stevenf
Platinum Member
djradz,
Frankly corn is a very, very bad thing to feed them yes it is very low in nutrients but it also stands a fair chance of getting them sick as many forms of bacteria are present in corn that is stored and handled poorly by the feed mills. I'm sure there are some reputable feed mills that protect it better than most but this said most people buy it from the closest source that is cheap generally speaking Wally World where they store it outside half the time, it gets wet and mildews and starts the internal decay along with the weavels that I've found constantly in their bags. Your best source of nutrients that is easy to find and cheap usually cheaper than deer or cracked corn is goat feed they store it inside typically and its balanced well for goats which are the closest animal in the domestic world to a deer in their nutritional requirements. As a matter of fact if you look at the mills that make the deer feed it is exactly the same as goat feed "except" they do add some corn to it which you can do easily by buying one bag of corn and just use a little in the goat feed to help them make the transition to a food that is better for them. Once they start eating the goat feed well I'd stop with the corn as it doesn't store well and will be laced with bugs even before you open the bag. I guess to prefice my remarks I should have said that I own and live on a game ranch in Texas where our only source of income off of 347 acres is hunters and believe me the better, healthier deer you have the more folks pay for the privledge of having access to the ranch. Today we hunt 5 hunters a year at $2,000 per gun and folks don't pay that for undernourished poor quality animals. So I actually have a very vested interest in their health even if it is for monetary reasons we don't harvest the entire herd only 25% which is recommended by the state biologist the 75% that survives the year on my place are healthy, toxin free and well fed.
Steve
Frankly corn is a very, very bad thing to feed them yes it is very low in nutrients but it also stands a fair chance of getting them sick as many forms of bacteria are present in corn that is stored and handled poorly by the feed mills. I'm sure there are some reputable feed mills that protect it better than most but this said most people buy it from the closest source that is cheap generally speaking Wally World where they store it outside half the time, it gets wet and mildews and starts the internal decay along with the weavels that I've found constantly in their bags. Your best source of nutrients that is easy to find and cheap usually cheaper than deer or cracked corn is goat feed they store it inside typically and its balanced well for goats which are the closest animal in the domestic world to a deer in their nutritional requirements. As a matter of fact if you look at the mills that make the deer feed it is exactly the same as goat feed "except" they do add some corn to it which you can do easily by buying one bag of corn and just use a little in the goat feed to help them make the transition to a food that is better for them. Once they start eating the goat feed well I'd stop with the corn as it doesn't store well and will be laced with bugs even before you open the bag. I guess to prefice my remarks I should have said that I own and live on a game ranch in Texas where our only source of income off of 347 acres is hunters and believe me the better, healthier deer you have the more folks pay for the privledge of having access to the ranch. Today we hunt 5 hunters a year at $2,000 per gun and folks don't pay that for undernourished poor quality animals. So I actually have a very vested interest in their health even if it is for monetary reasons we don't harvest the entire herd only 25% which is recommended by the state biologist the 75% that survives the year on my place are healthy, toxin free and well fed.
Steve
