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Breeding - Herd Health
General Thoughts on Herd Health
By Scott W. Bugai, DVM What is a healthy herd? The simple answer is a herd that is not sick. But what practices can deer breeders use to help their herds be as healthy as possible? Before we answer that question, we need to understand why keeping a herd healthy is more important than treating them when they get sick.
In my experience working with whitetail deer herds held in breeding facilities, an illness in a deer can have progressed into advanced stages and beyond treatment often by the time the deer breeder is even aware the deer is sick. This is not necessarily due to lack of noticing the illness in a timely manner, but rather due to the deer’s uncanny ability to hide illness until is too late to treat and expect a favorable outcome.
I have made the statement that a whitetail deer can be dead two days before it knows it or shows any sign of being sick. This is particularly true when it comes to pneumonia. Even with close observation, detecting illness in deer before it becomes advanced can be difficult especially for the new or inexperienced deer breeder.
By the time you notice that a deer has lost weight, it most likely has been sick for days if not longer. If your facility has a lot of brush in it or your deer are not tame enough to stand still and let you observe them, it can be difficult to detect signs of illness until it has progressed.
Another factor that often faces the deer breeder without a handling facility is the inability to ‘get your hands on’ a specific deer any time you want, so that you may treat it possibly multiple times and not disrupt the rest of the deer in the facility.
It is for these reasons that implementing practices to prevent health problems is so imperative in order to maximize the genetic potential of our deer herds.
Herd Health Practices
Vaccination Protocol
DeWorming Protocol IMPORTANT: Any of the protocols and practices I present are things that I do in my own deer herd. It is not being presented by any means as the only way to have a healthy deer herd, but rather is a collection of ideas and information that I have accumulated and used on my deer herd and anecdotally appears to have made a difference.
My information has been compiled from my personal experiences as well as contact with others experienced in treating whitetail deer. Every effort has been made to be accurate with dosages given. The author assumes no responsibility for any information presented that may be determined to be false or inaccurate.
Basically all of the medications/vaccines mentioned are not approved for use in whitetail deer and when used are used in an extra-label manner. Due to this fact, it must be noted that adverse reactions including death may occur.
All of the medications/vaccines mentioned have been used personally by the author with no adverse reactions noted. It is important to consider withdrawal times with all medications/vaccines administered. If medications/vaccines are administered to a whitetail deer and that deer is subsequently liberated for harvest, be sure to allow an adequate period of time for drug withdrawal so as to not create a meat that is adulterated. My recommendation is to not harvest for human consumption for at least sixty (60) days after administration of any medication/vaccine to a whitetail deer. I hope that the information presented here will be helpful to you in keeping your deer healthy. ----------
© 2007 This article remains the exclusive property of the author, and may not be re-used without their expressed written consent. Any opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, not of the Texas Deer Association.
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