Thread: Herd management and Playing our part

Originally Posted by gimp

It would tend to be the case that for more or less every herd, other than the Nelson herd, that nutrition and age are the most significant limiting factors.

Age certainly, but it is unfortunate that because of some hundreds of liberations outside of the main herds we in the south are riddled with crappy localised genetics.
Not saying that good genetics can overcome a poor start or poor feed but that a good start and good feed cannot overcome poor genetics.
Often a farm escape grows a tremendous head in an area with wild stock not know to ever produce much of note, which when this happens over and over builds evidence for the importance of genetics ?

for sure the escapee might...but what of their progeny???? surely by now there is enough thats been out mingling for long enough the "good blood" should have filtered through???? or has the bred for meat/weight lot got out and stuffed the advantage the bred for good head size and symmetry stock has added???
I shot a real scrubby 8pt head 6-7 years back now that even now surprises me how heavy it is to pick up,the bone is just solid yet the size n shape are piss poor..that stag was no morethan a km away from farm with arguably some of the best genetics in the world....I have picked up a cast antler from same patch of bush that is honest 40 inches in length and timber is as thick as my wrist...and by look of the top,its going backwards,so old stag past prime on way out...... both would have same feed oppertunities.... maybe the smaller fella was born in poor year and had poor start in life,or mum got ride to freezer before he was ready to go it alone. either way the difference between those two is huge.

Originally Posted by gimp

It would tend to be the case that for more or less every herd, other than the Nelson herd, that nutrition and age are the most significant limiting factors.

Genetics and age I think are the limiting factors. I have seen stags on a large area of private land with excellent genetics and managed poorly produce big heads.They were under year round feed stress. They could have been bigger with better feed but still produced 300DS plus size heads.
And by the way the Nelson herd now produces some of the biggest free range stags there is. They are definitely not the the original genetics though.