The Scottish deer sector has ambitions to produce an extra 1,000 tonnes of venison a year by 2020, a target which would require an additional 22,000 farmed deer on the ground in the next six years.
To help meet this ambition, the Deer Farm and Park Demonstration Project has been launched to encourage more farmers into deer farming.
Dick Playfair from the Scottish Venison Partnership said there are between 800,000 and 900,000 deer in Scotland.
He said Scotland produces around 3,500 tonnes of venison a year, of which only around 2%, or 50 tonnes, is produced from deer farms.
Around 1,200 tonnes is exported, although this is countered by around 1,200 tonnes of imported venison from New Zealand, Poland, Ireland and Spain.
In fact, UK game dealers are estimated to be importing around 25,000 carcases every year to meet demand.
Mr Playfair said the wild red deer cull, which makes up the majority of Scotland’s venison output, was declining so there was a need to establish more commercial farming units.
“What we’re trying to do is fill the vacuum that’s being created by that drop in the wild red cull,” he said.
He said there were a lot of opportunities for anyone interested in coming into the sector, whether that be on a small, medium or large-scale.
“We need 22,000 deer, and that’s the out turn of 30 deer farms of significant size, or 400 of the size that we have here at the moment,” he said.
Deer farming started in Scotland in 1969 when wild-caught calves from across the country were bottle-reared to form the nucleus of a breeding herd at Glensaugh, near Fettercairn.
The pioneering initiative was led by Sir Kenneth Blaxter of the then Rowett Research Institute.
There are now around 30 commercial deer farms across Scotland.
John Fletcher from the Venison Advisory Service said the industry has gone through a period of boom and bust, with an initial period of growth until the late 1980s followed by a downturn up until 2010.
Between 1988 and 2010 a number of deer farms closed as a result of lower breeding stock prices, difficulty marketing venison, the first case of TB in deer, and a decline in New Zealand exports resulting in lower prices.
He said after dairy, venison is the second biggest agricultural output from New Zealand exports were worth some £105 million last year, with 70-80% of that coming to the EU.
“It’s really important that we grasp just how big that industry is and where we could be in Scotland,” said Dr Fletcher.
“We are a lot closer to the market so our venison prices ought to be, and they are, a lot higher than they are in New Zealand,” he added.
The traditional markets for venison France, Germany, Belgium and Austria were falling, and exports to North America, the Netherlands, Russia and Korea were growing.
He said the Scottish venison market had turned a corner and was on the verge of a new boom.
“We will soon have a purpose-built abattoir in Fife killing sheep and deer,” he said.
“And the venison market is much more organised that it was before, and major retailers are beginning to develop producer groups.”
There was capacity for existing deer farms to supply breeding stock to those wishing to start out, without prices going through the roof.
“We would really like to see some big units that have economies of scale in Scotland,” he said.
Alan Sneddon from the Scottish Venison Partnership added: “Scotland is the home of modern-day deer farming, and there is no reason why we cannot create 1,000-hind units.”
The Deer Farm and Park Demonstration Project will run for two years, focusing on a deer farm this year and a deer park in 2015.
The project, which has been funded by the Scottish Rural Development Programme’s skills development scheme, aims to give farmers and landowners an insight into deer farming.
It is being delivered by the Venison Advisory Service and aims to provide advice for those interested in diversifying into deer or developing a deer unit from scratch.
Five demonstration days will be held on the deer farm in year one the first was held on host farmer Ali Loder’s unit at Culquoich near Glenkindie this week and a further five on a demonstration deer park next year. The host deer park is yet to be selected.
“This idea came about because we have a shortage of venison,” said Alan Sneddon from the Scottish Venison Partnership.
“The production in the wild sector is static or declining and consumption is increasing globally. We see an opportunity for deer parks and farms, especially in Scotland, to fill the shortfall here.”
He said a deer park is generally an extensive system where deer are managed by culling and the venison sold as wild game.
A deer farm, on the other hand, is an intensive unit where the herd is often split into groups to be grazed separately, with animals weaned and venison sold as farmed game.
The future deer farm demonstration days at Culquoich will be held on June 10, July 15, August 26 and November 11.
The days will cover stock management issues such as mating, genetics and finishing, as well as grazing regimes, stocking densities and pasture renovation. They will also focus on fencing and farm design, as well as providing advice on feeding regimes for different age groups of animals.
Finance will also be discussed, with information given on income projections, farm finance options and grants and subsidies.
Farmers and landowners will also be given an insight into deer handling and carcase preparation and butchery.
The deer farm project is a joint initiative between Scotland Food and Drink (SFD), the Scottish Venison Partnership, food certification body SFQC, NFU Scotland and Culquoich Farm.
North-east farmer Ali Loder has been farming deer for more than 10 years at Culquoich Farm near Glenkindie.
The farm business Strathdon Deer supplies venison to Waitrose via Dovecote Park, as well as producing and selling breeding stock.
The farm was selected out of a group of eight Scots deer farming businesses to be the host farm for the Deer Farm Demonstration Project this year.
In the past 10 years, Mr Loder has grown the business from a 42-head herd of red deer across 80 acres into a 283-head herd across 190 acres.
This expansion was aided with grant funding from the Scottish Rural Development Programme this was used to pay for deer fencing, a new shed and stock.
The unit comprises 151 breeding hinds, 10 stags and 122 yearlings on a stocking rate of 1.1hinds per acre on improved ground.
“We bought the farm in 2001 and it was just when the subsidy system was about to change,” said Mr Loder, who said he needed to choose a system which didn’t require a lot of labour as he works on the farm alone.
“I knew a bit about deer, and it was a high-value product and I could see we were going to sell it for a good price as it didn’t seem to fluctuate. Since we have been farming, it has been a pretty steady upward curve,” he added.
He said he aims to have an early calving hind to give the calves the maximum amount of time to grow during the summer at grass, before weaning off their mothers in September and being housed over the winter.
“We are trying to get the maximum growth out of them – what we don’t want to do is put expensive feed into them,” said Mr Loder.
“We try to finish them over the summer and generally we send our finished animals away in the middle of October.”
In future, he said he plans to look at improving breeding herd by introducing new genetics via an AI programme. He advised any farmers starting out to properly plan the layout of the farm and ensure proper deer fencing is in place.
“Because we developed piecemeal we never had a plan for the farm,” said Mr Loder. “If you are thinking about starting a farm, planning it and planning what it might be like in ten years’ time is a really good idea.”