New Doe/Penn State Seminar/ Webinars

   On January 25th we got a phone call from our buddies that I bought Lilly from. They felt that they needed to "make it right" and wanted to give me one of their doe who was pregnant. I was pretty surprised, I wasn't suspecting that! The doe's name is DeeDee, she is six years old and very docile. I 'met' her before when we went down to their farm to help with the spring fawns. We picked her up on February 9th! DeeDee does NOT like to go into or be in buildings, so that is one thing I will have to work on with her. She was bred with an up and coming yearling buck that was sold, he'll be marketed as "XL's Maxin" so keep a lookout! I'm praying for buck fawns from her, I need to make some money back. DeeDee is settling in alright but she is so timid of the other doe. #99 chases her because DeeDee lets her.
     Last Sunday we separated Mr. Bob from the adult doe and put him with the buck fawns. Then we put the doe fawns in with the adult doe. Beatrix was on the top of the totem pole when she was with the doe fawns, but now that she is with the mama doe she is on the bottom. She doesn't like that, but she'll have to get use to it!

    On March 23rd we'll be taking a road trip down to State College, this time it will be to attend the Nutrition and Feeding Management for Deer Farms.  It's from 8am to 4pm and they will serve a meal. I can't wait to go, it will be one long day but it will be worth it! The topics will include

• Ruminant anatomy and feeding behaviors
• General feeding practices
• Life cycle nutrition (Fawns, pregnant does,
  adult bucks, etc.)
• Pen soil, forage, and water analysis
• Regulatory update (CWD, TB, etc.)

    Dad and I will be going along with our neighbor Pete and hopefully our veterinarian, Dr. Tanner, who is being trained to take care of whitetails. I'm not looking forward to getting up early so we can leave at 5:30am though. It takes roughly 2 1/2 hours to get from point A to point B going the speed limit. 
     For those who don't know, Penn State has a program dedicated to researching whitetails and whitetail farming. Recently I had been poking around through their website and found a mini-series webinar about whitetail deer management. It's from 2011 and it is directed at managing deer in the wild but it is highly informative and I would recommend anyone who wants to learn more about the species. I watched the one on whitetail breeding biology and communication. Click to be taken to their site -> Whitetail deer management series