MISSOURI DEER FARMERS SHARE

Make The Most Of Your Facilities And Lay Of The Land

By: Gail Veley • Sponsored by MDA

Afunctional facility in a location ideal for raising healthy whitetails can be the key to success, according to Donald Hill, owner of Oak Creek Whitetail Ranch in Bland, Missouri. When building a facility, understanding the psychology of deer is the first thing, followed by designing a facility that keeps them as calm as possible, which allows you to work as safely as possible. Whether it be a fawning facility, A.I. facility or handling facility, each should be constructed utilizing the driest location on your property, while considering the efficiency needed to move deer. “Until you look at a lot of different properties and see those facilities in action, it can be hard to understand them,” Hill said. “If you are new to deer farming or are thinking about redesigning your facility, I suggest visiting every farm possible so that you can develop a handling facility that deer are comfortable running through. Each farm will be different and in turn need a different design.” At Hill’s farm, he has two different facilities that each work better than the other for their specific function and layout.

Neither system would work as good at the other location or for that function. Amy Nold, owner of Nold Farms LLC in Urich, Missouri, agrees with Hill’s theory. “Having the ability to provide quality herd management is the key to any successful operation,” she said. Although handling deer safely once they are inside your facility is important, the process of moving deer into it is key. “You cannot have a 45 or 90 degree turn straight into your barn,” Hill emphasized. “The approach into your barn is a very important thing. It must be well lit in the area where you are bringing the deer inside. You ideally will want several 130 degree turns leading into your barn, so the deer feel as though they have escaped from you when they go around each corner.” In addition, “a chute that is user friendly that one person can operate is a must,” Nold emphasized. “You can have the most elaborate system leading up to the chute, and still struggle with the wrong chute.” Deer farmers planning to use laparoscopic A.I. should install several knock down stalls that provide an area free of stress for does to be comfortable after being sedated. “If you plan on growing, leave room to add interior wellventilated holding stalls,” Hill explained. “I personally like my stalls 8’ x 8’ feet or smaller. Anything larger than 8’ the deer will want to jump over. Lower ceilings will also help to keep them from jumping. We also like to use push boxes that are 4’ x 4’ feet so we can use a 4’ piece of plywood as a push door.”

“If I had to do it all over again, I would build my own push gate boxes instead of buying boxes and not waste money on push walls,” Hill said. “Many factors make a facility work better, there is no way to describe them until you are experiencing it.” Hill also advises to spend the money up front to put a 10’ to 15’ alley between each pen and around your whole facility. “I did not do this at first trying to save money, and regretted it since day one,” Hill shared. “If you have alleys between and around the facility there is no need for shade cloth, and you don’t have to worry about your bucks fighting with each other or wild deer.” In striving to move deer efficiently into a barn, Hill also strongly believes in narrowing alleys down gradually to 4 feet, and only using push gates once the deer are inside the barn. The ability to weigh your deer on a scale inside your facility can also prove very valuable in monitoring their nutrition or in determining whether or not there are any underlying health issues. However you may utilize a facility, at the end of the day “if you are having any injuries or deaths while working deer, you need to look at your design again and revamp it,” Hill said. “In a well-functioning facility, you could pull 130 deer for LAP A.I. and have them awake and back into their pens in less than four hours. A good facility is a game changer.”