Feeding diet for captive sika deer in summer. What to feed reindeer? Where to buy food? Expert advice "Forest House"

Hiding among plants, among bushes is the normal behavior of roes and deer. With the onset of the season of wild plants, many reached into the forest for the gifts of nature - wild garlic and ferns. Whole squadrons of pickers plow burnt areas and open glades in search of tasty and healthy vegetation. But it happens that not wild plants become their trophy, ... but newborns found in the same glades.

The fact is that in May - June, young animals appear in ungulates. Usually female roe deer give birth to two cubs, rarely one or three, and for a week the roe deer stay where they were born, hiding in the grass.

Hiding among plants and bushes

Hiding among plants, among bushes is the normal behavior of roes and deer. Mother always walks somewhere nearby, she comes, guards them, feeds them. In the meantime, they are dependent, they hide, so they never need to be picked up, ”this is the unequivocal opinion of all zoologists and conservationists.
We repeat, no, it is not lost or abandoned, you just happened to see a roe deer hiding, and the mother looks at you anxiously from behind a bush. It is impossible to pick up and carry away the young animals from the found place, since the parents will most likely not find their cubs in the future.

You can’t touch and stroke the animal - the returned mother will smell your smell and her behavior in relation to her own child can be arbitrarily unpredictable.

For persuasiveness, we cite as an example an excerpt from the story of the famous researcher of the Far Eastern taiga, Viktor Korkishko, about the “rescue” of roe deer and deer.

“.. A newborn baby almost immediately gets on his feet and is soon able to walk. But it is very risky to accompany the mother everywhere - there are too many who want to eat roe meat, starting with poachers, ending with predators and even stray dogs. Therefore, the roe deer spends the first days of life alone. Mom feeds him at night, and for the day she goes to feed herself and, in case of danger, takes the enemy away from her child. This continues for several weeks, until the roe deer becomes as frisky as the mother, and can not keep up with her if danger threatens. And until that time, he lies in the grass, hiding, not moving.

In Primorye, during this period, there are usually endless drizzling rains with cold fogs.

Therefore, roe deer are very cold alone and some of them die in cold years. It is good if the mother gave birth to twins and the company is a brother or sister. But even in this case, they lie "below the grass, quieter than the water." Only when they are very hungry, in the late afternoon, the roe deer begin to squeak plaintively. By screaming, their mother finds them.

Danger threatens the roe deer from the most unexpected side. Often he becomes a victim of overly compassionate people who do not know the peculiarities of roe deer life. Having found a lonely roe deer, people think that the mother has abandoned him, and out of compassion they take the baby away, not knowing what pain they inflict on the mother, who watches from the bushes how her child is carried away. And having taken the cub, people most often do not know what to do with it - feeding a roe deer is a big problem. So they are trying to place the orphans in the reliable hands of the employees.”

The story of the red deer rescue

Similar “rescue” stories are repeated year after year. For example, during the past year, employees of the Udege Legenda park took three roe deer and one red deer from the residents for keeping in a recreational enclosure. Two roe deer were already adults, the other two cubs were fed almost from birth. Their lives were saved, but the main law of nature was violated - they did not become wild animals. They have grown too trusting of humans, they do not know what a predator is, what food is better and where to look for them in different time of the year.

Therefore, remember: no matter how you want to stroke, help, save, or save a small creature, the best thing you can do is to leave, leaving the cub in place. And only if you are absolutely sure that the mother is dead, you can take it. Getting out of a newborn wild animal is a whole science that the park staff did not comprehend of their own free will, but managed to do it. But for those who are already faced with the need to put a weakened deer / roe deer on their feet, we wrote quick guide on nursing a wapiti cub in captivity.

Managing red deer in artificial conditions

Managing red deer (red deer) in artificial conditions ( personal experience park employee) I must say right away that my personal experience in this area is not very great - we (so far) have raised only one. But at the very beginning we faced a huge problem - we could not find information anywhere that would help us out. Actually, that's why I came up with the idea to write a short guide for those who still have to enter in the search engines "how to feed a red deer cub."

First you need to determine the age of the animal

Our Yashik came to us through second hands, so only a veterinarian could reliably determine his age - 6-7 days. So, what does a wapiti cub look like at a week of age:
Height at withers: 64 cm
He is still not very good on his feet, they are slightly curved with the letter X. He often “cries”.
Teeth: back (if I may say so) not yet, front 8 (now Yasha is already 2 months old, but the front is gone), they are all below. 2 in the center are very large and funny: o) the rest are quite small.
Weight: 10-12 kg (but this is taking into account that he was fed incorrectly for his entire first week)

Understand who is in front of you

By the way, it would be useful to understand who is in front of you - a red deer or a spotted deer. They are often confused. The red deer is larger (against our 65 at the withers - 45-50 in the sika deer, weight approx. 4-6 kg). The head is large, the ears are elongated. I would compare them with the length of the nose from the tip to the eyes. The deer has a neat muzzle with VERY large round ears. Now as for the coloring. It should be noted that everyone has spots. In deer, they are located along the ridge and will come off after the first molt in October, while in spotted deer they are all over the body and will remain for life.

In red deer, the spot under the tail is yellow and small, dimly outlined. In a deer, on the contrary, it is white, wider and strikingly different in color from the general background.
And now the most important thing - about feeding. Or, more accurately, breastfeeding.
Golden rule: don't overfeed.

We gave cow's milk (necessarily boiled!) With the addition of water and infant formula "Malyutka 1" (one - that is, from birth).
Proportions: 1 liter of milk, 8 measuring spoons of the mixture, 0.5 liters of water. For the first 2 weeks, you need to feed 8-10 times a day, 100 g of the resulting mixture. It is better to use a bottle with a simple (not the most expensive) elongated nipple. By the way, because of the structure of the jaws, the deer did not recognize the Aventa’s nipple so respected by mothers. Of course, it is better to warm up to 36-38 degrees. You can check the temperature in the same way as for children - a drop on the bend of the elbow.

After the second week, you need to give about 150 ml of water during the day, between feedings. Once a day, we gave lightly salted (1 teaspoon without top per liter of boiled water). Now we feed 8 times a day, 250 ml each.


At the age of three weeks, the red deer was drunk with a five-day course of the Vetom-2 probiotic (why I won’t tell you exactly “2”, but that’s how we were determined in the veterinary clinic). Dilute one sachet in 200 ml of water, divide in half and give twice a day one hour after feeding (so you will need 5 sachets)
Month.

At this age, you can transfer from a baby bottle to a cow bottle (for feeding calves - sold in veterinary stores). No, of course, you can continue to drink from a small one, but it will be tiring - you need to fill it several times for one meal or have 4 at once. At the same time, we began to feed Yashechka with a whole milk substitute Kormilak.

Its cost in Primorsky Krai ranges from 1900 to 2400 for a 25-kilogram bag. This amount is enough for about 2 months. The first days we add kormilak to cow's milk, but we cancel the infant formula (i.e. it turns out 1 liter of milk + 0.75 ml of water + 100 g of kormilak), then (well, say, on the fifth day) we give pure kormilak, i.e. . at the rate of 1:9, as written on the package. I weighed on a kitchen scale Plastic container, it turned out to be 200 gr, i.e. almost 2 liters of water. At the age of one to two months, his daily intake increased from 2.5 to 4 liters of formula per day, and the frequency of feeding decreased from 6 to 4 times.

• Grass. I wondered for a long time when to start feeding with grass. But everything turned out to be easier - Yashichek himself reached for the raspberries. And off we go. Most of all he liked dandelions, grapes, raspberries. Then come beets, ash leaves, currants. He also loves berries terribly: o) Honeysuckle, strawberries, currants, raspberries, irga - everything goes with a bang. At the same time, the apples directly spits out. You can give pureed vegetables as a substitute for grass.
• Feces. Normally, he is like a goat - balls. Our pet had diarrhea at first. Wrong food - diarrhea, did not boil the bottle - diarrhea, overfed - diarrhea again. What to do. Give less food and carefully monitor the sterility of dishes.
• Dehydration on the second day of life at my home was determined by a veterinarian - Yashka refused to eat, could hardly stand on his feet. He was given a dropper in the neck (do not do it without a specialist!) with saline through a butterfly 4-ku, 200 ml + half a bottle of glucose. He almost immediately got to his feet, but it was impossible to feed, it was possible to give saline in the evening and replace one meal with it the next day. In general, having a doctor in the family, on the second day we were ready to repeat the drip on our own, but, fortunately, it was not necessary. In order to prevent, see above, drink salted water daily.
• Arrangement of the place. Here, of course, the more the better. Yasha had to live in an open chicken pen, 3x8. The size, frankly, is not great. Net height 3.5 meters. It is necessary to make a small canopy, 1.1-1.2 m high, with a roof and without one wall - so that it can enter freely, cover the floor with hay, which needs to be changed regularly (because they defecate, most often, under themselves).
• General recommendations. The life of these small, defenseless creatures is in your hands. Therefore, it is important to decide what will happen to them when they are ready to exist on their own: do you intend to give it to the zoo / zoo / safari park or plan to release it in wildlife. The permissible frequency of contact with the animal depends on this. If he is destined for the fate of a wild beast, then do not allow strangers to approach him, i.e. he should know only those 1-2 people who care about him. But you need to remember that even with this option, it is vital for him, no matter how pathetic it may sound, closeness and warmth, a sense of security - when you feed him, do not be lazy to stroke and talk - he will soon begin to recognize your voice. If in wildlife If you are not going to let him go, then you need to hug him as often as possible for the first 3-4 weeks - you yourself will see how it calms him down.

Deer. Deer do not leave their offspring. Often they hide the young, so if you happen to meet a deer in the field, do not try to help him until you are sure that his mother is dead. If you still had to take care of a deer for the first time, then it will be useful to learn the following initial recommendations. If your yard is not fenced, put up a fence with a perimeter of about 15 m. This area will be enough for the baby. It is better to use metal poles, which are easy to mount and dismantle, and use a metal mesh for fencing.

It is desirable that there are trees and shrubs inside the fenced area. As the fawn grows up, it will gradually be able to reach the lower branches and soon begin to feast on green leaves.

A dwelling can be built from plywood, enclosing three sides with it. Another sheet of plywood should be put on the roof, and covered with roofing paper on top so that water does not penetrate. The case remains for a small front door- and here's the finished corral for the deer. There should always be fresh water and a small piece of lick salt in the paddock.

Feeding a deer is not difficult. Basically, this is any kind of milk with the addition of its substitutes and various nutritional mixtures. It is best to feed with a half-liter bottle. Pre-prepared formula is stored in the refrigerator and must be refrigerated before use. hot water for heating. At first, the five daily feedings must be strictly adhered to, then gradually reduced as the fawn begins to nibble on grass and leaves, and also shows interest in the offered grain food. By this time, the nutrient mixture can be given in the feeder, pouring it on top of a slice of wheat bread. The fawn will start by sucking the milk mixture out of the bread and then get used to taking any food in this way.

From a flock of flies the best protection are bamboo curtains that darken a certain place where deer hide from annoying insects. You can lubricate the animal with a special protective solution, but you must first consult a specialist. Deer are unusually attached to people and will follow you around like dogs. They love treats - carrots, apples, peanuts, marshmallow root. Further fate the animal will do well if it is brought up in the area where it was picked up and where its relatives are found. Then, by the time of release, the deer will be sufficiently acclimatized. If there are other deer in the area, he will definitely find them. Sometimes young deer have diarrhea - a consequence of a violation of the diet. "¦ Do not try to treat animals on your own with home-grown remedies, do not give drugs at random. It is better to contact a veterinarian, he will prescribe the right remedy.

Hickman M., Guy M. Care for wild birds and furs.- M .: Lesn. prom-st. - 87 p.

Based on, frankly, very few domestic methodological and scientific publications, our own experience,
as well as a fairly detailed study of the long-term practice of deer breeding farms in Altai (including Soviet times), this article was prepared on the norms of feeding deer and marals by season and age.

To some, this information will surely seem outdated and irrelevant, but given the almost complete absence of domestic and even more foreign materials on this topic in Russia today, we considered it necessary to give our readers the opportunity to receive at least these bits of information. We hope that it will be useful to those who are seriously engaged or plan to breed game animals in enclosures.

The main thing in feeding captive deer is to avoid extremes. The fact is that the restriction of the food supply of animals to compound feed and grain leads to the fact that deer completely wean themselves from natural food and are too expensive for the owner of the enclosure. And the lack of feed leads to a relatively rapid degeneration of the livestock, which is manifested in a decrease in the weight and size of animals, in a deterioration in the quality of the trophy, and the sickness of the animals. Therefore, feeding should be balanced and rational. The composition and quantity of food for deer in the enclosure differ significantly in summer and winter time, and it is also advisable to make a distinction when feeding stags, deer and young animals, if possible.

On the basis of literature data and our own experience, we have developed a technology for feeding deer according to seasons and age.

summer feeding

During the warm period of the year, deer feed on plants growing on pastures, which is about 80-85% of their daily diet. However, it is unreasonable to rely on natural herbage, since animals do not eat all plants, and among those that do use differences in terms of preference. For example, unlike most agricultural ungulates, deer do not like cereal grasses. Grasses and sedges they willingly eat only in early spring. In addition to grasses in spring, summer and autumn, deer eat well leaves and thin, non-lignified shoots of trees and shrubs (and branches up to 1-1.5 cm thick in winter).

When loaded: one adult deer / 1.5 ha of pasture - forage plants of the natural grass stand have time to recover. With a higher density of animals, only poorly eaten plants remain. Hence, the need for annual sowing of pastures with fodder plants becomes obvious.

Deer are highly specific in eating pasture plants and bite plants selectively. Unlike agricultural herbivores, they can and even prefer to eat plants from the Umbelliferae, Compositae, Rosaceae and Ranunculaceae families, many of which are medicinal or poisonous to other animals and humans. Deer give special preference to plants with a juicy, bitter taste, not avoiding prickly and stinging herbs such as thistle, thistle, nettle. They eat plants containing milky juice (dandelion, blooming Sally), estrogens (alfalfa), ether-bearing plants (oregano, hogweed). Near salt licks and at watering places, deer eat almost all plants, including such grass as the soddy pike, which in other conditions is diligently ignored.

When caring for pastures (destroying weeds, applying mineral fertilizers and crop rotation), they are enough for summer feeding, and top dressing with compound feed and concentrates is optional.

winter feeding

Along with the seasons of the year, physiological changes occur in the body of animals, which lead to the fact that in winter period deer eat almost all the feed that is used in cattle breeding.

Hay is the main winter food for deer. Best of all, they eat small leaf hay harvested during the flowering period of grasses. Deer prefer hay made from legumes, they eat hay made from forbs somewhat worse, and marsh hay only in the absence of other roughage.

Cereal, late harvested (after coarsening of the grass) or hay wet in the rain is eaten poorly. They eat soybean hay well - almost completely, but harvesting soybean hay is laborious - it can only be dried in an artificial dryer.

With a lack of hay, you can ask the deer straw. Usually as an addition to hay on frosty days. At the same time, the straw is crushed and steamed. It can be flavored and calcined. The best is oat straw, which has a beneficial effect on digestion.

Wood-branch fodder for the winter is prepared in the form of brooms from branches of oak, linden, aspen, willow and dried in the shade, under a canopy. The branch forage collected in June-July has more nutrients. Branches should be no more than one and a half centimeters thick. Branches of elder, euonymus, wolf berries, buckthorn, bird cherry should not be used as food for deer. Best of all, deer eat crushed tree-branch food mixed with concentrates.

Ensiling is an indispensable way of harvesting fodder. Even well-harvested hay loses half of the nutrients contained in the green mass, while silage loses from 10 to 30%. And, of course, it is better eaten than hay. Feeding reindeer with silage in autumn and spring makes it possible to make a gradual transition from summer to winter food and from winter to summer food.

Aviaries, hunting farms and ranches

Average daily feed supply to reindeer by months of the year (kg/1 animal)

Daily feeding of reindeer by months of the year (kg/1 animal)

For silage, crops such as hogweed, corn, sunflower, Jerusalem artichoke, and rapeseed are harvested. The best silage is a mixture of forage crops such as sunflower with vetch or peas, oats with peas, corn with peas, soybeans or sunflowers. Natural grasses, sunflower and Jerusalem artichoke are best harvested for silage at the beginning of flowering; oats - in the phase of milky ripeness; corn - in the phase of wax ripeness.

The silo is laid in concrete trenches built on the territory of the park with a capacity of 600 cubic meters (width -8 m, height - 3 m, length - 25 m) or more. Such a trench can hold 1000 or more tons of finished silage. High quality silage is obtained by crushing green mass, compacting and sealing.

The quality of the silage is determined organoleptically. The best is silage, which has the smell of bread or apples, crumbling when pressed. Laboratory tests show that good silage has a dry matter content greater than 30% and an acidity level below 4.5% pH units (acetic/lactic acid is 1/2.3 and butyric acid is minimal).

Frozen silage should not be given to animals, but must be thawed and given immediately after, as it quickly deteriorates in the air. For the same reason, feeders should be cleaned after feeding. On warm days, the palatability of hay decreases, so it should be given less, and more silage. On hot days, silage turns sour, and it is advisable to give it twice - in the morning and in the evening.

Reindeer consume such concentrates as oats, barley, corn, bran, cake, meal. Cereals and cake are given in crushed form. They are usually used as complementary feeds to coarse and succulent feeds. In February-March, it is not necessary to give them if there is silage and hay good quality, but the introduction of concentrates into the diet from the end of March to May inclusive has a positive effect on the growth of horns.

Grain feed - barley, wheat, oats, rye, peas - is fed to deer in crushed form.

Oats are considered dietary food (especially after separation of the film from the grain). 1 kg of oats is taken as 1 feed unit (87 g of digestible protein; 1.3 g of calcium; 2.8 g of phosphorus).
Corn is digested by deer by 90% and contains 1.2-1.3 feed units per kilogram. Barley is rarely used because it is poorly digested. It is fed at the rate of 0.5 kg per deer. Rye and wheat are fed only in crushed form and with great care, since these feeds can cause diarrhea in animals and even paralysis of the hind limbs.

There are many essential amino acids in pea protein, which are desirable in the diet of deer in reasonable doses (daily dose is 500-800 g of crushed peas per adult deer). Cake (crushed) and meal can be given daily to deer in an amount of up to 2 kg per head.

One of the deer's favorite food is acorns, which are advisable to harvest in good years if there are not enough oaks in the enclosure.
Of the root crops, deer willingly eat potatoes, carrots, pumpkins (2-3 kg per day), worse - beets. Such top dressing is desirable in the fall, during the preparation for the rut, when pasture grasses are already coarsening and withering.

Norms of feeding stags by months of the year

Deer feeding norms by months of the year

Enclosure deer need feed additives, because, unlike wild animals, they are deprived of the opportunity to travel long distances in search of microelements and vitamins necessary for their full development. Thus, fish bone meal is used as a protein-mineral-vitamin top dressing during the period of antler growth in the amount of 3-5% of the total weight of the top dressing (at the rate of 5-10 g per deer per day). Meat and bone meal can be given in the same volumes. Feed precipitate, feed monocalcium phosphate, feed diammonium phosphate are used to balance the diet for calcium, phosphorus and nitrogen and are added in small amounts to the mixture of concentrates.

An obligatory component of any diet of deer is table salt - in the form of a lick or in bulk. A deer needs from 10 to 25 g of salt per day.
Deer consumption of hay, silage and concentrates depends on weather conditions. In frost, animals eat hay better (8-10 kg per adult deer), and they don’t eat silage at all. By spring, it is better to eat silage.

In winter, to ensure uniform feed intake, it is advisable to distribute them according to this scheme, at least on frosty days:

Distribution of hay (1/3 of the norm) - from 6 to 7 hours;
distribution of silage - from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.;
distribution of concentrates — from 15:00 to 16:00;
distribution of hay (2/3 of the norm) - from 17 to 18 hours.

In the spring from 8 to 9 o'clock they give concentrates; from 11 to 12 hours - silage and from 17 to 18 hours - hay.

Based on one head of an adult deer, it is necessary to harvest for the winter period:

Roughage -13-16 centners;
succulent feed - 15-17 centners;
concentrated feed - 2.2-3 centners.

Seasonal nutritional needs

Need in nutrients in different sex and age groups of deer is different in different seasons of the year. In an aviary, it is impossible and unnecessary to divide animals according to gender and age into groups (with the exception of isolating orphaned deer in order to feed them with cow's milk through a nipple) in order to feed them according to special diets. However, it is necessary to be aware of the physiological needs of intrapopulation groups and take this into account when distributing feed.

From May to October, deer feed mainly on pastures. In the warm period, they are quite well-fed and reach their maximum weight by autumn, by the rutting period. During the rut, stags and females eat little and become exhausted. From November to January, during a period of relative rest, the animals are gradually fattening up. In February-March, males begin to grow horns, and then molt. At this time, the stags lose weight and begin to fatten again with the advent of grass on pastures.

Particularly important periods for stags, when feeding needs to be increased, are the period of preparation for the rut (August - the first half of October); the rutting period, when the stags lose from 14 to 20% of their body weight (they are fed with concentrates at the rate of 0.2-0.3 kg per head); the period after the rut (the second half of October - December, when they need to be given 1.5 kg of good hay per head per day, 1-3 kg of root crops, 1-1.2 kg of concentrates). As it gets colder, root crops are excluded from the diet with an equivalent increase in roughage.

In winter, stags are given 2-3 kg of hay, 0.5-1 kg of brooms and about 1 kg of concentrates. With the onset warm days silage and root crops are introduced into the diet, reducing the amount of roughage and increasing the proportion of concentrates. In March-June, when the horns grow, the average nutritional requirement of the horns is as follows: 8-10 kg of hay and 2-3 kg of oats per head.

Before discarding the antlers and crowns (the part of the horn that remains on the deer's head after cutting the antlers), the stag must receive 0.5-1 kg of hay and brooms, 3-4 kg of silage and root crops, 1-1.2 kg of concentrates. With the advent of fresh grass, the stags graze in paddocks and receive an additional 0.6-1 kg of concentrates.

All year round they are given 10-15 g of salt per day, and if the diet is poor in calcium and phosphorus salts - 10 g of chalk or bone meal. It is desirable to give concentrated feed in a mixture: 300 g of oats, 300 g of corn, 400 g of soybean meal.

Feeding stags especially affects the growth of antlers during the rut and in the spring.

Increasing the diet more than the norm does not affect the growth of horns in better side and only reduces the profitability of the economy.

During the year, there are two periods when deer need enhanced nutrition: in spring - in the second half of pregnancy and in autumn - during preparation for the rut.
Lack of nutrition leads to the birth of weak calves.

The main food for deer after birth is mother's milk. Their intensive growth occurs in the first six months (daily weight gain is about half a kilogram), then it stops for the winter and resumes on pastures at the age of 8-12 months.

Because deer in enclosures are not separated from the herd, they receive the same diet as adults. However, if it is possible to orient the grazing of deer in the first six months on pastures where plants with a high content of digestible protein are planted, this will affect their growth and health in the most positive way.

To summarize all of the above in a nutshell, then in winter, during the coldest period of the year, the type of feeding of deer should be mainly hay. In this case, the lack of hay can be replaced with concentrates. And in the spring, with the onset of a warm period, the type of feeding should be changed to silage.

Published based on the materials of the magazine "Safari" No. 1, 2011.

I must make a reservation right away that my personal experience in this area is not very great - we (so far) have raised only one red deer baby. But at the very beginning we faced a huge problem - we could not find information anywhere that would help us out. Actually, that's why I came up with the idea to write a short guide for those who still have to enter in the search engines "how to feed a red deer cub."

First you need determine age animal. Our Yashik came to us through second hands, so only a veterinarian could reliably determine his age - 6-7 days. So, what does a wapiti cub look like at a week of age:

Height at withers: 64 cm

He is still not very good on his feet, they are slightly curved with the letter X. He often “cries”.

Teeth: back (if I may say so) not yet, front 8 (now Yasha is already 2 months old, but the front is gone), they are all below. 2 in the center are very large and funny: o) the rest are quite small.

Weight: 10-12 kg (but this is taking into account that he was fed incorrectly for his entire first week)

By the way, it will be useful to understand who is in front of you - red deer or spotted deer. They are often confused. The red deer is larger (against our 65 at the withers - 45-50 in the spotted deer, weight approx. 4-6 kg). The head is large, the ears are elongated. I would compare them with the length of the nose from the tip to the eyes. The deer has a neat muzzle with VERY large round ears. Now as for the coloring. It should be noted that everyone has spots. In deer, they are located along the ridge and will come off after the first molt in October, while in spotted deer they are all over the body and will remain for life.

In red deer, the spot under the tail is yellow and small, dimly outlined. In a deer, on the contrary, it is white, wider and strikingly different in color from the general background.

And now the most important thing - about feeding. Or is it more correct to say breastfeeding.

Golden rule: don't overfeed. Feeding and a deer and a fawn represents a fractional supply of milk. We gave cow's milk (necessarily boiled!) With the addition of water and infant formula "Malyutka 1" (one - that is, from birth).

Proportions: 1 liter of milk, 8 measuring spoons of the mixture, 0.5 liters of water. For the first 2 weeks, you need to feed 8-10 times a day, 100 g of the resulting mixture. It is better to use a bottle with a simple (not the most expensive) elongated nipple. By the way, because of the structure of the jaws, the deer did not recognize the pacifier so respected by Aventa's mothers. Of course, it is better to warm up to 36-38 degrees.

After the second week, you need an afternoon, between feedleniya, give about 150 ml of water. Once a day we gave lightly salted (1 teanaya spoon without top per liter of boiled water). ToOrmi now 8 times a day, 250 ml.

At the age of three weeks, the red deer was drunk with a five-day course of the Vetom-2 probiotic (why I won’t tell you exactly “2”, but that’s how we were determined in the veterinary clinic). Dilute one sachet in 200 ml of water, divide in half and give twice a day one hour after feeding (so you will need 5 sachets)

Month. At this age, you can transfer from a baby bottle to a cow bottle (for feeding calves - sold in veterinary stores). No, of course, you can continue to drink from a small one, but it will be tiring - you need to fill it several times for one meal or have 4 at once. Its cost in Primorsky Krai ranges from 1900 to 2400 for a 25-kilogram bag. This amount is enough for about 2 months. The first days we add kormilak to cow's milk, but we cancel the infant formula (i.e. it turns out 1 liter of milk + 0.75 ml of water + 100 g of kormilak), then (well, say, on the fifth day) we give pure kormilak, i.e. . at the rate of 1:9, as written on the package. I weighed a plastic container on a culinary scale, it turned out to be 200 gr, i.e. almost 2 liters of water. At the age of one to two months, his daily intake increased from 2.5 to 4 liters of formula per day, and the frequency of feeding decreased from 6 to 4 times.

Grass . I wondered for a long time when to start feeding with grass. But everything turned out to be easier - Yashichek himself reached for the raspberries. And off we go. Most of all he liked dandelions, grapes, raspberries.
Then come beets, ash leaves, currants. He also loves berries terribly: o) Honeysuckle, strawberries, currants, raspberries, irga - everything goes with a bang. At the same time, the apples directly spits out. You can give pureed vegetables as a substitute for grass.

Feces. Normally, he is like a goat - balls. Our pet had diarrhea at first. Wrong food - diarrhea, did not boil the bottle - diarrhea, overfed - diarrhea again. What to do. Give less food and carefully monitor the sterility of dishes.

Dehydration on the second day of life at my house, the veterinarian determined us - Yashka refused to eat, barely stood on his feet. He was given a dropper in the neck (do not do it without a specialist!) with saline through a butterfly 4-ku, 200 ml + half a bottle of glucose. He almost immediately got to his feet, but it was impossible to feed, it was possible to give saline in the evening and replace one meal with it the next day. In general, having a doctor in the family, on the second day we were ready to repeat the drip on our own, but, fortunately, it was not necessary. In order to prevent, see above, drink salted water daily.

Arrangement places. Here, of course, the more the better. Yasha had to live in an open chicken pen, 3x8. The size, frankly, is not great. Net height 3.5 meters. It is necessary to make a small canopy, 1.1-1.2 m high, with a roof and without one wall - so that it can enter freely, cover the floor with hay, which needs to be changed regularly (because they defecate, most often, under themselves).

General recommendations. The life of these small, defenseless creatures is in your hands. Therefore, it is important to decide what will happen to them when they are ready to exist on their own: do you intend to give it to the zoo / zoo / safari park or plan to release it into wildlife. The permissible frequency of contact with the animal depends on this. If he is destined for the fate of a wild beast, then do not allow strangers to approach him, i.e. he should know only those 1-2 people who care about him. But you need to remember that even with this option, it is vital for him, no matter how pathetic it may sound, closeness and warmth, a sense of security - when you feed him, do not be lazy to stroke and talk - he will soon begin to recognize your voice. If you are not going to let go into the wild, then you need to hug him as often as possible for the first 3-4 weeks - you yourself will see how it calms him down.

The most important thing in reindeer farming is feeding, the red deer is less demanding on the variety of food than the cow, but very demanding on quality and quantity.
The biggest mistake I have seen with other farmers is dividing into small paddocks. In a small space, animals, they say, are better controlled and driven from paddock to paddock, but here we are faced with another problem - a trampled field. At the project in Smolenskaya, my boss was of a mathematical mindset, and how he could (and he could do it well) drove me his view of things. I decided to digitize the deer, digitize their vitality, this is useful for me and was familiar to management.
Here's what I got: In a large paddock, the grass left much more slowly than in a small one. Pure proportion - X sq. m area per 1 deer for 1 day, it was not possible to display. For 7.5 ha it was 17.4, and for 2 ha it was 25. All because the deer trampled down part of the field. After all, there is a concept - the living and total area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe apartment, for a small paddock, the percentage of area for hauling and trails was noticeably higher, and hence the lack of feed and poor condition for the breeding season. If you don't feed then our animals will approach the autumn mating thin and emaciated, and this is a minus for reproduction, and if we feed, then we get into another problem. Deer are wild animals and will eat as long as there is food, especially as tasty as compound feed. He calculated the dose incorrectly, and females will come to mating with obesity, and this is also a minus for reproduction. Therefore, every reindeer breeder should strive to keep his livestock on natural feeding as long as possible, this is physiologically correct and economically feasible. The area of ​​feeding pens must be calculated taking into account the amount and value of grass cover, rainfall, soil structure, geography, and many other factors. After talking with other reindeer herders, I came to the conclusion that for a normal meadow Middle lane, paddocks should be 6-8ha. You don't need more, you don't need less. Have 4 pieces of small paddocks of 1.5-2 hectares for various zootechnical purposes.

That is why every respectful reindeer breeder must determine externally, I would even say - from afar, the condition of their animals and correct it in time so that it comes up in perfect condition by September, otherwise we will lose in calves.

I give you a sign from the site, maybe someone will come in handy. Notice how thin the line is between Good and Very Good Condition.
So, autumn came, we coped and the second stage of feeding began.
We need to deceive the deer, they, like any females, including the human race, will never become pregnant if they do not have a guarantee of a good apartment and the opportunity to feed a deer child. We need to deceive the females, to do this, make them think that everything will be fine. Avoid crowding and abundant feeding. In autumn, the grass is not the same, so we add silage / haylage and grain to the diet. Here you don’t have to worry too much that you overfeed - you won’t get particularly fat in the fall, especially with such physical activity that the male experiences, but still don't overdo it. After all, a deer is a herbivore and an excessive amount of concentrated feed causes acidosis and death of the animal. The normal dose is considered to be 1–1.5 kg per adult deer and 0.5–0.75 kg per calf, depending on feed quality and temperature. environment.
We put a family of deer (20–25 females per male) on an area of ​​​​2 hectares, and small paddocks came in handy. For industrial breeding, where the accuracy of whose calf and from whom is no longer important, then we put one hundred females and 4–5 males on 8 ha, naturally without horns.