Good feed for deer.
#1
Thread Starter
Typical Buck
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 884
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From: 30 miles from park city UT on 1,500 acres.
I want to start feeding our deer. I live in Utah so I would be feeding mulies. Is their a feed you can recommend that is affordable? Where should I feed them? Do I need to get a feeder or can I just spread it around on the ground?
#2
Boone & Crockett
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 10,079
Likes: 0
From: Ponce de Leon Florida USA
I don't know anything about mulies or what their natural forage is, but I think you will get more results for your dollar if you will buy fertilizer and apply it to the natural forage. Briars, honeysuckle or whatever it is that they naturally eat. Many of the wild food sources are just as high, or higher, in nutrition as the store bought feed.
#3
What kind of budget are you talking about?
If you buy a blended feed you need to be careful about the protein level... too much is not necessarily a good thing. Too much intake of too high a protein can actually kill a deer. If there are any nutitionists around they can better inform you. However, if a deer consumes too much high protein feed, they can't convert it fast enough and it will "gas off" inside their gut and cause Bloat, which usually ends in death. I would guess a 12% feed would be adequate, but I don't really know that. It should just be safe. You might consider planting some small grains so they have a continuous crop to eat, rather than bags of feed every so often.
If you buy a blended feed you need to be careful about the protein level... too much is not necessarily a good thing. Too much intake of too high a protein can actually kill a deer. If there are any nutitionists around they can better inform you. However, if a deer consumes too much high protein feed, they can't convert it fast enough and it will "gas off" inside their gut and cause Bloat, which usually ends in death. I would guess a 12% feed would be adequate, but I don't really know that. It should just be safe. You might consider planting some small grains so they have a continuous crop to eat, rather than bags of feed every so often.



