deer nutrition 202

Deer Nutrition 202 So many people want to take the approach of throwing some deer mineral out in hopes that it will help them grow bigger and healthier deer. As a nutritionist who mainly had/has charged consulting fees to my clients, here are some alternative ways of thinking.

If I am doing my job right as a consultant and habitat manager, my clients will spend less money on supplements. The most healthy and economic way to get nutrition into any animal is through the forages. You have extra "space" in their rumen/gut/stomach to add extra forages that contain protein, effective fiber and minerals.

Here are a couple case studies to walk you through this. A client i consulted with began seeing forage calcium levels drop and plant potassium levels elevate. The result was poorer performance and having to "buy" our production. So what we did in early May was add ammonium sulfate to the fields. Within 90 days we saw an increase of 25% in plant calcium levels and a decrease in plant potassium levels. We, as a result, were able to drop our supplemental mineral purchased by 20%. We also had increased plant protein utilizations because of the sulfur to help convert the nitrogen.

Case study #2. I was called to a deer farm in north central Indiana to look at a trophy deer. The deer farmer wanted me to look at this valuable deer. I walked his property and noticed the types of forages the deer were consuming and mentioned that he should decrease the available variety of perennial rye grass to the deer. When i walked into the pen i noticed the deer having extreme shimmers and shakes. I knew he was feeding a feed that a feed mill had been mixing for him. The deer base i sold to the feed mill and i knew the formula was sound. So, i asked how much he was feeding. I knew from my experience with individuals that people tend to free wheel when they want to get to the top. So, i asked if he was feeding anything else? He showed me a bag of additional supplement and he told me how much he used. It was the required amount. Then i asked if he was using anything else. He showed me another bag. So I went on to explain how he already had a balanced diet with the original mix. He added another, which doubled the required levels of trace minerals and vitamins with mix 2. By adding another elevated level of mix 3, what he was doing was killing his deer by creating deficiencies by excess. So the point is nutrition is all about balance. A little is poor, excess can also be poor. Having the correct ratios and amounts is what we want.

Now on to the best way to get nutrition into deer. This is where i respect the heck out of guys like Gary Casper and others on here who are trying to educate you on forbs, native habitats and alternative forages. I use a lot of forbs and also am testing things that some might call weeds but they are high mineral and protein sources for deer.

So if you can get deer to eat Gary Casper's 40% of their diet from your food plots and supplemental browse, you will get more added calcium and other nutrition than you can get into a deer from consuming the deer mineral. Here is the math.

Case of a mature buck eating 4 pounds of dry matter per day:

if they eat 1.6 pounds of enhanced nutrition they would get calcium levels of 1.5% instead of 1.1%. You would add an extra .0064 lbs of calcium to their diet

if you can get deer to eat 1 oz every other day of your deer mineral containing 16% calcium, the result is .0048 lbs of extra calcium consumed in their diet. This shows how you can get more nutrition by healthy soils, more nutrient enhanced forages and browse than by mineral alone.

Here are some other numbers to consider from forage tested in the 2016 GRO plot:

ladino clover 1.12% calcium alfalfa 1.32% calcium trefoil 1.34% calcium high and dry 1.98% calcium kale 1.33% calcium chicory 1.98% calcium

So, my challenge is to work with a wildlife consultant or habitat manager that knows soil and who understands how to help you match browse, forbs and forages that match your own situation. You will not need to purchase as much minerals, as a result. Deer mineral should become less of a supplement and more of a way to monitor when things get out of balance