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Part V
Deer and Antetope
Several types of tropical deer and antelope are no bigger than an
average-size dog. These "microdeer" and "microantelope"2 are the
smallest of all ruminants. Although there is considerable experience
with rearing and utilizing the larger species, little is known about these
miniature ones.
Given research, mouse deer, muntjac, musk deer, pudu, bracket,
huemul, and water deer, as well as half a dozen small antelope, might
prove to have considerable potential. Collectively, they come from
diverse habitats, ranging from equatorial to subarctic and from moist
rainforest to arid savanna. They are adapted to some environmental
conditions that are only marginal for production of conventional
livestock because of drought, heat, diseases, altitude, or other
constraints.
DEER FARMING
Deer appear to be unlikely candidates for livestock, but reindeer
were probably among the first domesticated animals and have been
draft animals for perhaps 20,000 years. Even today, tens of thousands
of reindeer pull sleighs in the European arctic. On military expeditions,
the ancient Romans took along herds of fallow deer as a source of
~ This section includes both mouse deer and musk deer, which are not true deer species.
True deer belong to the Family Cervidae; mouse deer to the Family Tragulidae; musk
deer to the Family Moschidae. Their common names are technical misnomers but, for
convenience, we include them here.
2 We are using these names for animals whose mature body weight is less than about
20 kg.
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MICROLIVESTOCK
meat, and more than 1,000 years ago deer were annually herded off
the Scottish Highlands for winter meat supplies.
In recent years, there have been breakthroughs in the "domestica-
tion" of deer. Species already being farmed are: red deer (New
Zealand, Australia, Taiwan, Korea, Russia, China, Scotland, the
United States), elk (New Zealand, Canada, the United States), fallow
deer (New Zealand, Australia, England, Denmark, Sweden, Switzer-
land, Germany, the United States), ruse deer (Australia, Mauritius,
New Zealand, Papua New Guinea), sika deer (Taiwan, New Zealand),
musk deer (China, India), and Pere David's deer (New Zealand).
Although not truly domesticated, even the moose has been tamed in
Scandinavia and the Soviet Union, the calves being bottle-raised from
three days of age.
New Zealand has made particular progress in domesticating large
deer (see sidebar). It seems probable, therefore, that similar success
with small deer could be achieved. For those seeking interesting,
pioneering research, microdeer are good candidates.
ANTELOPE RANCHING AND FARMING
The worldwide experiences in domesticating various deer species
suggest that the organized production of small antelope should also be
considered. Several large species have already been studied and are
used in game farming in eastern and southern Africa. Similar research
on the smaller species, which so far have received little or no attention,
is one of the more speculative ideas in this report. We put it forward
only for consideration by researchers, but if exploratory studies prove
successful, this is a topic deserving international support.
In some parts of Africa there are large expanses of uninhabited
lands, and producing any sort of livestock there is limited by aridity
and by the presence of tsetse flies. But in this habitat live tiny antelope
such as dikdik, suni, and klipspringer. In the rainforests and secondary
forests are found duikers and the royal antelope. All these creatures
have advantages that justify their consideration as microlivestock: they
have a more rapid turnover than the big species, and they produce a
high yield of quality meat. In addition, compared with cattle, these
native ungulates make better use of the habitat. Cattle select a limited
number of grass species; antelopes choose a wider range, and also
include fortes, bushes, and trees.
More important perhaps is their resistance to many diseases. Most,
if not all, are resistant to trypanosomiasis, the disease carried by the
tsetse fly. They are not immune to this and other tropical diseases,
but they are less susceptible than cattle. However, part of this may
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DEER AND ANTELOPE
287
be owing to their ability to roam widely; if confined and treated like
domestic animals, they may also require some protection against
parasites and diseases.
Antelopes are also more productive than cattle; that is, they produce
a given quantity of meat more quickly because they breed better in
the African hinterlands and grow more rapidly on its existing forages.
On the other hand, they generally require a richer diet than cattle.
Finally, in their favor, antelopes affect the habitat less than the same
density of cattle does; they spread out more while feeding and thereby
cause less erosion.
There are two ways of exploiting this potential. One is by "crop-
ping" taking a controlled offtake from free-ranging populations with-
out depressing the overall population. Several methods for producing
meat this way from large antelope have been attempted in countries
such as Kenya, Tanzania, and Mozambique. Few have persisted.
Often this has been due to opposition from the vested interests of the
cattle industry and from stringent veterinary requirements. Nonethe-
less, game ranching offers a means by which marginal lands could
produce food of a high nutritional quality on a sustained basis.
The other method is by farming that is, domesticating or partially
domesticating the animals, keeping them in pens or herding them like
cattle. Experiments in farming antelopes have been less common than
game ranching, but one of the most interesting is that conducted on
the Galana Ranch in Kenya. Three wild species buffalo, eland, and
oryx were selected for comparison with cattle. Half-grown animals
were preferred for capture, and it was found that if they were kept in
the dark for the first week after capture, and then gradually provided
with more and more space while they became familiar with people,
after about six weeks they could be released into the open and herded
from place to place. Grazing during the day under the eye of a
herdsman, they allowed themselves to be herded back to a pen at
night in the traditional African manner, where they would sleep around
the campfire. This was a promising advance in behavior modification
leading toward domestication. The oryx, for example, gained weight
on grazing that would not even sustain cattle, and it required only a
quarter of the amount of water.
At bottom, the question is not what contribution antelopes can make
to the African larder, for they already make a significant contribution
through (largely illegal) hunting. The question is whether farming could
make them a sustainable asset rather than their being senselessly
squandered, as is the case at present. Although its potential has yet
to be realized, antelope farming is not a panacea for Africa's food
problems, and certainly not the world's, but it might pave the way to
a new and more gentle way to make savannas useful.
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Tall GAME
Since the 1970s, deer have taken the place of sheep on
many {Yew Zealand pastures, and today the country has more
than 5, 000 deer farms carrying over one million head, mainly
red deer. It is now common along country roads to see tall
fences surrounding graceful deer quietly grazing ryegrass and
clover. And there are all the appurtenances for deer that exist
for cattle and sheep. Auctions and shows are held regularly.
Deer farmers have a professional association and produce
their own glossy magazine. Government scientists publish
pamphlets on the care and management of deer. There are
recognized stud stags, computerized recording schemes for
breed improvement, and even veterinary services specifically
for deer. Ilybridization between wapiti and red deer, and Pere
David's deer and red deer, is accepted practice. The animals
are moved by use of dogs (which command by mere presence
rather than by bark or bite), and herds of up to 80 are shifted
by truck. Slaughter facilities specifically for deer are in operation
throughout the country.
This transformation of a nervous, jumpy, and retiring wild
species into a farm animal is a remarkable achievement. Once
accustomed to people, many specimens become gentle, even
affectionate, and will come at a farmer's call. Males are generally
as easy to handle as females, except during the rutting season
when they become aggressive and cannot be handled at all.
However, even at the best of times the farmed deer must be
handled gingerly. If the causes of stress are not quickly
suppressed, hysteria can erupt throughout a herd; in an instant,
quiet animals can be leaping suicidally in all directions, dis-
oriented, diving head-on into fences, charging gates. Chronic
stress, the causes of which are not always obvious, can result
in illness or death, although this trait diminishes in subsequent
generations of farm-born stock.
A deer farm has to be laid out to certain special specifications.
To prevent escapes, the boundary fences must be 2 m high
with netting of 15- or 30-cm mesh. Inner fences need only be
1.5 m high. Water troughs are placed in the middle of the
fields, and nothing is allowed to jut inwards from the fences
because the animals tend to walk fencelines and take comfort
from the illusion of openness. Because deer like to wallow in
hot weather, some farmers also provide shallow waterholes.
Deer yards can be of any design, but the sides of the
passageways and holding pens should be solid, as deer do
not see fences very well, particularly when under pressure,
and may injure themselves in a leap towards what appear to
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DEER AND ANTELOPE
.0
Amy Roydhouse, age 5, on her family deer fang near I`lapier, New
Zealand. (Fraser Duncan, The [Yapier Daily Telegraph)
be wide open space. (IYew Zealanders usually make the sides
of plywood.) Also, the holding pens should be roofed, as
semidarkness has a calming effect. Animals that in the sunlight
become hysterical on seeing a person in the distance, can, in
the relative darkness of a roofed shed, be touched and even
· . · -
given Injections.
Despite the special facilities, however, handling deer takes
time and care and experience. The most successful farmers
spend much time among the deer so that the animals become
accustomed to human presence. This helps to make yard work
easier. Also, new arrivals are allowed to wander through the
yards on their own to become familiar with them. In addition,
special tame deer are used as leads or decoys to encourage
the rest of the herd to follow. Using such simple techniques,
a formerly intractable species has become almost fully do-
mesticated.
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Lesser Malayan Mouse Deer
al
..,
~1
Representative terms from entire chapter:
red deer
