Dairy Manufacturers, Inc.

Articles

"Thoughts and Tips from Around the Countryside"
Mike Watkins, Ph.D.
Dairy Manufacturers, Inc.

Removing Fawn from the Doe

A fawn must nurse or be force fed sufficient colostrum in the first 12 hours of life. Leaving the fawn with the doe more than 24 hours after birth, though, makes for stronger bonding with the doe and a more difficult transition to pen rearing and hand feeding.

Newborns

You must handle newborns and acclimate them to people, but do not overdo it. All fawns are different, and no single approach works with all of them. Observe each fawn as it expresses its likes and dislikes in its own way. Responding appropriately to each fawn goes a long way toward raising strong, healthy animals.

Loss of Appetite

Deer raisers report that some of their fawns lose their appetite. This usually happens when fawns are three to four weeks old and still being fed 4-5 times per day. A solution for several folks has been to reduce the number of feedings per day and increase the amount of milk fed per feeding. Just like kids, they will eat when they are hungry.

Feces Eating (Copraphagy)

Eating another fawn's feces, often directly from the anus, stems from boredom. Keeping the fawn entertained will reduce this boredom. Placing browse and other items in the pen for the fawn to play with helps occupy their time. Place starter fee, hay, browse, beach balls, or other items in the pen so the fawn will nibble and play with them rather than observe other fawn defecating and let curiosity initiate bad behavior. Immediately segregate feces-eating fawn from the group to keep others from observing and learning the behavior.

Please send us your observations to help others in raising fawns.