Nutrition

1
Nutrition Supplemental Feeding

• Original Power Point Created by
• Andy Harrison

Modified by the GA Agriculture Education
Curriculum Office July 2002
2
Nutrition

• The greatest effects on antler quality are
• Age
• Genetics
• Nutrition

3
Types of Feeders

• Generalist feeders
• Elk, moose, and mule deer
• Stay in the same area and eat what is available
  in large quantities
• Specialized feeders
• Whitetail
• Wide range
• Stop in various areas looking for specific feeds

4
Forage Categories

• Grasses and grass-like plants
• Forbaceous plants
• Weeds
• Browse
• Leaves and twigs of woody plants
• Fruits of woody plants
• Mushrooms

5
Deer Forage

• Just because its green does not mean its good
  deer feed
• Improved grasses such as coastal bermuda offer
  little nutrition to Whitetails
• Grasses and sedges
• High fiber content
• Less digestible to deer

6
Deer Forage

• Only a small portion of the diet is grass
  usually lt 5
• High grass intake occurs in late winter and early
  spring
• Newly emerged or developed grass shoots are more
  digestible
• Exceptions cereal grains
• Wheat, oats, rye, and ryegrass are highly
  nutritious

7
Deer Forage

• In all areas deer prefer forbaceous plants
  (weeds)
• Highly nutritious and easily digestible
• Some studies have been hard to validate due to
  the rapid digestion of weeds
• Weeds only occur for a short period of time
• Value depends on weather or environmental
  conditions

8
Deer Forage

• Weeds are high in protein
• Up to 35 protein
• High in phosphorous and some vitamins

9
Deer Forage

• Browse is a mainstay in most deer diets
• Includes the leaves and twigs of woody plants
• Lower in quality than weeds but more dependable
  and available
• Types of woody plants
• Determinant
• Indeterminate

10
Woody Plant Types

• Determinant
• Growth usually occurs in spring and fall
• After initial growth, young, tender shoots emerge
• Indeterminate
• Growth is continuous
• Usually affected by rainfall
• New growth after rain period

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Deer Forage

• Woody plants new growth varies with topographic
  position
• For example, lowlands verses hills
• Deer adjust movement to take advantage of this
  pattern

12
Nutrition

• Mast hard and soft fruits of woody plants
• Includes corns, pecans, blackberries, and grapes
• Seasonable in availability
• Counted on for supplement to diet
• Mast is more important in saturation herd
  populations

13
Nutrition

• Mast usually important in colder months
• Used as an energy source
• Acorns
• High in fats and carbohydrates
• Low in protein
• Corn
• Attractant
• Energy source
• Apples and carrots
• Consumed in low mast production years

14
Mushrooms

• Critical especially in phosphorous poor soils
• Mushrooms have a high phosphorous content
• Mushrooms normally grow in wetter parts of the
  year
• Generally a good food source at this time

15
Meeting the Need With Native Forage

• Protein and nutritional needs vary at different
  times of the year.
• Generally, protein levels of forage are highest
  in spring and fall
• Nutrition is affected by climate as well as by
  topography
• Compensates for seasonal availability

16
Meeting Needs

• Deer have ability to recycle protein in their
  bodies
• Recycle urea in the blood
• Thus can live without high protein feed for a
  portion of the year
• Importance of seasonal protein availability
• Fawn production
• Growth of antlers

17
Supplemental Feeding Concept

• An attempt to augment or supplement the quality
  and perhaps the quantity of available native
  forages
• Never intended to be replacements
• Should bring seasonal or periodic deficiencies in
  line with physiological needs of deer

18
Supplemental Feeding

• Popular with hunters, land owners, and sportsman
• Manias - Joint vetch
• Sidetrack sound balanced approach

19
Quick Fix Mania

• No magic method
• Spike buck
• Caused some to eliminate age class of herd
• Joint vetch
• Used for imbalance in feeds

20
Basic Components

• Protein
• Energy
• Phosphorous
• Calcium
• In most cases, one or more are lacking at some
  point during the year

21
Basic Components

• Even in well managed herds, some component may be
  the limiting factor in reaching potential
• Supplemental feeding helps reduce the negative
  impact of limiting factors
• Population control
• Habitat management

22
Supplementing

• Feeding
• Food plots
• Mineral supplements

23
Feeds

• Feed requirements are different than those of
  other animals
• Corn
• High in energy
• Low in protein (7-9)
• Low in certain amino acids
• Useful when carbohydrates and fat are needed
• Consumed late fall and winter

24
Feeds

• Prepared Feeds
• High in protein (16)
• 21 calcium phosphorus ratio
• Essential vitamins and other nutrients
• Carbohydrates and fats are added to supply energy
• Most are pelleted

25
Problems With Pellets

• Do not stand up to weather
• Feeders
• Should provide dry storage
• Do not limit access especially to bucks
• Reduce possibility of spoilage or pest problems
• Should provide enough capacity

26
Feeders

• In growing season, bucks do not like to stick
  their heads down into a feeder or any other area
  that may cause damage to velvet
• They also do not like the idea of sticking their
  heads in a closed box

27
Feed Spoilage

• Fungi
• Sometimes toxic
• Disease organisms can be transmitted to infected
  animals
• Feeder should have drainage holes in bottom
• Feeders should be disinfected periodically

28
Timed Feeders

• Mostly used for baiting deer for harvest
• Seldom dispense adequate amounts
• Susceptible to moisture contamination
• Solar powered are best
• Best for dispensing corn or grain type feeds

29
Supplemental Feeders

• Use declines after rainfall period
• Supplemental feeding critical after hunting
  season is closed
• Offsets late winter stress
• Located in home ranges
• Deer will not move to include feeder in home area
• Locate near travel paths and in protected areas

30
Cost of Supplemental Feeding

• Normally eat 4 6 pounds/day
• Cost is around 200 - 300/ton
• Each deer will consume 1,000 /yr in a 210 day
  feeding period

31
Food Plots

• Should be in areas of adequate rainfall east of
  35 line
• Should be properly managed and distributed

32
Properly Managed Food Plots

• Plant species should match climate and soil
• Adjust soil for pH and nutrients (NPK)
• There is no one single plant variety for every
  situation or climate
• Avoid
• Varieties touted to grow in all conditions
• Varieties promising to solve all deer nutritional
  problems

33
Choice of Plant Species

• Supplemental feeding year round
• Determine what season is most critical for
  nutritional stress
• Make sure feed provides correct nutrients when
  needed
• 16 protein
• 21 Ca P ratio
• gt 50 digestible

34
Planning Food Plots

• Timing clovers have good summer potential but
  do not reach peak in critical time
• Ladino clover peaks in May/June in the South and
  usually competes with native forage

35
Planning of Food Plots

• Cost consideration
• Monitor cost of product
• Competitive with native vegetation
• Cost of controlling undesirable vegetation

36
Combination Plantings

• Cereal grains and legumes can be combined for
  cool seasons
• Arrow leaf clover, ryegrass, oats, and elbon rye
  can be used on upland clay to sandy loam sites
• White dutch clover and wheat can be used on
  bottom lands
• Inoculate legumes proper inoculants

37
Plantings

• Cereal grains and clovers not much chance of
  winter kill
• Summer Plantings common field peas
• High yield potential
• Highly nutritious
• In dry weather they do not produce vegetative
  growth because they are usually eaten quickly

38
Plantings

• Peas
• In favorable years plants mature and then deer
  consume entire plants rapidly
• Basically a short-term feed
• Summer clovers and legumes
• Type depends on geographic region
• Alyce clover, sweet clover, red clover, and joint
  vetch are good choices

39
Establishment

• Cost for slightly acid soil
• Liming 25
• Fertilizer 40
• Seed 27
• Labor 15
• Total 107

40
Establishment

• Cost for properly maintained soil (mowed each
  fall)
• Fertilizer 20
• Seed 20
• Labor 15
• Total 55
• Can further reduce cost by selecting species that
  re-seed, such as arrow leaf clover

41
Planting

• Divide food plot in half
• Half cool season
• Half warm season
• Include a year-round supplemental food
• Plant a small plot test to assess varieties and
  management
• Always soil test

42
Mineral Supplementation

• Salt in large quantities is not healthy for deer
• Mineral should be limited to no more than 35
  salt
• Critical components of the supplement are calcium
  and phosphorous
• Deer seldom lick blocks
• They usually wait for salt to melt under rainfall

43
Minerals

• Best fed in small troughs covered by a roof
• Laying a trough in the ground results in a
  potential for spread of disease pathogens
• Must be periodically cleaned