What Do Sika Deer Eat? A Detailed Guide to Feed Formulation and Feeding Methods

Overview: What do sika deer eat? Sika deer are ruminants and eat less than cattle and sheep. Their feed can be roughly divided into three categories: roughage, concentrates and nutrient supplements.

What do sika deer eat? Sika deer are ruminants and eat less than cattle and sheep. Their feed can be roughly divided into three categories: roughage, concentrates and nutrient supplements.

Feed Classification

1. Roughage: Compared with cattle and sheep, sika deer are more tolerant of roughage. The straw of all crops, by-products, green twigs and fallen leaves, and wormwood grass are all good feed for deer.

2. Concentrates: Concentrates are mainly made up of corn, soybean meal, wheat bran, calf feed, salt, additives and other ingredients mixed in a certain proportion (grass-family seeds (such as corn, barley, wheat, etc.) 50%, legume seeds (beans or soybean meal) 30%, bran (rice bran or wheat bran) 20%. Add a little salt and bone meal as well.).

3. Nutrient supplements: In their physiological activities, deer cannot lack the following minerals: calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, chlorine, iron, manganese, copper, zinc, magnesium, cobalt and sulfur, etc. Fat-soluble vitamins such as A, D, E and K, and water-soluble vitamins such as the B group and C are all essential for deer.

Precautions

1. Give priority to green roughage, with concentrates as a supplement. Compound feed should be based mainly on locally available green, succulent feed and roughage.

2. Make full use of locally available feed resources that are low in price, abundant in quantity, wide in source and stable in supply.

3. Feed at fixed times and in fixed amounts: Each feeding amount should be appropriate. If the amount is insufficient, the deer will easily become hungry shortly after feeding, and not only will they be unable to rest quietly, but their digestive function will also be affected. If too much is fed each time, it will not only waste feed but also affect appetite at the next feeding. Keep it even day by day, and do not let it vary from more to less.

4. Because the digestive tract of ruminants can synthesize a vitamin B12 that contains the metal element cobalt, there is no need to add vitamin B12 to deer feed.