Welcome to our new blog. You can go to our website to learn more about me, The Deer Man, Charles Black at www.WhitetailRackRanch.com. The purpose of this blog is to learn more about the health and nutrition of pen-raised white-tailed deer. With my educational background in wildlife behavior and lifetime livestock experience including deer I hope to be able to help others as questions come up about health and nutrition issues. I also hope to learn from other participants. Topics are not limited to these perspectives of deer but that is the general focus.
We have a white-tailed breeding facility where we work full-time. EHD (Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease) can be devastating. We have experience learned through the school of hard knocks but more importantly we've learned so much more from working closely with the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine and Ag Center.
Much of the information that you come across is anecdotal. It doesn't mean that the information is bad but it isn't based on scientific evidence. An example of anecdotal evidence that wouldn't be worth much can be like this example.
Example: I have a pen of deer that are dying of what I suspect is EHD. I start throwing marshmallows in the pen and the deer stop dying. From that, I can deduce that the marshmallows cured the deer. That is anecdotal evidence. Couldn't it be that the virus ran its course and the deer stopped dying for that reason? We should always look for an answer in science if possible.
The problem we as deer breeders have is that there is so little scientific research on white-tailed deer health and nutrition, especially pen-raised ones.
I'll be posting more information as often as I can. Please feel free to participate. We need to have an outlet where we can focus on issues that are so critical to our success. I'll be asking some of the leading veterinarians to assist me in posting useful information based on science.
Thank you for visiting and please check in daily.
