Silver Bullets And Rations For Whitetail Deer

With maximizing antler size being the main concern for many whitetail deer herd managers, there is a nutritional practice I am seeing that is becoming more common place every day. Managers will often take a complete ration and then blend or cut that ration with commodities that are perceived as nutritionally dense or top dresses that are often deemed as miracle pills for increasing antler size. Often these top dresses are sold on the precursor that all rations are lacking whatever pixy dust they contain and by simply topdressing with this miracle antler producing additives, they will correct all the nutritional flaws that are found in your ration. These types of silver bullet additives do not typically hurt anything but will often cost more than a ton of premium complete feed for just a few pounds. Sadly, most will have no response or research to back them up other than anecdotal evidence.

With today’s focus on genetics in the whitetail world, we are seeing larger antlered deer than ever before mainly due to genetic selection and management. It has become common place for these types of snake oil additives to take credit for great genetics and management though.  We can’t compare deer from 20 years ago to today’s deer, they are simply a different animal genetically on well managed properties. While there are multiple micro ingredients and trace elements that are important for ration performance, simply mixing a topper will not fix a poorly formulated ration. Claiming that deer will improve due to the addition of one certain micro ingredient regardless of how that ration is formulated is simply not true. When it comes to additives, I believe any additive that negates consistent intake will in turn negate performance when we are talking about complete rations. Complete ration formulation is key if you intend to get the most from a supplement or feed in whitetail deer.

So how do we know if a ration is missing something? The most important property I believe a deer ration must have is consistent palatability. Deer must consume the feed consistently to elevate their nutritional plane and maximize their genetic potential for antler growth. Those that have done their homework understand that to increase consumption in whitetail deer, you must have a positive nutritional response when deer consume the feed. This takes a lot of nutritional savvy with deer being concentrate selectors. This means that they can experience positive or negative feedback relatively quickly after they consume a particular forage or feed. Based on whether this feed-back is positive or negative determines if they will consistently consume that concentrate. Consistent intake should be one of the primary variables used to determine if a feed is better for deer in captivity simply based on how they consume it week after week. This should be evaluated over the course of several weeks not just a few days. While intake should also be evaluated as a measure of nutritional quality for pasture rations, it should not be the only variable as deer on pasture can back off rations poorly formulated with high grain levels when natural forage is available before you see acidosis.

Most pelleted rations are typically high in grain since grain is relatively cheap from a commodity perspective and can decrease the cost of a ration. Grain is extremely high in starch or NFC. This nutrient is energy dense and while deer will readily consume a ration at first that has a high amount, it will ultimately have a negative impact on their digestive system. Starch can decrease the PH of the gut if fed in high amounts and can cause what’s known as Acidosis which is often a leading cause of nutritional stress and even death in captive whitetail deer. Record Rack formulates deer feed to max NFC levels to be sure we are providing as much safe energy as we can while limiting the negative effects of starch. While grain is a great attractant and energy source when used in in limited amounts, I never recommend cutting a complete pelleted ration with grain to try to bring the energy level up as the negative effects of acidosis will far outweigh the benefits. If body condition is a concern, the total fat level in the ration needs to be increased, but again consumption will need to stay the same or increase if you want to see a response.

For more information on feeding Record Rack or an evaluation of you current feeding program please feel free to contact us any time.