Deer Trial – Regular Supplement
Peter and Diane Lowe

Extended Info:

Purchase at your own pace without missing out on multiple purchase discounts. Discounts are applied retrospectively, so as you reach each purchase milestone—4, 8, 12, 20, and 40 feeders – all of your current and previous purchases are discounted at the same level.

Note: Discount program amounts include all grain and hay feeder purchases. Creep panels, creep gates, roofs, and other accessories or attachments are not included.

Outside Ashburton, southern Canterbury, NZ

Extended Info:

Purchase at your own pace without missing out on multiple purchase discounts. Discounts are applied retrospectively, so as you reach each purchase milestone—4, 8, 12, 20, and 40 feeders – all of your current and previous purchases are discounted at the same level.

Note: Discount program amounts include all grain and hay feeder purchases. Creep panels, creep gates, roofs, and other accessories or attachments are not included.

150 days

Extended Info:

Purchase at your own pace without missing out on multiple purchase discounts. Discounts are applied retrospectively, so as you reach each purchase milestone—4, 8, 12, 20, and 40 feeders – all of your current and previous purchases are discounted at the same level.

Note: Discount program amounts include all grain and hay feeder purchases. Creep panels, creep gates, roofs, and other accessories or attachments are not included.

Advantage Feeders was developed in Australia and is now used by livestock farmers in the UK and around the world.

Distributed throughout the UK by Wise Agriculture Ltd, a family-run agricultural equipment business based in North Yorkshire.

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Snapshot:
  • Average net price/head: AF vs trail-fed: $455.39 vs $372.56
  • Average dressed weight lift: 68.18kg vs historical 61kg
  • Weaners sold before schedule drop: 100% vs 60.38%
  • Baleage supplement reduction: 15 fewer rolls
Background:

Weaner deer supplemented through Advantage Feeders reached kill-weights earlier and exhibited significantly higher weight gain when compared to mobs historically trail fed.

Method:

Trial outline

  • Start date: 1/5/14
  • Duration: 150 days
  • Equipment: 1x NGF1800
  • Quantity: 95
  • Stock type: Deer weaners
  • Feeding amount: 275grams/head/day barley and one bale of Lucerne until consumption stops

Trial details

No. of weaners95 
Barley feed cost/tonne$ 400.00 
Lucerne baleage cost/tonne$ 200.00 
No. of barley supplementation days150 
2013 sales price/kg pre 10th of October$ 7.50 
2013 sales price/kg pre 10th of October$ 7.05 
Net price/head Advantage Feeders vs trail feeding  
 Trail feeding groupAdvantage Feeders group
Barley amount/head/day0.250.275
Barley cost/head$ 15.00$ 16.50
Lucerne baleage consumption (tonne)3020
Lucerne baleage cost/head$ 54.55$ 36.36
Equipment depreciation/head*$ 0$ 3.18
% of weaners sold pre 10th of October60.38%100.0%
Average sale price/kg$ 7.32$ 7.50
Average weight (kg)60.3868.19
Average gross price/head$ 442.11$ 511.44
Average net price/head**$ 372.56$ 455.39
* The depreciation rate is 15% and the investment of one feeders is $2,200.  
** This is calculated by subtracting the Depreciation and feed cost from the Gross price. This doesn't include the reduced cost of feeding due to the labour savings of using Advantage Feeders.  
Findings:

Historic results

Peter and Diane Lowe finish 95 weaner from 105 hinds per year.

He has historically trail fed for 150 days at a rate of 250grams/day plus a roll of Lucerne baleage every other day from May until they stop eating it – usually the end of July.

Historic, dressed kill weights averaged 61kg and the majority of weaners were sent to the works in October.

2014 results

The weaner deer averaged a dressed weight of 68.18kg and were sold, on average, one month earlier allowing all to be sold before the schedule started to drop.

The weaners stopped eating the Lucerne baleage by the end of June, one month earlier, and reduced baleage supplement requirements by 15 rolls.

Other benefits of the Advantage Feeders system included

  • There is no waste feeding through Advantage Feeders. Peter Lowe commented, “Before Advantage Feeders were used, there was always lines of volunteer barley growing in the weaner paddocks in spring. Now there is none, so we must be getting close to 100% converted into meat production.”
  • A reduction in time required to feed weaners. The feeders were filled approximately once per fortnight with two front-end loader buckets full of barley rather than trail feeding, done daily.
  • The Advantage Feeders system offered the opportunity to only have to fill the feeders up during dry weather because they only required filling once a fortnight. Trail feeding during rain can increase waste rates above 50%.
  • Weaners are easier to manage as they follow Advantage Feeders through gateways into other paddocks or yards.
Opportunity:

Potential for higher profits

Weaning is done at the start of March. Fawns find this quite stressful and often have a setback. By implementing the use of Advantage Feeders before weaning, increases the condition of the hind to get back in calve easier, trains the fawns how to consume from the feeders and reduces the amount of fawns that have a set back at weaning. The supplement feeding will also increase the weight gain of the fawns.

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Other Trial Results

We conduct on-farm trials to test and demonstrate the effectiveness of our products. Each trial provides practical, evidence-based insights that guide our work and support informed decision-making.


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Proven Globally.
Supported Throughout the UK.

Advantage Feeders was developed in Australia and is now used by livestock farmers in the UK and around the world.

Advantage Feeders are distributed throughout the UK by Wise Agriculture Ltd, a family-run agricultural equipment business based in North Yorkshire.

Our range includes controlled grain and pellet feeders for sheep, cattle, deer and goats, along with creep-feeding and hay-feeding solutions designed to help farmers improve feed efficiency and livestock performance.

Advancing Ruminant Production

Help livestock farmers double meat production with the same level of inputs

Through continual research and development, we strive to provide livestock farmers with the world’s best controlled feeding products, knowledge and systems that allow them to achieve the highest return on investment

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