• Title/Summary/Keyword: deer

Search Result 1,186, Processing Time 0.025 seconds

Effect of Salt Level in Water on Feed Intake and Growth Rate of Red and Fallow Weaner Deer

  • Ru, Y.J.;Glatz, P.C.;Bao, Y.M.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
    • /
    • v.18 no.1
    • /
    • pp.32-37
    • /
    • 2005
  • Under a typical Mediterranean environment in southern Australia, the evaporation rate increases significantly in hot summers, resulting in highly saline drinking water for grazing animals. Also in the cropping areas, dryland salinity is a problem. Grazing animals under these environments can ingest excessive amount of salt from feed, drinking water and soil, which can lead to a reduction in growth rate. To understand the impact of high salt intake on grazing deer, two experiments were conducted to assess the effect of salt levels in drinking water on feed intake and growth rate of red and fallow weaner deer. The results revealed that fallow deer did not show any abnormal behaviour or sickness when salt level in drinking water was increased from 0% to 2.5%. Feed intake was not affected until the salt content in water exceeded 1.5%. Body weight gain was not affected by 1.2% salt in drinking water, but was reduced as salt content in water increased. Compared with deer on fresh water, the feed intake of red deer on saline water was 11-13% lower when salt level in drinking water was 0.4-0.8%. An increase in salt level in water up to 1% resulted in about a 30% reduction in feed intake (p<0.01). Body weight gain was significantly (p=0.004) reduced when salt level reached 1.2%. The deer on 1% salt tended to have a higher (p=0.052) osmotic pressure in serum. The concentration of P, K, Mg and S in serum was affected when salt level in water was over 1.0%. The results suggested that the salt level in drinking water should be lower than 1.2% for fallow weaner deer and 0.8% for red weaner deer to avoid any reduction in feed intake. Deer farmers need to regularly test the salt levels in drinking water on their farms to ensure that the salt intake of grazing deer is not over the levels that deer can tolerate.

Effect of Salt Level in the Feed on Performance of Red and Fallow Weaner Deer

  • Ru, Y.J.;Fischer, M.;Glatz, P.C.;Bao, Y.M.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
    • /
    • v.17 no.5
    • /
    • pp.638-642
    • /
    • 2004
  • In Australia, many cropping areas are affected by salt. In these regions, Chenopodiaceous plants, such as Atriplex, Kochia and Bassia spp have been planted to improve soil conditions. These plants have become invaluable feed resources for grazing animals in dry summers, but have a high sodium content. To assess the impact of high salt intake on grazing deer, two experiments were conducted. The first experiment used 30 fallow weaner deer to examine the effect of salt level in the diet on feed intake, water intake and body weight of fallow deer. Salt was added to lucerne chaff at 0, 1.5, 3.0, 4.5 and 6% and fresh water was offered all the time. Increasing the salt level in the diet from 0 to 6% didn't affect feed intake, osmotic pressure and mineral concentration in blood of fallow deer. However, water intake was significantly higher (p<0.05) in deer fed diets containing more than 3% salt. Body weight was lower (p${\leq}$0.056) for fallow deer in July and August when salt content was over 3%, suggesting they can ingest over 15 g sodium/day without significant depression in both feed intake and growth rate if the fresh water is available. In the second experiment, 18 red weaner deer were fed lucerne chaff diets containing 1.5, 4.5 and 6.0% salt with 6 deer/diet. The results revealed that feed intake and blood osmotic pressure were similar (p>0.05) for red deer fed different levels of salt although the feed intake declined from 1.91 to 1.67 kg with the increase of salt level from 1.5% to 6.0% in the diet. Water intake was significantly higher for deer fed diets containing over 4.5% salt, but there was no difference in body weight during the experiment. However, no recommendation can be made on the salt tolerance of red deer due to limited increment of salt level in the diet.

DEER FARMING IN KOREA : ON-FARM SURVEY IN KYUNG-KEE AND CHUNG-BUK PROVINCES

  • Kwak, W.S.;Kim, K.H.;Kim, C.W.;Jeon, B.T.;Lee, S.M.
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
    • /
    • v.7 no.3
    • /
    • pp.347-355
    • /
    • 1994
  • Thirty farmers, representing three major deer counties in Kyung-Kee province and 50 farmers scattered in Chung-Buk province were interviewed to determine the current status of the Korean deer industry. Items surveyed were general information, farmed deer breeds. farm facilities, feeding and nutrition, hygiene and disorder incidence, velvetting, income sources, products and their sale, management problems and herd size control. The 888 deer farmed in Kyung-Kee province included spotted deer (Cervus nippon. 69.4%), red deer (Cervus elaphus, 6.1%), wapiti (Cervus elaphus canadensis, 12.2%), spotted $\times$ red deer hybrids (6.2%), red deer $\times$ wapiti hybrids (4.6%). and fallow deer (Dama dama, 1.5%). Poor information on feeding was evidenced by wide variation among farms of daily feed supply and ratios of forage to concentrate, and poor nutritional considerations according to physiological status of deer. Hygiene needed more attention. The incidence of diseases and disorders was high: enteritis (73.3% in Kyung-Kee province), fractures (60.0%), and dystocia (56.7%). The major source of farm income was velvet antler and its blood. To improve productive efficiency, attention should be given to improving farm facilities, simplified product marketing, developing standard feeding system, and economic grazing system.

Diel and seasonal activity pattern of alien sika deer with sympatric mammalian species from Muljangori-oreum wetland of Hallasan National Park, South Korean

  • Banjade, Maniram;Han, Sang-Hyun;Jeong, Young-Hun;Oh, Hong-Shik
    • Journal of Ecology and Environment
    • /
    • v.45 no.2
    • /
    • pp.88-96
    • /
    • 2021
  • Background: Sika deer, Cervus nippon, were originally introduced to South Korea from Japan and Taiwan for commercial farming purposes. Unfortunately, they were released into the wild during religious events and have since begun to impact the native ecosystem and species endemic to South Korea. The study of activity patterns can improve our understanding of the environmental impact of non-native species and their association with sympatric species. Using camera traps, we studied the diel and seasonal activity patterns of non-native sika deer and quantified the temporal overlap with sympatric mammalian species in the Muljangori-oreum wetlands of Hallasan National Park, South Korea. Results: A total of 970 trap events were recorded for five mammalian species from nine locations during the camera-trap survey. Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus tianschanicus) had the highest number of recorded events (72.0%), followed by sika deer (Cervus nippon) (16.2%), wild boar (Sus scrofa) (5.0%), Asian badger (Meles leucurus) (4.5%), and the Jeju weasel (Mustela sibirica quelpartis) (2.0%). Sika deer had bimodal activity patterns throughout the year, with peaks throughout the spring-autumn twilight, and day and night time throughout the winter. Relating the daily activity of sika deer with other mammalian species, roe deer expressed the highest degree of overlap (Δ4 = 0.80) while the Asian badger demonstrated the lowest overlap (Δ4 = 0.37). Conclusions: Our data show that sika deer are a crepuscular species with seasonal variations in daily activity patterns. Additionally, we identified the temporal differences in activity peaks between different mammals in the Muljangori-oreum wetlands and found higher degree of overlap between sika deer and roe deer during twilight hours.

Quantified Analyses of Musk Deer Farming in China: A Tool for Sustainable Musk Production and Ex situ Conservation

  • Meng, Xiuxiang;Gong, Baocao;Ma, Guang;Xiang, Leilei
    • Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
    • /
    • v.24 no.10
    • /
    • pp.1473-1482
    • /
    • 2011
  • Adult male musk deer (Moschus spp.) secrete musk, a widely used ingredient in traditional Asian medicine and the international perfume industry. Musk deer are endangered due to historic over-utilization of musk and habitat loss. Musk deer farming, provides an important way of conserving musk deer and ensuring a sustainable musk supply. For over 50 years musk deer farming has been conducted in China with the endangered Alpine musk deer (Moschus sifanicus) the predominant farmed musk deer species. To date, few studies have examined the musk production of captive musk deer. This study analyzed musk-extraction data collected from 1997 to 2009 at Xinglongshan Musk Deer Farm, Gansu, China. The musk-extraction ratio (MER) of captive male musk deer was 90.30% (n = 732), while the annual average musk extraction (AME) per animal was $7.90{\pm}0.17\;g$ with the range from 0.00 g to 34.20 g (n = 732). The origin of the deer had an influence on AME and MER production, with male wild-captured (WC) individuals recording higher values (AME, $8.76{\pm}0.27\;g$, n = 272; MER, 93.75%, n = 272) than those of captive breeding (CB) males (AME: $7.39{\pm}0.22\;g$, n = 460; MER: 88.26%, n = 460). The origin of an individual's parents, however, did not influence AME and MER. Age also influenced musk production with the MER of 1.5-year-old males being 87.5% with an average musk production of $8.27{\pm}0.47\;g$ (n = 96). The peak period for musk production was from 1.5 to 8.5 years of age. The results of our study demonstrate musk deer farming could work as an effective measure to protect musk deer and provide sustainable musk resources, however, the musk production including MER and AME could be improved through optimizing the managing and breeding system in endangered musk deer farming.