbia), has shown an 11%
increase in fawning percentage (75% to 86%),
relating to an increase of pre-rut weight from 34
to 42 kg. These data support the relationship
between body size and productivity.
Other possibilities must be considered.
Apart from low birth weight of fawns, does
which suffer from inadequate spring nutrition
may reject the neonate or produce insufficient
milk production to support the fawn. Another
potential problem associated with maternal
undernutrition is increased fawn susceptibility to
disease. White-tailed deer suffering from
undernutrition give birth to fawns with underdeveloped immune systems and, therefore, reduced
diseaseresistance (Denholm 1984).
Becauseof the extremelyhigh natural fertility of
fallow deer,a well run fallow farm should
achievean 85 to 89% weaningpercentage.
Fawn Death
According to reports from Australia and
New Zealand, the most common causesof death
among neonatesare as follows:
#1. dehydration/starvation/exposure complex
It is very difficult to differentiate mismothering
from dehydration /exposure complex. Was poor
mothering due to the fawn's inability to suckle
or was the fawn normal for 1 or 2 days but the
doe failed to lactate or care for it? Regarding
exposure, are normal vigorous fawns better at
seeking shelter from direct sun or cold rain than
smaller, weaker ones?
#2. dystocia
Birth trauma is most common in smaller 2 year
old does but also can be seenwith oversized
fetuses. This can result in the fawn having brain
or musculo-skeletal damage which would prevent normal feeding activity.
#3. infectious agents
Bacterial infections are most common. Routes
of entry for these infections are through the umbilicus, through oral or nasal mucous membranes, or through ulcers in the gut wall. Ulcers
usually develop from stressful situations and are
common complications in hand-reared fawns.
#4. misadventure
Fawns are very prone to misadventure no doubt
due to their tendency to panic. They crawl under
fences, get hung up in fences, get caught in
sloughs or irrigation ditches or break their necks
running into things. Hiding fawns have been run
over by farm machinery.
References
1. Asher,G.W. 1988. ProgressiveFallow Farming;
Reproduction.MAF RuakuraAgricultural Center,Hamilton,N.Z.
2. Denholm,LJ. 1984. Nutrition of farmeddeer. Deer
RefresherCourse.The Post-graduateCommitteein
VeterinaryScience,U. of Sydney,Austr.
3. Howe, D.L. 1981. MiscellaneousBacterialDiseases.
In: Davis,I.W., Karstad,L.H., Trainer,D.O. eds.Infectious Diseasesof Wild Mammals.Iowa StateUniversity
Press.Ames,Iowa, USA.
4. Mulley, R.C. 1984. The reproductiveperformanceof
fallow deerin New SouthWales. DeerRefresherCourse.
The Post-graduate
Committeein VeterinaryScience,U. of
Sydney, Austr.
The successof any livestockfarming operation is bestdetenninedby the weaning percentage. That is the numberof fawns weaneddivided by the numberof doesexposedto the
buck. This final figure takesinto accountdoes
that did not conceive,abortions,still births and
fawns live born that did not surviveto weaning. Photo credits J. SmitsFig 1,2 R. deBerquelleFig3.
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