• Record price for a stag sold at auction?
• New velvet tags being investigated.
• The dream – no recording, no paperwork.
• Keen demand for environmental help.
• Birth year is important.
• Progress with Deer Select.
• Handling focus in latest Deer Facts.
• More ECan paperwork for farmers.
• Alliance opens new Southland venison plant.
• Have a wonderful festive season.
• AgResearch joins the festive fun.

Aucklander John Ramsey has been deer farming for 30 years but he had never entered a velvet competition until last year when he entered the Xcell Rising Stars competition. Having tasted success there, he entered this year’s Velvet Nationals where he swept the field.

Velvet marketers say a good spring, with plenty of pasture growth, meant the antler harvest this year began about two weeks earlier than past years. Buying activity began strongly in late-October, with prices for the traditional Korean styles fully firm on last season’s close.

• Levy changes for new season
• Farm environmental help available
• Firm venison prices predicted
• A very sad time for the Wallis family
• MPI gives industry's own auditors the tick
• How serious is FE in deer herds?
• Less stress makes for a happier farm
• Corn taps free nitrogen

The velvet market during the 2018-19 season is expected to be reasonably stable, with consumption in Asia increasing in line with production growth in New Zealand.

Apart from a brief downward dip in prices two years ago, driven by uncertainty about regulatory changes in China, NZ velvet production and prices have increased for eight years.

Pamu Deer Milk won the Most Novel Product award at the NZ Food Awards. Produced by Pamu and their partners, the McIntyre family of Southland, the milk is a triumph of animal husbandry and innovation at all levels. Read about the McIntyres' experience milking red deer here >>

• ​Proposed levy increase under discussion
• Looking for help with your Farm Environment Plan?
• Wintering systems in the spotlight
• Active promotion of Cervena® in Europe
• New technology a double-edged sword?
• Deer Facts in DIN
• Deer museum for Wanaka
• Moa brews the first deer beer

Amendments to the National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) Act, passed under urgency in parliament last week, are designed to make the NAIT system more effective.

DINZ chief executive Dan Coup says NAIT was set-up to enable the movements of cattle and deer between properties to be tracked accurately and quickly.

The DINZ board has decided, following consultation with levy payers, to apply to sign the Government-Industry Agreement (GIA) for Biosecurity Readiness and Response. Assuming the minister for biosecurity Damien O'Connor accepts the industry’s application, the agreement will be signed later this year.

Venison marketers say they are getting good uptake from farmers for the supply contracts now on offer for the traditional chilled season, from August to November. Beyond that, they are looking for a spread of supply.

There are now 26 Advance Parties (APs) operating from north of Auckland to Southland. DINZ Passion2Profit manager Innes Moffatt says some of those set-up three or four years ago are changing direction and in most APs there is a greater focus on the environment.

• Know a youngster who is interested in deer? Get them to apply for the Future Deer Farmers Experience 2018.
• Possible levy increase to be discussed.
• More workshops for rural professionals.
• Peel Forest deer farmer wins Rabobank Award.
• Clachanburn profiled.

• Looking for an inside job? With the weather cold and wet, it’s a good time to make a start on your Farm Environment Plan (FEP).
• Increased levy to fund more services?
• DeerPro to come in-house? The DINZ board is proposing that DeerPRO – formerly Johne’s Management Ltd – should be managed directly by DINZ and funded by normal venison levies.
• Simon Limmer joins DINZ board.
• Auckland students get a taste of deer farming.
• Have your say on the Zero Carbon Bill.
• Pāmu deer milk wins innovation award.

The 41 deer farmers at the Advance Party National Workshop held in Methven last week have returned home well-armed with ideas for changes they can make to improve profitability on their own farms.

Deer farmers wanting fewer late fawning hinds can now buy sires and hinds with breeding values (BVs) for earlier fawning.  Not every deer farmer is looking for hinds that cycle early, but nobody wants late fawns, says Deer Select manager Sharon McIntyre.

Mycoplasma bovis is unlikely to pose a risk to farmed deer in New Zealand, but the outbreak among dairy and beef cattle holds lessons about the importance of farm biosecurity for all involved in livestock farming.

Long-term prospects for NZ velvet in the major Asian markets are looking positive says DINZ Asia manager Rhys Griffiths, following his return from a market planning and development visit to South Korea and China with chief executive Dan Coup.

• Environmental answers for all deer farmers
• Andy Macfarlane honoured
• The conference is now on-line
• A deer anthelmintic is on its way
• Share the AP benefits in Methven
• Velvet stem cells are precious
• Marlborough & North Canterbury farms wanted for water study
• Wisconsin responds to CWD

The best people to take photos of deer are farmers themselves, as shown by the winners and placegetters in the 2018 MSD Animal Health Deer Industry Photographic Competition.