Trophy Tine Ranch

1. Why did you get into deer farming?: We got into deer farming to allow us to escape the fast-paced world of city life and move out to the country where our son could go to a country school. We chose deer farming in particular for a number of reasons. White-tailed deer are more environmentally friendly, compared to other more common farm animals and they have allowed us to learn about the unique markets available for these beautiful animals, which we have the privilege to be able to raise on our farm.
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2. How did you find out about the industry?: We found out about the industry when a friend of ours invited us to an Alberta White-Tailed Deer and Mule Deer Association meeting. At this meeting we ended up buying a single buck and a doe and it kin of took off from there. We decided to actually start a farm when we realized that otherwise we, as city-folk, would have no control over how these animals we just purchased were cared for and we haven't looked back since.
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3. What do you feed the deer? How often? How? How much?: We feed our deer hay and deer ration pellets as their main staple diet. We personally do all the feeding and watering daily on our own which allows us to see these majestic animals every single day. We also give them the occasional treat of fruits and vegetables.
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4. How often do the deer get new antlers?: The antlers of white-tailed deer re-grow and add to their size yearly. The old antlers drop off around Jan/Feb then start re-growing in Mar/Apr and continue to grow until Aug/Sept when the antlers loose their velvet and go to hard antlers.
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5. How big do the antlers get?: The size of the antlers is based on the genetics of the individual deer. At Trophy Tine Ranch we breed specifically for bigger antlers through our breeding program.
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6. How often do the females breed?: The females go into heat once a year in November. If the female does not breed she will go into a second heat in December.
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7. How many babies do the females have on average?: On average a female will have two fawns but can have up to three. Yearlings have only a single fawn. Compared to a cow, which only has a single calf at a time, deer herds have the ability to grow at a much faster rate.
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8. How big is your ranch?: Trophy Tine Ranch in on 110 acres of land.
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9. How long have you owned Trophy Tine Ranch?: We have owned the land since April of 2000, which is when construction of the house and barns started. Construction finished and we were able to move in to our new house on November 1, 2000. The first deer started arriving in January 2001. Trophy Tine Ranch is proud to be a part of the CWD surveillance program since March of 2001. Trophy Tine Ranch has all of our deer tested after death for CWD and has been completely CWD-Free since day 1.
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10. How long did it take to build the ranch?: The building of Trophy Tine Ranch took from April 2000 until November 2000.
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11. How big are your deer pens?: The deer pens at Trophy Tine Ranch are 3-4 acres in size on average.
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12. What are the biggest problems you've had with government regulations?: The biggest problem for us in terms of government regulations is in the transporting of our deer to farms outside of Alberta. Hunt preserve farms are currently illegal in Alberta and shipping them even within Canada across provincial boundaries is difficult due to the regulations imposed. Shipping them across the U.S. border ground to a halt with the discovery of CWD in elk and deer in Northern Alberta and BSE in an Alberta cow caused the U.S. border to close to white-tailed deer but hopefully these issues will be resolved in a timely manner.
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13. Do you name all your deer? If not, why?: No we don't name all of our deer but we do name the special ones like the big bucks and the fawns that we have bottle-fed.
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14. What are some of the obstacles you've had to overcome since starting the farm?: The biggest obstacle for us was learning how to become farmers instead of city-folk. When we started we didn't know anything about farming and the transition from city-people to farm-people involved a steep learning curve, but the rewards made it worth it in the long run. Another obstacle, specific to deer farming, was the lack of a support network and information readily available to us as we are located in Southern Alberta and most of the white-tailed deer farms in Alberta are located in Northern Alberta.
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15. Do you have problems with PETA or other animal rights groups?: No.
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16. What is your response when people say 'caged hunts' are bad?: We strongly agree that 'caged hunts' are bad and that it is wrong to hunt deer in a small, enclosed space. Hunt preserve farms, on the other hand, generally average around 600 acres of wild forests and bush which still allows for the challenge of the hunt. Hunt preserve farms also ensure a more humane hunt as the deer is never allowed to escape injured which can, and does, happen in the wild.
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17. How many people work on the farm?: When we run the deer, which we do once a year, there are 6 of us working on the farm. The rest of the time it's just us.
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18. How do you control breeding?: We control the genetics by putting a single buck in with a group of females so we know which buck sired the fawns. We also control the genetics through our own AI program. All of our females have their DNA tested so we know exactly who the father is and if it was through normal breeding or AI.
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19. What is your favorite part of owning a deer farm?: Our favourite part of owning Trophy Tine Ranch is seeing these beautiful animals on a day-to-day basis. On of our favourite times of the year is in the fall when the bucks have their velvet on their antlers. Also being around when the fawns are born is a special time of year for us. It is exciting to learn the sex of the babies when we run them in the fall also.
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20. What are the markets for white-tailed deer?: White-tailed deer have a number of markets including meat, hides for gloves etc., antlers for crafts and ornaments, urine, semen, live deer for breeding and trophy bucks for hunt preserve farms.
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