About Our Breeding Program
The following sections are dedicated to information about our program.
Our Breeding Philosophy
Our goal is to produce the largest bodied deer in the industry without deviating from what we consider to be perfect looking antler expression.
Our ideal look is the look produced by mother nature, only bigger. In other words, we strive to produce very large antlers that maintain extremely clean, typical frames that look like a deer should look. We do not breed for inches just for the sake of having more inches. We breed first and foremost for a natural look.
With nearly 40 years of experience breeding working dogs, we understand breeding, genetics, and reading pedigrees as well as anyone.
Our Genetics
Our breeding program combines many of the largest, prettiest, and most proven bloodlines in the industry over the past 40 years.
Our foundation bloodline here centers around the "PATRICK line" due to the proven production in body size, antler size and expression, and health and longevity.
We also breed for genetic CWD resistant DNA markers.
We line breed on the Patrick line, then out cross to other giant, typical northern bloodlines, then take that cross back to the Patrick lines again.
This method has proven to work for us, and it continues to produce exactly what we want. More importantly, it produces exactly what the industry wants in terms of looks, size, and health for other farms and hunting ranches.
Our Herd Health Plan
We know that big, healthy bucks start as big, healthy fawns. The only way to get big, healthy fawns is to use big, healthy does in our breeding program. Our does are bottle-raised, very calm and average between 175 and 200 pounds. Calm does are less stressed, produce more milk, and raise bigger, healthier fawns.
We pull all of our doe fawns 24 hours after birth to bottle raise them so they will become calm adults. Pulling the doe fawns has the added benefit of giving the buck fawns more opportunity for food and care from their mothers.
Our does are vaccinated and dewormed 45 days before they fawn, giving them the best opportunity to pass immunity to their fawns through their colostrum. Our fawns are vaccinated and dewormed upon weaning in September and then given booster vaccines 30 days later.
All of our adult deer are vaccinated twice per year, in the spring and fall.
We vaccinate for EHD, E. coli, Clostridium type A, Fuso bacterium, Pasturella, T. Pyogenes, Mycoplasma, Bibersteinia.
We rotate and maintain empty pens and we typically run five adult deer per acre.
Our low herd density means fresh, clean pens with less mud, bacteria, manure buildup, parasites, and reduced risk of sickness and disease.
Our deer have fresh green pasture with clover seeded twice per year. We spread lime and fertilizer every spring and spray liquid humic acid in the pens just prior to fawning.
Our deer are fed the highest quality textured feed mix, deer mineral, probiotics, diamond V yeast, alfalfa hay, and they are supplied clean fresh water from automatic waters in every pen.