RIRDC Completed Projects in 2000-2001 & Research in Progress as at June 2001

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To Deer Completed Projects
 

2.3 DEER  RESEARCH IN PROGRESS
PROJECT No	PROJECT TITLE	RESEARCHER	PHONE	ORGANISATION
DIP-4A	Quality assurance, strategic alliances and industry development	Chris Tuckwell	08 8523 3500	Rural Industry Developments Pty Ltd
SAR-21A	Defining energy and protein requirements of fallow deer under a Mediterranean environment	Yingjum Ru	08 8303 7787	South Australin Research and Development Institute
SAR-26A	Determining the tolerance of fallow and red deer to salt	Yingjun Ru	(08) 8303 7787	South Australian Research and Development Institute
UA-46A	Overcoming summer/autumn nutritional constraints to deer production in Southern Australia	Philip Tow & Dean Revell	08 8303 7857 08 8303 7911	University of Adelaide
UQ-78A	Drought feeding - Early weaning strategies	Gordon Dryden	07 5460 1255	University of Queensland


 
 

Project Title	Quality assurance, strategic alliances and industry development
RIRDC Project No.:	DIP-4A
Start Date:	01/07/99
Finish Date:	30/06/01
Researcher:	Mr. Chris Tuckwell
Organisation:	Deer Industry Projects & Developments Pty Ltd PO Box 1105 GAWLER SA 5118
Phone:	(08) 8523 3500
Fax:	(08) 8523 3301
Email:	cdtuckwell@bigpond.com
Objectives	· To develop and implement strategies that will consolidate and expand production of Australian deer products and position the Australian Deer industry as a commercial livestock industry that compliments Australia's traditional livestock industries.
Current Progress	The project has met its broad milestone commitments throughout the year. However there has been little expansion of the industry’s QA programs. Although some long-term industry members are still strongly opposed to concepts of QA recent events I Europe are being used to encourage industry support for the programs. However until international consumers demand certification of quality assurance from venison marketers, adoption of the program will continue to occur only slowly. Although the ACCC has not yet formally approved industry applications quality assurance brand marks for: farms, deer transporters, venison and velvet antler for registration, the trade marks can be used now with an understanding that any amendments to documentation required by ACCC will be made promptly. Industry statistics show a decline in the number of deer processed (22% to February) for corresponding periods last season while farmer returns per kg carcase weight continue to climb. The average carcase weight of deer processed has improves and is reflected by the volume of venison processed to February 2001 the same as for the previous year. Concern still exists that current demand grow is greater than industry’s continued ability to supply. New software (Venstat) to encourage a standardized approach to: (i) data recording; (ii) reporting of processing information to individual growers and; (iii) reporting summaries for industry, is almost complete. When complete processors will be trained in its use


 
 

Project Title	Defining energy and protein requirements of fallow deer under a Mediterranean environment
RIRDC Project No.:	SAR - 21A
Start Date:	1/07/99
Finish Date:	30/06/02
Researcher:	Dr. Yingjun Ru
Organisation:	South Australian Research and Development Institute
Phone:	(08) 8303 7787
Fax:	(08) 8303 7977
Email:	ru.yingjun@saugov.sa.gov.au
Objectives	· To monitor seasonal nutrient intake by deer under grazing conditions. · To determine energy and protein requirements of fallow deer under a Mediterranean environment. · To develop strategies for supplementary feeding during summer and winter. · To improve liveweight gain or reduce the time taken to reach target finishing liveweight by using cost-effective diet formulations based on the nutrient requirement of deer and nutritive value of feed ingredients. · To disseminate research outcomes to deer farmers by the ALFI database, seminars, workshop and scientific publications. · To improve deer farmers profitability by feeding more nutritionally sound diets.
Current Progress	Forage intake trial (2000) Sixty fallow deer (weaners) were selected and divided into three equal mixed sex groups and supplemented at three levels respectively (300g, 600g and 900 g/day/head). Supplementary feeding was terminated for high and medium treatments in early August and for the low group in June. The supplementary diet contained 12.97MJ DE and 168.8 g protein per kg. The actual supplement intake were not different between the high and medium groups although the high group were fed ad libitum. The growth rates were 10, 14, 8 g/day in May; 57, 60, and 32 g/day in June for high, medium and low groups, respectively. There was no difference in growth rate in July and August between treatments, but the low feeding group tended to have a high growth rate in September and October. Males grew faster than females. Detailed forage intake and nutrient requirement will be reported in November 2001 Nutrient requirement trial (2001) Sixty fallow deer (weaner) were allocated into six groups with three groups of 10 deer for each sex. Deer were supplemented with a formulated concentrated diet at three feeding levels (high, medium and low) to validate the results obtained from forage intake trial (2000). This experiment is under way. Supplementary feeding trial Sixty fallow deer (weaners) were divided into three groups in April and supplemented with three different experimental diets formulated according to the results from forage intake trial (2000). The three diets are based on triticale, oats and oats-lupin. The growth rate is being monitored monthly.


 

Project Title	Determining the tolerance of red and fallow deer to salt
RIRDC Project No.:	SAR - 26A
Start Date:	1/07/00
Finish Date:	30/06/02
Researcher:	Dr. Yingjun Ru
Organisation:	South Australian Research and Development Institute
Phone:	(08) 8303 7787
Fax:	(08) 8303 7977
Email:	ru.yingjun@saugov.sa.gov.au
Objectives	· To examine the effect of salt intake in drinking water and feed on feed intake and growth rate of fallow and red deer under grazing conditions. · To disseminate research outcomes to deer farmers by field days, fact sheets, seminars, workshops and scientific publication. · To improve profitability and sustainability of the deer industry.
Current Progress	10 group pens were established on the Roseworthy Deer Farm. In each pen, a water trough and water tank were provided to measure water intake . Two experiments are under way. For fallow deer, a total 30 weaners were divided into five groups based on body weight and fed on pure lucerne chaff for 3 weeks before feeding the experimental diets. From week 4, five groups of fallow deer were fed on lucerne chaff with salt content of 0, 1.5, 3.0, 4.5 and 6.0% respectively. For red deer, 18 deer were divided into three groups based on their body weight and fed on pure lucerne chaff for 3 weeks before feeding experimental diets. From week 4, the three groups of red deer were fed on lucerne chaff with salt content of 1.5, 3.0 and 6.0%, respectively. Feed intake, water intake, growth rate and blood osmotic pressure and mineral concentrations are being measured. Animals are monitored daily for abnormal performance.


 
 

Project Title	Overcoming summer/autumn nutritoinal constraints to deer production in Southern Australia
RIRDC Project No.:	UA-46A
Start Date:	1/07/98
Finish Date:	30/06/01
Researcher:	Dr Dean Revell / Dr Philip Tow
Organisation:	Adelaide University Department of Animal Science / Department of Agronomy and Farming Systems Roseworthy Campus ROSEWORTHY SA 5371
Phone:	(08) 8303 7911 / (08) 8303 7857
Fax:	(08) 8303 7979 / (08) 8303 7979
Email:	dean.revell@adelaide.edu.au / philip.tow@adelaide.edu.au
Objectives	· Provision of cost-effective strategies for nutrition of weaner deer in dryland farming regions of southern Australia that will reduce nutritional stress in the dry autumn post-weaning period and maintain high growth rates. · Through dissemination of research results, improve deer production and foster expansion of the deer industry into dryland farming systems.
Current Progress	Fallow deer were weaned in late March 2000 and fed a barley/lupin mixture (60:40), barley grain, medic hay or standing lucerne for 80 days. There were no significant differences between treatment groups in live weight at the end of the supplementary feeding period, although male weaners were about 3 kg heavier than their female counterparts. All animals were then moved onto high quality medic pasture (with no supplements) and, after a further 120 days, the differences in live weight between sexes had increased to about 9 kg. There were minimal effects of the different post-weaning supplementary feeds on live weight by early November, such that animals that had been weaned onto lucerne were of similar final weight to those that had been weaned onto grain. Potential advantages of weaning onto lucerne were a reduction in the time taken for animals to begin gaining weight (3 vs 5 weeks) immediately after weaning, and avoidance of a growth-check when moved onto lush pasture in mid-winter. However, deer that had been weaned onto grain were able to overcome these temporary set-backs by gaining slightly more bodyweight when grazing high-quality spring pasture.


 

Project Title	Drought feeding - Early weaning strategies
RIRDC Project No.:	UQ-78A
Start Date:	1/07/98
Finish Date:	31/12/01
Researcher:	Dr. Gordon Dryden
Organisation:	The University of Queensland School of Animal Studies Gatton Campus GATTON QLD 4345
Phone:	07-5460 1255
Fax:	07-54601444
Email:	GMD@sas.uq.edu.au
Objectives	To improve the ability of deer farmers to control growth and survival of young deer by investigating the feasibility and effects of weaning at various ages and advising practicable early-weaning strategies by 2000.
Current Progress	Red deer calves were weaned at 7 and 9 weeks. They were given, ad lib., a good quality lucerne hay, and a pelleted concentrate. Animals of both ages grew at approximately the same rate, but the younger calves were smaller at the end of the experiment in March (40.2 v. 46.1; P=0.023), but not after 9 months of grazing (at 27 December, 1999). For details see reference cited below. Weaning at 7 weeks is feasible, although these calves will be smaller than normal for several months. Chemical analyses to determine rates of passage and food constituent digestibility are in progress. The feasibility and effects of weaning at 7 and 9 weeks data were reported at the 2000 meeting of the Nutrition Society of Australia (Proceedings of the Nutrition Society of Australia, 24: 257).