How do deer spend the winter?

Deer will change into thick and warm body hair in winter.

Winter management of sika deer

Male deer and female deer enter the rest stage in winter after mating in September ~165438+10 every year. Although deer do not produce cashmere and litter in winter, it is closely related to cashmere and litter in the second year. If good feeding and management conditions are not provided in winter, there will be no high yield in summer. Therefore, the management of deer breeding in winter is an important link to improve the economic benefits of deer breeding and to win the winter safely and smoothly. Therefore, according to the experience and practice of raising deer in various places at present, this paper mainly introduces several management techniques of raising deer before winter as follows:

First, pay attention to the heat preservation of the deer house.

Although deer are not afraid of cold, too cold environment will consume a lot of heat energy in deer. In order to increase body heat to keep out the cold, deer increased their food intake, resulting in waste of feed and increased production costs. Young deer and breeding deer are sensitive to environmental temperature. If the house is too cold in winter, it will not only affect the growth and development of deer, but also easily lead to colds, pneumonia and partial death. At present, the commonly used insulation measures are:

1. Before winter, sawdust can be spread on the ground in the pen house as a cushion, which has the advantages of heat preservation and adsorption of feces and urine, and is convenient for improving the environmental sanitation in the pen house.

2. Block the air holes in the deer house wall to prevent the wind from invading.

3. After it snows in winter, it is necessary to clean the snow inside and outside the house in time, which can not only keep warm, but also prevent the deer from slipping and causing fractures.

4. Supply warm drinking water and drain the remaining water in the tank at night.

Farmers can hang grass curtains, cloth curtains and plastic sheets at the door of the house to keep warm.

Second, carry out artificial auxiliary lighting.

1. The basis of fill light. The live weight of deer grows faster in spring and summer than in autumn and winter (the slowest growth in winter). This natural growth law prolongs the maturity of deer and delays the cashmere production time of deer. If it is a meat deer, the supply of venison will be unbalanced all year round, that is, the meat source is abundant in spring and summer and scarce in autumn and winter. The seasonal growth of deer is naturally formed and inherent, which has nothing to do with the simple feed supply, but with the length of light. According to the research, the continuous illumination duration in winter is 16 hours, followed by 8 hours in darkness, and the illumination intensity reaches 250~300 lux. After six weeks of regular treatment, deer can accelerate their growth, increase their food intake and gain weight in winter.

2. The necessity of fill light. China is located in temperate zone, with four distinct seasons in most areas, and short sunshine lasts for 3~4 months in winter. Artificial light source should be used for supplementary lighting, so that captive deer can have a continuous illumination time of 16 hours.

3. the method of filling light. Any kind of electric light can be used as a light source, and incandescent bulbs are generally suitable. Just measure the brightness of 250~300 lux at the height from the ground 1 m (not directly below the light source). Usually, the lights are turned on after the sun goes down, and artificial lighting is carried out. Turn off the lights in natural light (daylight) hours plus working lights 16 hours. If it is cloudy or cloudy, the light intensity of the whole day should be changed to artificial light.

4. Complement the effect of artificial lighting. Using artificial light supplement, obvious effects have been seen in many deer farms in China. According to the data, the experiment of light supplement in winter showed that the daily gain of the experimental group was 330 grams in a long period of 6 weeks, while the daily gain of the control group without artificial light supplement was about 65438 0.52 grams, which was 2.2 times that of the control group. At the same time, the feed intake of deer in the experimental group increased, the feed utilization rate increased, the fur color was bright, and the cashmere production time was 5~ 10 days earlier. Artificial light supplement for deer in winter is good for both meat deer and velvet antler, especially for breeding deer. It can promote deer to mature ahead of time and produce cashmere, and increase economic benefits.

Third, feed high-quality feed

After artificial light supplement, the feed intake of deer increases, so it is necessary to provide high-quality and sufficient feed for deer, fully tap the potential of artificial light supplement, and achieve the purpose of improving production performance. In some deer farms in northern China, corn stalks and bean stalks are often used to feed deer in winter, which not only can not meet the demand for feed after light supplement, but also is prone to vitamin deficiency. Therefore, it is best to add alfalfa powder, carrots or beets to the feed to meet the nutritional needs of deer growth and metabolism.