Velvet weight relationships of red deer stags

Abstract

Recent concern in the deer industry has focused on the ability to supply new and existing venison markets in a regular and orderly manner. This is particularly important in the short and medium term however high velvet to venison price ratios has resulted in a consistently low supply of deer for slaughter.

Selection of stags at a young age would result in increased genetic progress and producer returns, both in the short, and long-term.

This paper examines the correlations between velvet yields at different ages as an estimate of the repeatability of velvet yields over a stag's lifetime.

The ability of velvet yields from two year old stags to predict velvet yields attainable at a mature age is tested using observations on 88 stags from one herd, aged between six and ten years.

Results show a correlation between velvet yields at two and five years of 0.43 however this estimate of repeatability is not constant and is lower between other ages. Velvet yields from stags at two years of age were a significant variable of mature yields however, not strong enough to, alone, be a good predictor of a stag's velvet yields at five years of age.

The paper concludes with implications for farmers for stag selection and some recommendations for future research.