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.

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 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

A dramatic increase in world meat prices in response to demand from China is likely to have a more muted effect on venison prices.

An outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) has resulted in half of China’s pig herd being killed since August 2018, pushing Chinese pork prices and meat imports to record highs. According to Reuters, Chinese meat imports will peak in 2022, before declining as domestic production recovers and prices ease.   

Velvet prices ease: Concerns about the increasing supply of velvet has meant some importers were reluctant to commit to orders early in the season, says DINZ marketing manager Rhys Griffiths. This is despite fundamental indicators remaining strong in key markets.

A fundamental requirement of an animal traceability scheme is that the tagged animal must be registered, not just tagged. But some farmers appear to believe it’s enough to buy and insert their NAIT tags. The next step, registering the animal with NAIT, is not happening.

Ensuring deer do well in the cold, wet months of winter is a priority for the deer industry

Deer Industry NZ supports He waka eke noa, the primary sector commitment to develop and implement an effective programme for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from farming

Velvet markets steady: NZDFA branch chairs meeting in Wellington earlier this month were briefed on the state of the velvet market by DINZ Asia markets manager Rhys Griffiths and DINZ board member Tony Cochrane.
 
They said New Zealand’s reputation as a food producer and the quality of NZ velvet ensured that it had a strong reputation in both traditional and health food markets. However, they noted that demand will have to increase to absorb future production increases to maintain steady returns.
 

The world market for New Zealand’s farm-raised venison is undergoing a period of change, with established markets evolving and new markets emerging.

Deer Industry NZ (DINZ) chief executive Innes Moffat says some important new markets have been developed as a result of active market development programmes by individual venison companies, or collectively by the five main venison companies, supported by DINZ.

A case study of greenhouse gas emissions on deer farms has shown that only small reductions in emissions can be achieved by making management changes, short of reducing the number of livestock on the farm.  

Farms with land classes that are suitable for other uses, such as carbon and/or production forestry, or cash cropping, are likely to have the greatest ability to reduce their emissions when farming is included in the Emissions Trading Scheme.

A big shout-out goes to the Southland Environment Advance Party. They walked away from the Environment Southland community awards last week with the “Environmental Action in Water and Land Management Award” and a $1000 cash prize.

Advance Party members at the awards dinner with Jill Gwynne, a representative of the award sponsor AON

Deer Industry NZ and the NZ Deer Farmers Association strongly encourage farmers who are concerned about aspects of the government’s proposed fresh water reforms to make a submission