Deer industry bucks up after venison comeback
Deer industry leaders say the sector is in recovery mode after a period of poor performance.
While deer numbers are down on their heyday in the early 2000s, hinds are being retained to rebuild herds and prices are at good levels and rising.
Deer Industry New Zealand (DINZ) chairman Andy Mcfarlane told farmers at the annual conference that he saw a greater hunger from them to improve their skills and push the industry forward.
‘‘We are the best deer farmers in the world, we need to keep up the momentum,’’ he said.
The most recent Statistics NZ survey showed by last June that deer numbers had fallen by 7.3 per cent to 835,000, a far cry from 2005 when there were 1.7 million.
The great financial crisis and conversion of farms to dairy contributed to the reduction.
Last year farmers had begun to retain hinds which up to then were being slaughtered at unsustainable levels.
DINZ chief executive Dan Coup said while the retention was good for the industry, it would create some short term headaches.
‘‘For venison processors, it’s tough to fill plants, and keep workers gainfully employed.
‘‘Over the last year or so, we’ve seen what I think is some really sensible restructuring of venison slaughter capacity.’’
Venison prices had risen by 10-15 per cent on the same time last year, partly because of product shortages from a reduced kill, but also because of diversification.
Venison companies had created less seasonal demand, resulting in a ‘‘massive’’ growth in exports to North America, where the United States was now the single largest importer of New Zealand venison.
Deer velvet prices were down by $20 a tonne.
At the beginning of the season a tightening of Chinese food safety rules related to traditional medicine caused uncertainty, but as the season went on buyers returned.
Mcfarlane said the past few seasons had been difficult.