Deer don't eat grass???

[GMMAT]

Have you ever heard this?

Why do they eat grass? What type do they prefer? Why do they eat grass in your yard v. a field?

[Brknarrow1970]

Jeff,

I seen several does eating grass in the middle of an old logging road last year - I walked up to make sure there was nothing else as the grass was kinda tall - not sure what flavor it was - but definitely will eat it

[CIDEERHUNTER]

they definetly do ,i use to hunt the hills of brown county ,indiana and ounce all the acorns were gone all the deer would just eat the vegetation which was 99 percent grass

[bowhunter010]

i see deer eat grass all the time but if you have alfalfa they will hit the alfalfa before they would grass. But they do eat grass.

[rybohunter]

Never heard that. I have heard that they prefer browse and other stuff though over grass. They dig thru the snow all winter to get to my grass. Maybe it"™s just because mine is usually the longest compared to my neighbors and they have less snow to dig thru.

[peakrut]

I googled it and its like only 10% of their diet. I know my dog pukes from to much.

[psebwhntr16]

Sure they do. Believe it or not, your lawn actually has a few advantages to a deer's diet. Obviously grasses tend to grow in uniform distribution, making browsing much less time consuming for an animal that's livelyhood depends on quick eating. Grass is a consistent food source, 12 months a year. Grass has thick cell walls which contain very high levels of cellulose, (a sugar produced after fermentation) that I believe deer need in their diet (but takes a long time to digest in rumen). There are more amounts of nutritous material in each plant cell than meets the eye. Deer are just like cows...kinda. They are both ruminant grazers (not strict browsers) with very similar stomach systems. Im sure people will jump on me for calling deer grazers, but they are not true browsers. Typically deer will only consume grass in the early spring as immature grasses are sprouting and snow cover begins to desist. Reason being, the earlier the stage for the grass, the less cellulose it contains. Another reason deer might resort to eating grass is the fact that they are moderate sized herbivores, which contain a moderately sized gut capacity, perhaps accomodating some grass material that requires longer retention time. And lastly, perhaps the most elementary theory. There just is not enough browse to satisfy the animal's diet.

[Brknarrow1970]

but the real question has anyone ever seen a deer smoke grass

[wildlifeguy]

I have to jump in on this one.

I agree, deer can and do eat grass. Studies haveshown that it makes up about10-15% of their diet.However as previously stated, the cell walls contain high amounts of lignin which is hard for the bacteria in the rumen to break down. Deer just don't have a large enough rumen to keep mature grass long enough to break down and extract the nutrients. They can readily eat and digestyoung green grasses. However, they can starve to deathwith a stomach full of mature grass. This is why you probably see them more often eating grass in a regularly mowed lawn. Same goes for cows, moderate grazing keeps grass in a growing state and therefore easier to digest.

[Germ]

I saw two does and a buck at the annual Hash Bash here in Ann Arbor