- Joint promotions gain momentum
- Rural Professionals: Diverse group of professionals get down to deer farming business
- Supplementary Questions: think about the end use for your supplement when planning feed needs
- Southland on Show: Southland Environment AP shows off farm projects and winter housing systems

• Consumer-friendly velvet product launched in Taiwan
• The perils of market predictions
• Trees for deer
• Last season for paper-based velvet tracking
• Interested in becoming a board observer?
• Further caution on mature stags
• Transporting stock – is your paperwork right?
• Ticks moving south

DINZ has set up a contestable venison marketing fund to support marketers with innovative projects that have the potential to build new sales for venison. The $250,000 fund, which at this stage is a one-off, is a response to the Covid-19 outbreak, which has severely disrupted venison markets.

Venison marketers say the long-term future for venison is great. Its attributes – a healthy, nutritious, natural, tasty food produced in a great environment – are just what many consumers are looking for. But Covid-19 is still far from being defeated, with severe sales disruption in major markets.

NZ deer velvet products are enjoying strong underlying consumer demand in a very uncertain world. It is unknown how these opposing factors will influence prices to farmers in the 2020/2021 season, which is now underway.

Deer farming has a long history of striving for better environmental stewardship, but it has had to take a hands-on approach to getting its message across to regulators. Industry representatives have found the best way to communicate is through ‘deer 101’ farm visits for officials and training days for regional council auditors. 

Seven years after the first deer farming Advance Parties (APs) were set up, one in five deer farmers belongs to one of 28 APs operating across the country. When Primary Growth Partnership funding of the APs ends in 2023, DINZ says it will continue to fund APs and their close cousins, the Deer Industry Environment Groups.

Deer farmers appear to be growing their deer quicker. Growth rates for stags and hinds in the 2018 and 2019 seasons were 4 per cent higher than in the average for the previous four seasons. This amounts to 2 kg of extra carcass weight for a deer killed on 1 November.

• Venison – short chilled season expected
• Winter grazing guidelines issued
• Essential facts on fresh water:
• Free training
• DINZ reviewing budget

- Hawke’s Bay recovering
- Deer Industry Conference: full coverage of first-ever virtual deer conference
- Next Generation 2020: visits to Smedley Station and Temco Agriculture plus workshop sessions
- Tech Webinar Series: velvet, reproduction, DeerPRO and industry updates in online programme

The deer farming industry says it is hoping the health of waterways, rather than arbitrary rules, will drive the way councils enforce the government’s new freshwater regulations.

The National Policy Statement on Freshwater Management (NPS-FM), National Environmental Standards for Freshwater (NES-FW), stock exclusion regulations, and regulations in the measurement and reporting of water takes are now law.

Venison marketers are building demand for NZ venison products that consumers can eat at home. The challenge is to find profitable channels to replace reduced demand from foodservice during Covid-19. Retail, on-line and meal kits all show potential. 

Results from a just-completed trial at AgResearch Invermay have shown that progeny of stags with high CARLA scores grow better, faster and more profitably. High genetic merit for CARLA is really positive for deer productivity and welfare.

• On-line conference presos on YouTube and podcast
• Novel Korean market visit great for the NZ velvet brand
• Future deer farmers’ tour applications close today
• Hawkes Bay deer farmer briefing, 5th August
• Hawkes Bay NZDFA members – it’s our shout, 6th August
• Make your native bush sing
• Bigger is not always better
• Geoff Asher retires
• Lincoln deer scientist retires
• Calling rural professionals in the south
• Wintering barns, sediment traps and more