I was wondering if I could give the deer some corn.
Good thing I Googled this: NO. YOU CANNOT.
This is geared more towards the winter situation, but worth reading.
Digestion problems
The problem is that deer digestion is a finely tuned physiological process. Just the right combination of microorganisms, enzymes, and pH enable deer to digest a normal winter diet of woody vegetation. When offered a sudden supply of corn, a deer’s digestive system doesn’t have time to adjust to a high carbohydrate diet. The result can be acute acidosis followed by death within 72 hours.
At the time of death these individuals can appear normal and well fed. It’s just that they cannot digest the corn. Within six hours, corn alters the environment in the rumen. It turns the rumen acidic and destroys the microbes needed for normal digestion.
Not all deer die immediately from acidosis. Its effects vary with the age and health of the individual. Some may simply slow down, get clumsy, and become easy prey to speeding traffic and hungry coyotes.
It takes deer two to four weeks of feeding on a new food source to establish populations of microbes necessary to digest the new food. It can’t happen in just a few days during a snowstorm. And healthy individuals that might survive in the short term often succumb to complications weeks later.
The article is here.
So, one wonders, can they deal with corn in the spring or summer? Apparently, no, bad idea all around.
Q: I know not to feed deer corn in the winter but can you feed them corn now in April?
A: Deer are found in corn fields not so much for food but for cover. They will eat corn but on a limited basis. It will bloat them and basically cook them from the inside.Any corn left on the ground and gets wet becomes toxic.ROTS. Deer will feed on all available grasses and fruits far before they feed on corn, Flowers, Alfalfa, soybean, wheat, rye,oats, acorns,wildgrape & roses etc. I have 3 friends that have deer farms and raise white,fallow and elk for both meat and game purposes and they never include corn as a staple source of feed. Only as a byproduct of some source in their feed.
Mainers tell you all about it.
Proper feed is natural browse items such as;
dogwood, maple, ash, birch, or witch hobble. Oats or
acorns can be given as diet supplements.
• If providing artificial feed consider the following:
• Deer require up to three weeks to adjust to
new foods, so deer should not be overfed, nor
introduced abruptly to new foods;
• Food with high sugar content must be introduced
in early December; if later than introduce
very gradually or rapid death can occur;
• Deer feed should not contain animal proteins
from animals rendered into feed;
• DO NOT FEED: hay, corn, kitchen scraps,
potatoes, or cabbage/lettuce trimmings;
• Use a complete horse, dairy, or deer formulation
in pellet form. Other feeds are available
with corn and molasses but offer less nutritional
value increasing the volume you need to
provide and ultimately costing you more (even
though the price per bag is similar);
• Feed should be protected from moisture or
located on a platform off the ground to prevent
mold which can be fatal; and
• Consider that an average deer may consume
2 to 5 pounds per day (depending on quality),
a 50-pound bag is about $11, and duration of
feeding could be about 90 days in northern
Maine. That equals $40 to $100 per deer,
per winter or if you are feeding 30 deer than
$1,200 to $3,000 for the winter.
• Once a feeding program is begun, do not interrupt or
terminate it until spring greenery emerges.
• People who feed a few deer in December should expect
to buy food for considerably more deer by February.
• Watch for over-browsing or stripping bark off
trees, this can be an indication of too many deer and
not enough food
Good thing I Googled this: NO. YOU CANNOT.
This is geared more towards the winter situation, but worth reading.
Digestion problems
The problem is that deer digestion is a finely tuned physiological process. Just the right combination of microorganisms, enzymes, and pH enable deer to digest a normal winter diet of woody vegetation. When offered a sudden supply of corn, a deer’s digestive system doesn’t have time to adjust to a high carbohydrate diet. The result can be acute acidosis followed by death within 72 hours.
At the time of death these individuals can appear normal and well fed. It’s just that they cannot digest the corn. Within six hours, corn alters the environment in the rumen. It turns the rumen acidic and destroys the microbes needed for normal digestion.
Not all deer die immediately from acidosis. Its effects vary with the age and health of the individual. Some may simply slow down, get clumsy, and become easy prey to speeding traffic and hungry coyotes.
It takes deer two to four weeks of feeding on a new food source to establish populations of microbes necessary to digest the new food. It can’t happen in just a few days during a snowstorm. And healthy individuals that might survive in the short term often succumb to complications weeks later.
The article is here.
So, one wonders, can they deal with corn in the spring or summer? Apparently, no, bad idea all around.
Q: I know not to feed deer corn in the winter but can you feed them corn now in April?
A: Deer are found in corn fields not so much for food but for cover. They will eat corn but on a limited basis. It will bloat them and basically cook them from the inside.Any corn left on the ground and gets wet becomes toxic.ROTS. Deer will feed on all available grasses and fruits far before they feed on corn, Flowers, Alfalfa, soybean, wheat, rye,oats, acorns,wildgrape & roses etc. I have 3 friends that have deer farms and raise white,fallow and elk for both meat and game purposes and they never include corn as a staple source of feed. Only as a byproduct of some source in their feed.
Mainers tell you all about it.
Proper feed is natural browse items such as;
dogwood, maple, ash, birch, or witch hobble. Oats or
acorns can be given as diet supplements.
• If providing artificial feed consider the following:
• Deer require up to three weeks to adjust to
new foods, so deer should not be overfed, nor
introduced abruptly to new foods;
• Food with high sugar content must be introduced
in early December; if later than introduce
very gradually or rapid death can occur;
• Deer feed should not contain animal proteins
from animals rendered into feed;
• DO NOT FEED: hay, corn, kitchen scraps,
potatoes, or cabbage/lettuce trimmings;
• Use a complete horse, dairy, or deer formulation
in pellet form. Other feeds are available
with corn and molasses but offer less nutritional
value increasing the volume you need to
provide and ultimately costing you more (even
though the price per bag is similar);
• Feed should be protected from moisture or
located on a platform off the ground to prevent
mold which can be fatal; and
• Consider that an average deer may consume
2 to 5 pounds per day (depending on quality),
a 50-pound bag is about $11, and duration of
feeding could be about 90 days in northern
Maine. That equals $40 to $100 per deer,
per winter or if you are feeding 30 deer than
$1,200 to $3,000 for the winter.
• Once a feeding program is begun, do not interrupt or
terminate it until spring greenery emerges.
• People who feed a few deer in December should expect
to buy food for considerably more deer by February.
• Watch for over-browsing or stripping bark off
trees, this can be an indication of too many deer and
not enough food
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