44 RAISING DEER IN THE UNITED STATES. 



growing wheat, clover, peas, barley, oats, etc. Cotton seed is also a 

 very cheap and satisfactory food for them. They eat also corn, bran, 

 chops, fruit, and in fact anything that man or beast will eat, except 

 dry hay. They live from twenty to twenty-five years. They are 

 easily confined by a woven wire or barbed wire fence, 6J feet in 

 height." 



A DOMESTICATED HERD OF DEER, 



C. H. Koseberry, of Stella, Mo., writes under date of January 13, 

 1908, as follows : 



My experience in breeding the common or Virginia deer covers a period of 

 seventeen years, beginning in March, 1891, when as a boy of 16 I built a small 

 inclosure of 1J acres to confine a single doe that was captured as a fawn in the 

 neighboring forest. A buck and other does were secured from year to year until 

 in 1900 by purchase and natural increase my herd numbered 25 head of all ages. 



From 1891 to 1901 I lost every year from disease an average of 20 per cent. 

 The climax came in the drought year of 1901, when my loss was 50 per cent 

 from the disease known as " black tongue." I am convinced that, as with cholera 

 in swine, individuals recovering from this disease are immune from further 

 attack. Apparently all of my herd were afflicted. The survivors and their 

 progeny constitute my present breeding stock. I have made no purchases since 

 1901, nor have I suffered any loss from disease. 



For the last seven years my herd has averaged 70 per cent increase, all of 

 which I have sold at satisfactory prices. I began selling at $20 per pair of 

 fawns at 4 months of age and $30 per pair of adults. I now get $40 and $60, 

 respectively. I sell almost exclusively for pets and for propagating purposes, 

 although a few surplus bucks have been sold for venison, averaging me 15 cents 

 per pound gross weight. 



If we except the goat, I know of no domestic animal common to the farm that 

 requires so little feed and attention as the deer. My herd has a range of only 

 15 acres, two-thirds of which is set to white clover, blue grass, and orchard 

 grass. I provide also a small plat of wheat or rye for winter pasture. With 

 the above provision in this latitude no feed is required between April 15 and 

 November 15. During the rest of the year a ration of corn, bran, or other mill 

 feed, somewhat smaller than that required for sheep, in connection with a 

 stack of clover or pea hay to which they have free access, is sufficient to keep 

 them in good condition. Deer eat with relish nearly all of the common coarse 

 weeds, and for clearing land of brush they are, I think, second only to the 

 common goat. 



Probably the greatest expense connected with the business of raising deer 

 is the fencing. Another item of trouble and expense when the animals are 

 raised for pets, requiring that they be handled and shipped alive, is the fact 

 that the fawns must be taken from the does when 10 days old and raised by 

 hand on cow's milk. They are quite easily raised in this way, with but slight 

 percentage of loss, but require frequent and careful attention for the first 

 month. (Plate VIII.) When they are allowed to run with the does their nat- 

 ural wildness can not be overcome, no matter how gentle the does may be. 

 (Plate III, fig. 1.) 



I have found the business profitable on the lines indicated. I believe they 

 could be profitably bred for venison alone, certainly with less trouble and 

 expense, since the fawns would be reared by the does and the trouble and 

 expense of raising by hand eliminated. 



