WILDLIFE INDUSTRY
Robert J. Hudson & Bruce A. Burton
Since the Wisconsinian glaciers retreated from much of
the Canadian landscape 9,000-11,000 years ago, wildlife has been used as a
subsistence resource by indigenous people. With European contact, wildlife was
commercialized to serve local markets for meat and export markets for furs. Much
of Canada's economic development, until the
1870s in the west and into this century in the north, was built on this trade.
Fueled by market demands and uncontrolled access, this resource was profoundly
depleted so that by 1900 wild ruminants east of the Rocky Mountains had all but
disappeared. The demise of the bison was followed by sequential destruction of
wapiti, pronghorns and other game animals. The market hunter and game butcher
became regarded with disdain as tight controls on harvests were implemented.
Sport hunters then as now lead the war on market hunting. The movement rose in
the industrialized eastern United States and was championed by such public
figures as Theodore Roosevelt, a founding member of the Boone & Crockett Club.
The US Lacey Act (1900) controlled interstate trade in wildlife, closing a
loophole which essentially ended market hunting and prevented the development of
game ranching and farming. Canadian legislation lagged but eventually banned
sale of game in most provinces.
As we move towards the twenty-first century, once again the tide is turning.
Interest in sport hunting is waning as Canada's population becomes more urban
and wildlife has become a recreational and contemplative resource (or as some
would argue a non-resource). Sport hunters are finding themselves under attack
yet they are able to stir sympathy to maintain wildlife in the public domain and
have formed uneasy alliances with naturalists and animal rights advocates in
their opposition to commercial game production.
Wildlife farming and ranching have been damned as just another aspect of
depletive market hunting (Geist 1988). Yet, this view
apparently was not held by all turn-of-the-century conservationists who forged
wildlife policy. Gordon Hewitt, Canadian negotiator of the North American
Waterfowl Treaty, considered game farming to be "quite another thing from the
carnage in our woods ..." and encouraged the Canadian government to explore
the husbandry of bison.
Taking steps to minimize possible impacts on wild populations, most provinces
have cautiously embraced commercial game production as a way to stabilize
failing agricultural economies and provide incentives for landscape conservation
on private lands. From its birth in the 1970s, the Canadian game industry has
grown to a current inventory of about 800 farms holding 90,000 animals valued at
$180 million. This chapter reviews the emergence of this promising new animal
industry.
History of Game Production
From 1690 until 1870, the
western interior of Canada (Rupert's Land) was administered
by the Hudson Bay Company. Game raising was widely practiced although not on a
commercial scale (Moodie and Kaye 1976) . Some cases amounted to pet-keeping to relieve boredom at
isolated fur posts. Other efforts such as keeping bison at major forts were a
military contingency in case of sieges by rival companies or local natives. But
the commercial possibilities were pondered. Samuel Hearne, a company employee in
the late 1700s, considered moose to be:
...the easiest to tame and domesticate of the deer kind. I have
repeatedly seen them at Churchill as tame as sheep ..
Governor George Simpson encouraged domestication of caribou:
..."I am anxious that the York Indians should be directed to get a few young
Deer [caribou] in the spring, as with proper training I think they may supersede
the use of dogs"...
Perhaps because of their similarity to cattle, bison were among the first to be
evaluated as alternative livestock. Agricultural settlement at Red River in southern Manitoba after 1820 lead
to several experiments with bison domestication and cross-breeding. But bison and their hybrids proved
rather hard to manage and, with improved availability of cattle from Missouri, the experiment was abandoned. An
attempt also was made to develop a buffalo wool industry based on shed undercoat
collected on the plains but costs of collection, processing and exporting were
greater than returns on English markets.
The massive Dominion Department of Agriculture Cattalo Experiment spanned fifty
years (1915-65) . The objective was to blend the
meat-producing qualities of beef cattle with the hardiness of bison (Peters
1984). Particular attention was paid to the problem of hybrid infertility
(especially male sterility) and at one point in the experiment, yak were used in
an attempt to bridge genetic incompatibilities without success. In general,
hybridization resulted in compromise rather than improvement of the desirable
characteristics of both parent stocks. The problem of poor reproductive
performance was never completely solved in Canadian Cattalo, although success
has been claimed by American breeders of the Beefalo, a hybrid of disputed
genetic background. At the present time, the unique market niche and alternative
production opportunities offered by pure bison seem to outweigh advantages
expected for hybrids.
Interest in reindeer husbandry presumably stemmed from the well-established
Eurasian industry but the immediate stimulus was to supplement the food supply
of coastal indigenous people. The first imports of domestic reindeer were made
between 1891 and 1902 into Alaska from Siberia. The herds grew to more than
600,000 animals in the 1930s but were reduced to about 25,000 by 1950. The
apparent success of this introduction stimulated interest in a similar
introduction in Canada. A Royal Commission examined
prospects for reindeer and muskoxen industries in the arctic and subarctic. Team member V. Stefansson
resigned to set up a the Hudson's Bay Reindeer Company which
introduced Norwegian reindeer to Baffin Island but was unable to establish a viable enterprise.
Following a recommendation of the Royal Commission, the Mackenzie Delta
operation was established near Tuktoyuktuk. In 1929,
the Canadian government and the Lomen Reindeer Company
of Alaska agreed to deliver 3000 reindeer to
the Reindeer Preserve near the Mackenzie River Delta. The drive began in 1929
and was completed in 1935.
The popularity of captive propagation of other deer increased rapidly before
World War I. The American Society of Breeding & Genetics established an
International Game Committee to explore prospects for new domesticates. The
chair, D.E. Lantz, published a review of deer farming as a US Biological Survey
extension bulletin (Lantz 1908) . This booklet collated
the experiences of game farmers across the United States and Canada, notably
those of Judge J.D. Caton of Pennsylvania who
published his considerable personal research on deer and antelope husbandry many
years earlier (Caton 1877) . He considered wapiti to
hold the greatest commercial potential although his herd had rather modest
reproductive performance.
The current wave of interest in farming wild ruminants in Canada can be traced to the early 1970s.
The University of Alberta established a Wildlife
Productivity & Management Program in 1974 and joined an interagency task force,
the Alberta Wildlife Production Research Committee, to explore its biotechnical
and economic characteristics and environmental implications. Before it was
disbanded, the committee established the Ministik Wildlife Research Station and
passed responsibility for its operation to the University of Alberta. The Western College of Veterinary
Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan subsequently initiated an active
program on reproduction, handling/restraint, and diseases.
Although wildlife have long been kept in private
menageries and photographic safari parks, the first commercial wapiti farms
appeared in the early 1970s. The Canadian Game Farm Association, intended as a
federation of provincial associations, was formed in 1983 and soon began
publishing its journal, the Canadian Game Farmer and Bison Bits. This
organization was restructured as the Canadian Venison Council in 1992 and
established close ties with the international North American Elk Breeder's
Association. In British Columbia, game farming is more fragmented.
Each species is represented by one or more independent organizations. The
British Columbia Fallow Deer Association is the largest group and represents the
interests of most of the provinces's fallow producers.
The Peace Country Reindeer Association is a small but active group representing British Columbia's reindeer farmers. There are two
bsion farming organizations, the British Columbia
Interior Bison Association and the Peace Country Bison Association. The latter
group has members in both British Columbia and Alberta. Both liase with the Canadian Bison Association. In Saskatchewan, all game farmed species are
represented by the Saskatchewan Game Farmers' Association. Likewise, producers
of all deer species are represented by the Ontario Deer Farmers' Asssociation.
Provincial producers' associations are relatively autonomous. However, those in
Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and the Atlantic provinces are joined in a federation, the
Canadian Venison Council. All provincial associations liase
with their counterparts int he United States, the
North American Elk Farmers' Association, North American Deer Farmers'
Association, the American Bison Association and the National Bison Association.
Enabling Legislation
Legislative deficiencies and
inconsistencies among provinces have been the most challenging obstacles to game
farming in Canada. To curb illegal trade in wildlife
during the onslaught of open-access hunting, ownership of wildlife was assumed
by government and tough regulations were implemented. Notable in the United States was the Lacey Act (1900) which
regulated the interstate movement of wildlife and their products. In Canada, provincial and territorial game
ordinances and acts established public ownership, regulated harvests and banned
commercial trade. At the time, this was seen by many as an emergency measure but
it became enshrined as one of the pillars of the North American system of
wildlife management.
Subsequent revisions of these acts were designed to administer sport hunting.
Except in Quebec where several innovations have
been tried, paid hunting on private land has traditionally been disallowed in Canada (except for introduced species
such as pheasants). However, the question is under review in several
jurisdictions and may provide opportunities to cater to urban and foreign
hunters. However, the availability of quality public hunting generally limits
resident demand. Although extensive hunting ranches have a more positive effect
on landscape conservation than do venison/velvet enterprises, the issue of paid
hunting remains politically sensitive.
Aboriginal hunting rights have received special consideration. In the Northwest Territories, community-based co-management is
legislated and commercialization of wildlife by native communities is allowed.
However, most game meat is distributed through country food stores and only
small amounts of muskoxen and reindeer meat have been exported so far. In
southern Canada, treaty rights guarantee
aboriginal people the right to hunt on Indian Reserves and unoccupied crown
lands for subsistence purposes. Recent court cases and appeals are clarifying
whether this exempts native people from provincial wildlife acts and hence
restrictions on commercial hunting.
In several provinces, game farming developed simply because species such as
bison or wapiti did not fall under existing wildlife legislation (because they
were not present at the time legislation was enacted). In others, game farming
regulations derive from wildlife-in-captivity regulations designed to regulate
private zoos and photographic safari parks. The first province to enact specific
legislation for agricultural production of wildlife was Saskatchewan (1987) and was soon followed by British Columbia and Alberta.
Game farms in most provinces must be licensed which usually requires fences and
facilities of certain specifications. To prevent illegal trade in very
high-priced animals, game farm legislation specifies strict tagging and
inventory requirements. Generally, calves must be double-tagged sometime between
birth and weaning using tamper-proof metal tags. Monthly and year-end
inventories are filed and reconciled with transport/import permits. As well as
minimizing illegal acquisition of stock, this system proved invaluable for
trace-backs during the recent tuberculosis outbreak among farmed game.
Table 1.
Approximate numbers of wild ruminants on commercial farms, Nov.1992
Bison
Reindeer
Fallow
Wapiti
Red deer
Other deer1
Yukon 70 550
Northwest Territories 15000
British Columbia 3500 250 17,500
Alberta 9000 5000 825
Saskatchewan 2240 1500 4000 400
Manitoba 1120 85 15
Ontario 2500 7000 1200 3500 500
Quebec 560 350 40 150 10700
New Brunswick 80 60 12 850 75
Nova Scotia 7 7 39
Prince Edward Island 25 20 10
Newfoundland
TOTAL 19025 15340 26,417 10904 4,539 12515
moose, white-tailed deer, mule deer
Species and Status
The game farm industry in Canada is relatively new, small in relation to the international game industry and, of course, minuscule relative to domestic red meat production. Nevertheless, game production represents an important opportunity for agricultural diversification but one that Canadians have been slow to recognize (Renecker 1991).
Bison
Plains bison (Bison bison bison)
are raised as domestic animals in most provinces and significant industries have developed in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario. In 1992, the national herd stood at about 20,000 head held on about 300 farms. The United States herd is 7 0r 8 times larger. In both countries, animal numbers are compounding at over 25%/annum.
In its natural range through parts of British Columbia, Yukon, Alberta, and Saskatchewan, the threatened wood bison (B. b. athabascae). is considered wildlife and can be raised only under special circumstances. Only in Manitoba do wood bison currently have the same legal designation as plains bison and can now be farmed. The situation in other provinces may change as recovery efforts succeed and the subspecies is down-listed from its threatened status.
Although there is a market for most parts of the animal (mounted heads, bleached skulls, robes, etc.) and even for paid hunts, the industry is based mainly on meat production. The Canadian annual slaughter is over 1000 animals which serves mainly a domestic niche-market; namely, the hotel, restaurant and catering trade. Some bison meat is sold in Europe and Japan but until supplies increase dramatically, greater opportunities and profit margins remain at home. There has been an encouraging move towards marketing co-ops to cope with supply problems and to develop orderly marketing systems.
Compared with cattle, bison are slow growing, late maturing and less fecund unless well managed. However, they are hardy, have a long reproductive life, and bison meat attracts premium prices. Under present market conditions, bison production offers potentially higher profit margins than beef cattle production. The main limitation is the supply of breeding stock.
Reindeer
Despite numerous attempts to establish reindeer herding across the Canadian North, the only real success story is the Mackenzie Delta operation. At the time the reindeer were delivered from Alaska in 1935, the plan was to set up a government-owned nucleus herd providing foundation stock for local herders, each assigned particular seasonal ranges. The nucleus was to be repaid the numbers of animals provided at start-up. Six herds were established but they eventually all reverted to government ownership.
The Canadian Wildlife Service assumed responsibility for management in 1968 and eventually sold the operation to a new company, Canadian Reindeer Ltd. The company overcame several technical and regulatory obstacles and tapped southern markets. New markets for velvet also have been developed, placing the business on sound economic footing. The main impending difficulty is a native land claim dispute which, if successful, will reduce the present reserve to an area which is too small for a viable ranching operation.
The Tuktoyuktuk herd is the main source of breeding stock for other Canadian ventures. A successful introduction of reindeer to the
Belcher Islands in Hudson's Bay has provided the community of Saniqiluak a meat alternative and new economic option. Breeding stock also have been sold to game farmers in Yukon and the southern provinces.
The British Columbia reindeer industry is located in the Peace River
area. A small herd of reindeer is also present on Prince Edward Island. The industry south of the 60th parallel remains small at the present time because of import restrictions and a scarcity of disease-free breeding stock. Growth of the industry is further hindered by a paucity of reliable information on the husbandry of reindeer at latitudes below 60deg..
Because of the low numbers, the industry is based on sales of breeding stock and velvet. As the reindeer herd increases, venison sales will become a much more important part of the industry.
Wapiti
The current national herd is about 11,000 wapiti in the wake of a tuberculosis control program, particularly in Alberta where 2300 animals were slaughtered. However, numbers are compounding rapidly now that this campaign is nearing completion. This population is slightly higher than estimates for the United States.
Most of the wapiti on farms are of the Rocky Mountain ecotype (Cervus
elaphus nelsoni). Manitoba (C. e. manitobensis)
and Roosevelt (C. e. roosevelti)
ecotypes are found on a number of farms. Despite an initial flurry of interest and price differential, the tendency has been to minimize their distinctiveness because many of the diagnostic traits seem to be more environmental than genetic and questions have been raised about the purity of wild stocks. As with the bison populations, genetic studies have failed so far to disclose definitive differences at the subspecific
level. In the scientific literature, the trend is to merge them all under the taxonomic designation Cervus elaphus canadensis.
Limited availability of breeding stock from wild and park populations caused farmers to look to stocks in the United States. This had 2 consequences. First, as Canadian farmers reached deeper into the southeastern States, they began to import animals with red deer ancestry. Secondly and more seriously, it indirectly lead to the introduction of a small number of animals infected with bovine tuberculosis. In response, the Alberta government imposed mandatory genetic testing and vasectomy of hybrid stags. With recognition of shortcomings of diagnostic tests for tuberculosis and the meningeal
worm (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis), international and interprovincial borders have been closed until authorities are satisfied that they can be opened without posing a risk to indigenous populations.
Red deer
Central and eastern Canada do not have wild populations of wapiti. Therefore, the same concerns about genetic background do not apply. Large numbers of New Zealand red deer have been imported to Ontario and New Brunswick. Investors perceive red deer to have the advantage of a potentially large supply of stock and well established international markets. The disadvantage is that regulations to prevent hybridization with wild wapiti in other regions of the country limits the industry to central and eastern Canada.
Despite phenomenal initial growth, the industry had its first major setback with the diagnosis of tuberculosis and subsequently muscle worm (Elaphostrongylus cervi) in imported stock. After control slaughters, there will be sufficient stock in North America to rebuild herds. But additions from imports must await improved disease control protocols. The significant negative publicity surrounding these incidents may be a persistent impediment.
In many ways, red deer are the easiest of the deer to farm. They are moderately disease resistant and relatively quiet. Of course, part of this success may be related to greater accumulated experience because they have been intensively farmed in New Zealand and Europe for several decades and a great deal of husbandry information has been generated. Several other species, such as fallow deer, were once considered unfarmable
until facilities and handling procedures were adapted to suit their specific behavioural characteristics.
Fallow deer
The stronghold of fallow deer farming in Canada is British Columbia with about 2/3 of the Canadian herd of about 30,000. This compares with an estimated 56,000 on 160 farms in the United States.
The production of velvet is secondary to that of venison. As a result, the herd composition differs from that of other deer. Usually, a fallow herd consists primarily of breeding does with a small number of breeding bucks, in a ratio of between 15 and 25:1. A normal commercial farm would also have a slightly lower number of yearlings and about the same number of fawns, in 50:50 sex ratios.
Fallow venison is considered to be one of the finest of farmerd
deer and the industry is based almost exclusively on producing a superior quality meat product. However, over the past 3 years, the price of velvet has been strong enough to enable producers to realize a significant return from this part of their operation. Because the industry is young, breeding stock prices have also remained high.
Fallow deer differ from other farmed game species in several important respects. First, they do not interbreed with native North American deer. As a result, the concern expressed by some of genetic contamination of wildlife is not an issue. Secondly, fallow deer are poor colonizers so feral or escaped animals are unlikely to establish permanent populations, and are much less able to supplant native species, than are other, more aggressive species. Thirdly, fallow deer do not transmit either of the most consequential cervid parasites, Elaphostrongylus
cervi and Parelaphostrongylus
tenuis, nor do they appear susceptible to bluetongue, epizootic hemorrhagic disease, malignant catarrhal fever or brucellosis. Therefore, fallow deer pose little disease risk to domestic livestock or indigenous wildlife.
Other deer
A number of other exotic and indigenous deer are raised where legislation allows. White-tailed deer and mule deer are widely available and can be raised on farms. However, they are flighty, accident and disease-prone, and nutritionally-sensitive. Experience in New Zealand and Europe with white-tailed deer in intensive enterprises is not very encouraging. On the other hand, they are successfully raised on extensive operations in Quebec where 52 licensed hunting operations hold over 9,000 white-tailed deer.
Moose have been tried repeatedly but seldom thrive. They are perhaps behaviorally pre-adapted to life on farms but suffer numerous diseases and nutritional disorders. Unless there is some breakthrough in husbandry or disease control, their future may be limited to extensive ranching operations. Tropical deer such as sambar, rusa
and chital are not expected to tolerate climatic conditions in Canada so little interest has been shown.
Bison (Photo R Hudson)
The bison, perhaps because of its similarity to cattle, has long been considered a prime candidate for domestication. In Canada, Agriculture Canada's agricultural evaluation of this species spanned 50 years (1915-1965).
Red Deer and Wapiti (Photo R Hudson)
Despite a 3 fold- difference in size, red deer and wapiti are considered members of the same species. The mature weight of red hinds is about 100 kg compared to over 300 kg for a wapiti hind. The natural distribution of various races of red deer is Britain, Scandinavia and western
Europe. Red deer give way to larger intermediate types, called maral, between the Black and Caspian Seas. Wapiti type subspecies occur northward and eastward through China and Russia into North America.
Fallow deer (Photo BA Burton)
The fallow deer industry is based on the standard European subspecies (Dama dama dama), a small deer with does averaging around 40 to 60 kg, mature bucks between 100 and 110 kg and 18 month slaughter bucks between 45 to 65 kg. The Persian subspecies (Dama dama mesopotamica) is 20-25% larger. A small but active artificial insemination program, based in New Zealand has provided New Zealand as well as Canada and the United States with pure and partial Persian semen for the past 3 years. The offspring of F1 hybrids reportedly grow to slaughter weight approximately 15% faster than the standard subspecies.
Production Systems
The Canadian game industry has generally followed the New Zealand model of intensive management for velvet and venison rather than paid hunting as in Texas and several other states (White 1986). The immediate cause is definitive legal prohibition of paid hunting in most Canadian jurisdictions (except Quebec). The agricultural production systems, farming and ranching, are usually distinguished on the basis of scale and intensity of management. Extensive ranching has been largely limited to bison which do not have the same stringent tagging and fencing requirements as do deer. Ranching also is popular on Indian or Metis
lands which are managed communally. Difficulty assembling the required land base and funds needed for capital development put this option beyond reach of most individual producers.
Because of the high cost of fencing, farmed deer are usually raised rather intensively on productive pastures. Nevertheless, because indigenous species can forage through the snow cover, they are stocked at lighter densities but grazed for longer periods than conventional domestic ruminants. This longer grazing season, the propensity of deer to consume a wider variety of plants and their dependence on cover, gives farmers less incentive to clear and reseed pastures. Game farming and ranching, therefore, does contribute to the sustainability of landscapes as well as stabilizing rural economies by tapping niche markets.
Fencing and facilities
Excellent fencing products are now available for game farms. Specifications of the perimeter fence for deer but not bison are usually set by law. Bison can be held with strong 5' fencing. The minimum legal requirement is 7' for wapiti, red deer and fallow deer but 8' for white-tailed and mule deer in most provinces. The gauge and netting size is sometimes specified. Internal fencing is more flexible and a variety of electric wires, netting and tape are used.
Raceways connect paddocks and the handling yards. Widths of about 5-8 meters are narrow enough to prevent deer from running back yet wide enough for farm machinery. The raceway enters the yards at a turn. A chute system and handling tub deliver animals to the crush which is custom designed for each species.
Special care must be taken with flighty species such as fallow, white-tailed or mule deer. These species can be moved easily and safely by placing them in short, narrow raceways, which preferably have many turns and smooth, curving corners. The raceway leads them into an enclosed handling facility, which has several individual holding rooms. The handling facility is a series of progressively smaller rooms which can be closed off and darkened. The final room leads to a chute and either a small key-hole handling bale or a drop-floor
crush. The bale is favoured
by large farms with many animals because it is usually a much faster system for routine procedures such as drenching or vaccinating. The drop-floor crush is slower, but can be operated by a single individual and permits many more procedures to be carried out safely.
Chemical immobilisation is less often practiced now that well designed and constructed handling crushes are available. None of the available immobilising agents are licensed for use in food producing animals, therefore, their use has been discouraged by veterinarians and producer organizations.
Breeding
As producers become more interested in genetic selection, they have moved to single-sire mating systems. Breeding males are placed with groups of 20 (wapiti) or more (red deer, fallow, bison) females at the beginning of the rut. Because the gestation period of bison is 285 days and of wapiti is several weeks longer than red deer (255 days vs. 233 days), the rut begins earlier in order for calves to be born at the optimal time of the year (early June). Bison bulls begin tending groups of cows in early August. For wapiti, senior stags begin to bugle at the end of August although peak breeding falls in the second or third week of September. Stags usually lose condition rapidly especially if hind groups are too large at which time they should be replaced by clean-up stags. Generally, more mature males can breed larger groups of females. To maintain annual synchrony and prevent late-born calves, breeding males should be removed no later than 4-6 weeks after the peak rutting period.
Weaning
In the wild, most calves are weaned when their dam gives birth to the next young. However, dependence diminishes much earlier, particularly during the rut. Many game farmers feel it is good management to wean, even though there is little clear evidence of its benefits. Forced weaning of bison usually occurs long after breeding when animals are separated for winter feeding programs in December. Species with short gestation periods such as fallow and red deer are often weaned before the rut in the hope that conception rates would improve. Wapiti fall somewhere between and farmers seem undecided whether to wean before or after the rut. The trade-off is sometimes difficult to call. Early weaning does not appear to improve conception or calving rates. Weaned calves enter winter a little lighter but make up weight differences on summer pasture the following year. The main advantage of segregation of ages is to implement winter feeding programs designed specifidcally to their needs.
Feeds and feeding
Except under very high stocking densities and during a brief period in late winter, feeding programs are designed to complement pasture. Highly palatable concentrates also are used to tame and control animals as well as provide a readily available source of energy and minerals.
Bison are maintained on medium quality grass hay to compensate for declining availability of winter pasture. They are finished for 60-90 days on pasture with oats and barley offered ad libitum. Because of their considerable digestive capacity, they can subsist on lower quality diets than cattle. However, to be productive they need better quality feeds. The nutrient requirements of bison have not been precisely determined but probably are not very different than beef cattle despite their greater cold tolerance.
A greater variety of feedstuffs are used for deer. Pelleted
alfalfa/barley diets fortified with vitamins and minerals are commonly used along with grass or grass/legume hay, particularly for wintering weaned stock. For adults, whole oats and mixed hays are adequate if attention is paid to trace minerals. Alfalfa cubes and pellets are convenient and this sometimes warrants their higher cost. Silage, oilseed meals and a variety of other products are fed to deer in other countries but have hardly been explored in Canada.
The nutritional requirements of deer are similar to other ruminant livestock and they have a digestive capacity close to sheep. The main difference is the strongly developed circannual cycle of energy metabolism which raises maintenance requirements of wapiti from about 550 kJ/kg0.75 in winter to 750 kJ/kg0.75 in summer. Activity associated with free-grazing increases this requirement by another 200 kJ/kg0.75.d. Interestingly, energy requirements for live weight gain also change with the seasons increasing from 25 kJ/g in winter to almost 40 kJ/g in summer. This seems not to be related to the energy content of liveweight gain.
Differences among deer species have not been clearly defined. Wapiti seem to require more roughage than red deer. Despite their smaller size, fallow deer seem to have dietary requirements similar to red deer. White-tailed and mule deer, however, require generally higher quality diets and do not do well on cultivated grass pastures.
Management calendar
Table 2. Diseases of farmed game
Disease
Notes
Virus Malignant Caused by a sub-viral particle carried as an inapparent infection
catarrhal by sheep. Results in sporadic losses of up to 1% of the national
fever deer herd (mostly red deer) in New Zealand but accounts for 30-50%
of adult losses. Pere David's, sika, rusa and white-tailed deer are
highly susceptible. Not considered a problem in fallow deer. In
susceptible species, it causes a profuse bloody diarrhea and
serosanguinous nasal discharge.
Blue Caused by related viruses and are often considered a single disease
tongue/
Epizoot entity. The syndrome is rapidly fatal in whitetail and mule deer,
ic Hemorrhagic producing a profuse bloody diarrhea, hemorrhages throughout the
Disease body and gastrointestinal erosions. Fallow deer, red deer, wapiti
and bison do not appear to be clinically affected.
Bacteria Bovine Canada has almost eliminated tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis) in
tuberculosis cattle with a strict policy of test and slaughter. Only Manitoba
(reportable retains a small, recurring nidus of infection. In 1991 and 1992
disease) over 1,000 cattle were destroyed (these cases were unrelated to
game farming). In Canada, the only known wild reservoir is the
bison of Wood Buffalo National Park. Two sources of TB in Canadian
game farm animals were an Ontario backyard "zoo" and a herd of
wapiti in the United States. As a result, 22 wapiti herds and 3
fallow deer herds were depopulated. Of those animals slaughtered,
less than 2% showed signs of infection
Brucellosis Caused by Brucella abortus. Controlled by a herd test and
(reportable slaughter program. Of the farmed game species bovine brucellosis is
disease) known to affect bison, wapiti and red deer but it has not been
reported on any game farms in Canada. It is not believed to occur
in, or be transmitted by, native deer or fallow deer. Reindeer
suffer from a different form of brucellosis, caused by Brucella
suis, biovar IV. The initial herd imported into B.C. from the NWT
had titres for B. suis. Reactors were slaughtered and the
survivors have remained in quarantine for two years without
recurrence.
Johne's Disease Mycobacterium paratuberculosis occurs world wide and has a broad
host range. Affects all domestic livestock and has been diagnosed
in all farmed game species. However, the incidence is low.
Yersiniosis A sporadic disease of red deer and wapiti and generally strikes
animals less than one year of age. It usually causes a bloody
diarrhea with internal hemorrhages and is rapidly fatal if not
treated.
Footrot Fusobacterium necrophorum can cause a fatal septicemia and liver
necrosis and abscessation in native and fallow deer. Most
significant cause of death in farmed fallow deer up to the age of 6
weeks, but affects the occasional yearling and adult. Also known
to kill adult white-tailed deer, mule deer wapiti and reindeer.
Other Other common livestock diseases such as viral pneumonias,
Escherichia coli diarrhea, clostridial infections, salmonellosis
and coccidiosis are encountered uncommonly in farmed game.
Parasite Meningeal worm Parelaphostrongylus tenuis is the causative agent of moose
s staggers. Carried as an inapparent disease by white-tailed deer,
its natural host. Can be fatal in wapiti but at some infective
doses produces patent infections. The current western distribution
of the parasite is the Manitoba-Saskatchewan border. Therefore,
movements of wapiti into Alberta are suspended
Muscle worm Elaphostrongylus cervi is found in the wild only in Newfoundland,
presumably introduced with translocated reindeer. Recently, it has
been reported in quarantined red deer from New Zealand.
Liver flukes Increasing in wild wapiti in Alberta and identified in a small
number of farmed game animals.
Lungworms Dictyocaulus viviparus appears to affect all farmed species.
However, unless animals are pastured in extremely wet areas, it
rarely causes a problem.
Nasal bots and Nasal bots and warbles affect most cervids in the wild. Nasal bots
warbles have been identified in native deer and wapiti. Reindeer, red
deer, wapiti and bison are susceptible to warbles.
Ticks Ticks can be a problem in red deer, wapiti and bison. The winter
tick (Dermacentor albipictus), the main culprit, also occasionally
affects white-tailed and mule deer.
and Marketing
The main source of income at this early stage of the industry is the sale of breeding stock, reproductive products and, in the case of wapiti and red deer, velvet antlers. As the herd grows, legislation and regulations are implemented and the market developed, emphasis will shift to meat production. In this regard, the bison and fallow deer industries have taken the lead.
Breeding stock
Animals are sold by private sale, tender and auction. There is a welcomed trend toward video auctions which avoids unnecessary handling stress.
Supplies of native species such as plains bison or wapiti from the wild are limited. Parks Canada and provincial wildlife agencies are increasingly reluctant to incite public indignation by selling animals to commercial producers. Since intrinsic increase from existing herds is slow, this leaves importation as one of few alternatives. Some bison and wapiti are available from the United States but the main source of fallow and
red deer is New Zealand.
Prices respond to supply and demand so are currently high. Bred bison cows are currently attracting about $3000 and breeding bulls about $2500. Young feeder bulls are trading for $850. These prices have remained relatively stable compared to the more volatile situation with deer. As wood bison become available for commercial farming, as they have recently in Manitoba, exceptionally high prices will be expected until supplies increase and demand stabilizes.
In the wake of the tuberculosis control program, prices of wapiti hinds were $14,000, yearling hinds were $11,000 and hind calves were $9000. Prices of stags range widely from $5500-$16,000 depending on perceived potential for breeding or velvet production. These prices have since settled to about $9000 for exposed hinds (yearling and adult) and $1300 for stag calves.
Prices for young proven fallow does are $800-1,400. Breeding bucks sell from carcass value up to $2000 (this may go higher as Persian bloodlines pull up average body size. Fawn does average $500-700 and yearling does attract $600-1000.
Reproductive products
Shortages of breeding stock and limitations on importation have stimulated considerable interest in reproductive products (semen and embryos). Artificial insemination has been available commercially in red deer, fallow deer and wapiti in New Zealand. The techniques used are modifications of those performed on sheep. Estrous synchronisation
is achieved with removable intravaginal progesterone devices. The greatest number of artificial breedings are performed by laproscopic
techniques, which have a success rate of between 40 and 70%. New non-invasive transcervical techniques are achieving success rates of 40-50%. Embryo transfer is commercially available in New Zealand for red deer and wapiti and in the United States for bison. Present technology does not permit a cost effective commercial embryo program to be set up for fallow deer or reindeer.
Game meat
International trade in game meat was over 30,000 tonnes in 1985. At that time, much of this volume was from small game. In 1990, NZ slaughtered 123,000 deer, producing 4,709 tonnes of venison which earned over NZ$100 million. Projections to 1995 suggest that a 20-25,000 tonnes of venison from farmed deer will be exported by New Zealand alone. The main consumers have been western Europe but attention is turning to North America and the eastern Pacific Rim.
Game meat is lean and palatable so it is expected to maintain its premium value, currently twice the prevailing beef price. Bison meat tends to come from comparatively mature animals. This degree of maturity seems necessary to develop sufficient fat cover following 60-90 days on grain supplements.
Deer are seldom finished with grain because this would only contribute to the deposition of fat and lead to downgrading of the carcass. Slaughter is dictated by seasonal growth patterns and most of the international market is served by 15 or 27 month-old red deer stags at carcass weights of 50-70 kg. The larger bodied wapiti can achieve this weight and suitable finish by 6 months of age. But they have considerable capacity for growth on pasture the following summer.
Good carcass weights of fallow bucks based on a 16-month slaughter are between 30-40 kg. Animals are slaughtered up to 20 months. However, slaughter weights do not increase over winter so there is little advantage to carrying stock through unless dictated by seasonal venison demands. In spring, compensatory acceleration of growth can results in high quality slaughter animals weighing more than 50 kg.
Venison from intact bucks during the height of the rut has an undesirable taint. During winter, feed consumption drops as does
body weight. Early autumn is the time when supplies of fresh venison are at their annual peak. Consequently, prices are low. For these reasons, fallow farmers are turning to castration as a means of extending the season, minimizing handling difficulties and maximizing returns. At the present time, castration is not practiced with other species which produce valuable velvet antlers which, in turn, depend on testicular hormones.
Velvet antlers
Before sale of meat was legalized, red deer and wapiti farmers depended heavily on revenue from velvet antlers. Premium prices are paid for antlers from wapiti (over $200/kg or up to about $1600 per stag). Market also exist for velvet antlers of reindeer and fallow deer.
This serves an export market for traditional oriental medicines in Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Current international trade volumes of green velvet are about 4000 tonnes, supplied largely by New Zealand. Considerable quantities of processed products are re-exported to western countries for sale in health food stores and ethnic shops. Trade statistics are imprecise because different countries use different classifications and large numbers of products are lumped into one category. Canada currently supplies only about 16 tonnes of wapiti velvet annually.
Antlers are used mainly as a general tonic (particularly during winter) rather than an aphrodisiac. Although a "folk" medicine, its value has been reproted in some controlled clinical trials and in studies with experimental animals. Velvet preparations such as pantocrin
(alcoholic extract from antlers of sika, red deer, maral
and wapiti) or rantarin (extracts from reindeer) increase endurance, offset stress and hasten wound-healing. Some improvement in whiplash injuries has been found and premature senescence of certain strains of mice has been slowed. Common bioassays of antler sources and products include the rates of recovery in rats with anaemia or chemical liver damage or cholesterol-fed rabbits.
Most work on pharmacological action has been published in Chinese or Korean but western researchers have established collaborative ties with researchers in southeast Asia and have initiated studies in this area. Although a variety of pharmacological properties have been demonstrated, their uniqueness and biochemical basis has yet to be determined. Activity seems to be largely in the lipid soluble fraction and it seems heat stable. The difficulty is that, according to oriental experience, activities are not traced to discrete biochemical entities but rather the balance of effects. In addition to the traditional market, antlers show promise as sources of biologically-active compounds. Some work has been conducted on in vitro culture of antler tissue.
Processing of antler velvet is a closely-guarded trade secret. There seem to be several ways to the same end and most processes evolve from informal experience. The objective is to bring the moisture content down from 67-72% to about 11% without adversely changing the color, integrity, and general appearance of the antler. Many processors use a combination of repeated dipping in boiling water and hot air drying to achieve this end. Several drying plants have now been established in Canada.
Issues and Trends
Western agriculture has been challenged by declining profitability and sustainability. As a strategy, game farming and ranching offers an opportunity to tap new markets and new genetic resources (Hudson et al. 1989). The main questions are whether game can be raised economically, sustainably
and humanely.
Economic viability
Game farming offers economic viability on a smaller land base than possible for most other agricultural enterprises. For rural economies, it opens a new market niche when demand for conventional meats is declining. Of course, stock prices will fall as they have in New Zealand and Australia but cash costs of production are typically low and rural communities will be left with a broader economic base.
Assessments of economic performance of game enterprises have been conducted by a number of consulting firms and government agencies. Generally, overall investments are in line with other livestock enterprises but the investment structure is different with proportionally greater investment in stock and fences than in machinery and feed storage facilities. With the current high value of stock, the short-term prospects for farm diversification are excellent. However, the industry has grown under conditions of great uncertainty. In the early years, economic investments by farmers were significant despite little assurance that enabling legislation would be passed. Today, the main challenge is market development.
Sustainability
Where topography and soils permit, rural landscapes have been cultivated from horizon to horizon. The immediate consequence is loss of wildlife habitat. In the longer term, the sustainability of the landscape even for agriculture has been questioned.
A great deal can be done to counter these trends. Although significant gains are expected integrated approaches to crop husbandry, the more sensitive parts of the agricultural land base would simply be better kept in forages or, better, in permanent pastures. The balance of cropland and pasture is influenced by the relative profitability of crops and livestock. Crop diversification has buffered the effect of falling international grain prices and maintained the balance in favor of cropland. Presumably, more valuable livestock can favorably tip the balance the other way. Although llamas, alpacas, ostrich and other exotic animals could play a role in regions of Canada climatically similar to their native habitats, indigenous species such as bison and wapiti have special appeal.
There is no question that game farming was instrumental in saving bison from near-extinction at the turn of the century. The Canadian population derives from several dozen wild-caught calves. One of these foundation herds was the Bedson herd built from calves caught near Battleford, Saskatchewan in 1873 and raised near Stony Mountain, Manitoba until 1887 when part was sold to Buffalo Jones in Kansas and the rest given to the City of
Winnipeg and Banff National Park in 1898. The second major herd was the Pablo-Allard herd which can be traced to several wild calves captured by Samuel Walking Coyote in the Milk River Drainage in southern Alberta in 1870. This herd was used to repopulate Yellowstone and herds in Oklahoma. Most (410 head) were sold to the Canadian government and moved to Elk Island National Park in 1907. Two years later, 325 were recaptured and transferred to Wainwright which also received an additional 218 from Montana and 77 from Banff. By 1912, Pablo had delivered 716 Plains bison to Canada. Today,
compared with almost 20,000 bison on farms and ranches only a few over 1000 live in public herds which are not always exposed to natural selection. Only 500 individuals of the Plains type are protected in National Parks and of these 75% are in a rather small fenced park at Elk Island with access to only 130 km2. The rest are in small display herds. Concerted conservation efforts to repatriate the Wood bison have greatly increased wild and captive herds. One of the most important wild herds is the Mackenzie bison herd with several thousand individuals.
Whether game farms and ranches will again provide a genetic refuge for native species cannot be predicted although it seems unlikely. However, in their new role as an agricultural animal, wapiti have joined bison on the prairies and parklands where both species have been absent for a century.
The greatest public debate centers on whether legal markets will be served by velvet and venison from poached animals (Geist 1988). This remains an important consideration with rhino horn and ivory. But where it is possible to greatly increase production and thus seize the market and control prices, commercialization may reduce pressure on wild populations. Venison and velvet seem to be such an example. Prices have stabilized as supply and demand come into balance and the market becomes more discriminating of product from various sources.
Codes of humane practice
Agriculture
Canada has coordinated development of codes of humane practice for each of the farmed species of livestock except farmed game. As a pro-active measure, many of the provincial game producer associations have taken the responsibility to compile their own codes, which they encourage their members to follow. The amount of detail and specificity contained within each code varies with each producer group, however, the main objective of each code is to ensure that game farm animals are raised and cared for in a humane fashion.
One of the more contentious issues is the procedure of velveting. With red deer, wapiti and reindeer producers, velvet constitutes a major source of income. The procedure is prohibited in Britain and in several European countries. Velveting is also prohibited in certain American states including California. In New Zealand, the procedure is under careful reconsideration and may soon require direct supervision of a veterinarian. All velvet sold may require a certificate declaring that it was removed under these new recommended protocols. It has therefore been recognised
that it is in the best interest of all game farmers to encourage the development of strict codes of practice and to support their local associations in implementing them.
Most game animals are not castrated. Analyses of castrated versus intact fallow bucks demonstrated that the overall loss in carcass weight can be 7-12% by 15 months. These losses may be compensated for by the economic gains achieved by having year-round availability of premium carcasses and a significant reduction in handling trauma. At the present time, castration is not commonly practiced on commercial fallow deer farms in Canada and as long as velvet prices remain significant, this situation is not likely to change dramatically.
Summary
Although bison have been raised on farms for well over a century, deer are relatively new agricultural animals in Canada with the first farms established in the late 1970s. Initial interest was in wapiti but limited supplies of breeding stock have encouraged investors to look to other species such as red deer and fallow deer imported from other countries, notably New Zealand. The game industry offers badly needed diversification of rural economies but has been faced with establishing its credibility in the environmental rather than economic arena.
Literature Cited
Caton, J.D. 1877. Antelope and Deer of America: A Comprehensive Scientific Treatise upon the Natural History, including the Characteristics, Habitats, Affinities, and Capacity for Domestication of the Antilocapra and Cervidae of North America. Hurd & Houghton, NY.
Geist, V. 1988. How markets in wildlife meat and parts and the sale of hunting privileges jeopardize wildlife conservation. Conserv. Biol. 2: 15-26.
Hudson, R.J., K. R. Drew, and L. M. Baskin. 1989. Wildlife Production Systems: Economic Utilisation
of Wild Ungulates. Cambridge University Press.
Lantz, D.E. 1908. Raising deer and other large game animals in the United States. USDA, Biological Survey Bull. 36: 62pp.
Moodie, D.W. and B. Kaye. 1976. Taming and domesticating the native animals of Rupert's Land. Beaver.
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Peters, H.F. 1984. American bison, and bison--cattle hybrids.
Evolution of domesticated animals / edited by Ian L. Mason. London : Longman. 1984: 46-49.
Renecker, L.A. 1991. Status of game production in Canada. In: Wildlife Production and Sustainable Development (L.A. Renecker
& R.J. Hudson, eds.). Proc. Int. Wildlife Ranching Symp. 2: 23-26.
White, R. 1986. Big Game Ranching in the United States. Wild Sheep and Goat International, Mesilla (New Mexico).
