Reasonable Use Methods and Key Points of Feed Additives for Deer

Feed additives are classified into nutritional additives and non-nutritional additives. Commonly used nutritional additives for deer include: mineral additives, vitamin additives, amino acid additives, etc.; commonly used non-nutritional additives include: Chinese herbal medicine additives, probiotics, silage improvers, enzyme preparations, antibiotic additives, appetite stimulants, etc. There are many types of feed additives with different properties, and the dosage is very small. Using them directly in feed is not only technically difficult, but also makes it hard to guarantee the effect. Generally, additives are added to carriers or diluents to produce various types of additive premixes, which are then used in compound feed. For deer, additives are not merely optional but essential.

Correct selection of additives: It is recommended to purchase scientific research products from regular manufacturers, research institutes, or universities to achieve the purpose of safety and high efficiency. The Deer Nutrition Research Group of the Institute of Special Animal and Plant Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences is the only unit in China specifically studying the nutritional requirements of velvet deer, feed premixes for deer, feed additives for deer, and high-efficiency feeding techniques. It has now developed nutritional regulators for multiple physiological periods of deer, which can meet the needs of deer for calcium, phosphorus, and other trace elements and vitamins during different physiological periods. After years of trials in more than 20 deer farms in more than ten provinces in China, the application results have been excellent.

Usage methods: (1) A good basal diet formula is the prerequisite. Feed additives for deer can only show obvious effects when the protein, energy, concentrate-to-roughage ratio, and other structural components of the velvet deer diet are reasonable. In other words, feed additives cannot replace the basal feed. (2) Prevent blindness. Additives should be added by region and in a targeted manner. For example, adding selenium to deer in selenium-deficient areas is effective, while adding it to velvet deer in selenium-rich areas may instead cause poisoning. The same applies to other elements such as copper and cobalt. The key is to do testing well and purchase in a targeted manner. In addition, some people overemphasize the comprehensive addition of vitamins, not realizing that some vitamins can be synthesized by deer as ruminants, and adding too much will cause great waste. Therefore, additives should be used according to the feeding standards for velvet deer and the nutritional composition of local feed, following the principle of supplementing whatever is lacking. (3) Do not use additives from multiple manufacturers at the same time. Deer feed additives are mostly compound types. Using multiple compound additives at the same time not only increases costs, but also easily causes improper proportions due to different formulas, and may even cause poisoning due to excessive levels of certain elements. (4) Attention must be paid to incompatibilities among additives. When it is unnecessary to make a comprehensive additive premix, do not pre-mix minerals and vitamins. When a complete-price diet must be made, they should also be added in separate batches and must not be stored for a long time. When a comprehensive additive premix must be made, vitamins and carriers must be added in excess, and the moisture content must be below 5%. Choline chloride must not be added at the same time as VA, VD, VK, calcium pantothenate, and calcium-phosphorus minerals; otherwise, the activity of each component will be reduced, weakening the nutritional regulatory effect of the feed additives. (5) Add according to different biological periods. Because deer differ by sex and have different physiological needs in each biological period, additives with clear stages and reliable effects should be used in a targeted manner. (6) Additives should be protected from fermentation or boiling in water. (7) Strictly add according to the instructions. When adding additives to concentrate feed, they must be added according to the instructions. An excessive dose can cause waste or poisoning. Additives must be mixed with concentrate feed and stirred evenly; otherwise, some deer will eat too little or not get any, while others will ingest too much, which can also cause waste or poisoning. (8) Store correctly. Single-type additives should be stored under dry, sealed, light-protected, and low-temperature conditions, and the storage time should not exceed the shelf life.