The deer industry says the government’s freshwater policy decisions will give farmers more certainty about what they need to do on their farms to comply with the revised national freshwater quality standard and new regulations.

Deer Industry NZ chair Ian Walker says deer farmers have long supported the need for farm environment plans, so making them mandatory should not be a burden, so long as the proposed farm plans address actual environmental risks and auditing reflects deer farming knowledge and understanding of deer behaviours.

Marketers of New Zealand farm-raised venison are making a concerted push to build sales through on-line outlets and through gourmet retailers. This gourmet product, normally sold mainly through food service distributors to chefs, has been particularly hard-hit by the sound of restaurant doors slamming shut around the globe.

DINZ News: We’re digital only this time

DINZ News: DINZ office closed – work continues from home

Talk about your most important asset

Markets: 2020 will be a challenging season

Venison processing an essential service: Farmers, processing plants, and key elements of the supply chain that support farming and processors, will be considered “essential services” during the Covid-19 Alert Level 4 lockdown. This begins at 11.55 pm on Wednesday night and will last at least four weeks.

The escalation of Covid-19 infections around the world is having a serious impact on demand for New Zealand’s deer products. The degree to which this affects future returns will depend upon the speed with which countries can get the virus under control and allow normal commerce to resume.

We face a once-in-a-generation challenge in addressing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the associated dislocation of the global economy

A scientific study has shown that the quality of NZ deer antler velvet has greatly improved in the last three decades. It contains more of the lipids and proteins that are linked to the bioactivity of deer velvet products and their value as natural health foods.

In the study, funded by the deer industry and AgResearch, velvet antler harvested from red and elk/wapiti deer in the 2018/19 season was analysed and the results compared with a 1991 study. This showed the average velvet antler today is of higher quality than the best of the antlers analysed in the earlier study.

Parasite workshops now in your area: A series of deer parasite management workshops is now underway. The SI workshops, convened by Dave Lawrence, were expected to be completed this month, but some have been disrupted by the Southland floods. Look on the DINZ website for revised dates. The NI ones, convened by Pania Flint, run through March and April. Funding comes from the P2P programme, with assistance from the NZDFA and Ian Spiers Memorial Trust.

The good work deer farmers are doing to improve the health of their waterways is expected to have human health benefits.

“While there is a public focus on nitrogen, sediment is a more important issue for deer. Not only does it contain valuable topsoil, it contains faeces and phosphorus. Also, sediment can smother the streambed, making it inhospitable for much stream life,” says DINZ environmental stewardship manager Lindsay Fung.

Deer Industry NZ chief executive Innes Moffat says venison sales have not been seriously affected by the disruption to the Chinese market caused by the novel corona virus outbreak. Deer processing plants are working at normal capacity for this time of the year, with product flowing to major markets.

“China takes 50 per cent of New Zealand’s lamb and beef, nearly all of our mutton, but only 10 per cent of our venison. Our main venison markets are northern Europe and the United States. South Korea is our biggest velvet market, followed closely by China,” he says.

Deer Industry NZ has beefed-up its farmer services with the appointment of Phil McKenzie as manager farm performance, a new position. 

DINZ chief executive Innes Moffat says McKenzie is now managing the on-farm components of the industry’s Primary Growth Partnership programme, Passion2Profit (P2P), as well as the development of DINZ’s farm-facing services. In these roles he works closely with DINZ producer manager Tony Pearse and environmental stewardship manager Lindsay Fung.

Fancy having a say on what deer industry research is done and how it is implemented?  Apply to join one of the DINZ/AgResearch innovation steering groups.  There are 4 groups (on-farm, off-farm, improved breeding decisions and environment) and they will each be run as per these terms of reference.  Find out how to apply by clicking here.  We are currently recruiting for the on-farm, off-farm groups and improved bree