[Market-farming] Deer Fencing
Richard Stewart
rstewart at zoomtown.com
Thu May 28 10:17:04 EDT 2009
These are my thoughts on this issue. Its not just a matter of
preventing the deer from getting in. The problem is the population
size.
You said thirty deer.
That's a lot of deer and they represent a population far larger than
what you see.
I'd start allowing hunters (or hunting yourself) and talk to local
authorities in regards to culling programs.
30 deer are a lot without natural predators. For each doe that
survives the season you are looking at 2 additional deer the following
season. That's 60 deer next season and quite possibly 120 the
following depending on doe vs buck population and winter survival rates.
Like it or not (I am not suggestion you do or do not) culling has to
be part of the program a farmer or gardner either on their own if the
property size is large enough, or in unison with other property owners
and local governments.
We have areas just inside Cincinnati, Ohio where deer populations
reach astounding levels. In Mt Airy forest a city park of 1400 acres
there were over a thousand deer. That is around ten times the number
of deer that land can support. Hunters in rural areas outside of
Cincinnati can take as many 1 buck and three doe, which means we can
keep our population reasonably in check. We can also request
nuisance permits and when that deer is taken it is given to the local
food bank via local game butcher (as are the healthy deer that are
culled in local parks). The problem is with the local park that is
three miles away. As populations increase there, they force those
populations between us and the park into our range.
Deer need predators (both for the health of the deer and the health of
the environment), since we cannot seem to live with their natural
predators we have to fill that role.
It is simply one part of the puzzle.
An 8' fence alone will not stop deer when they are starving and want
to eat. They will jump it. At least our whitetail can and they will
ignore electric to get to good grazing in pasture (they get caught on
our plastic rope pasture fencing all the time even with full charge
running through it. Horses will avoid it at all cost but deer will
drop a line.
If you only use fence (which is certainly an option) then run it high,
using one design or another.
Richard Stewart
Carriage House Farm
North Bend, Ohio
An Ohio Century Farm Est. 1855
(513) 967-1106
http://www.carriagehousefarmllc.com
rstewart at zoomtown.com
On May 28, 2009, at 9:09 AM, Richard Robinson wrote:
> On Thu, 28 May 2009 08:01:14 -0400, Richard Stewart wrote:
>
>
>> If done properly I'll argue that deer, especially, for smaller
>> farmer/gardeners, should be a manageable problem that requires
>> observation,
>> numbers management (hunting), and simple deterrents with the
>> understanding of
>> deer needs during poor foraging periods.
>
> I'd like to believe that's true, but here in the rural suburbs of
> Boston, I've got probably 30 deer who move through my 10 acre
> property, part of a much larger population that now permeates the
> entire area. As one of the few farms around, I've got the best
> winter forage in the neighborhood. I'd let them have my
> overwintering clover and rye, and the run of my hay fields in the
> spring, but they don't stop there--the rhododendrons, the white
> cedars, the tulips, the raspberries, the whole huge garden, the
> pumpkins in the fall. I don't see a solution other than complete
> exclusion from the property. I'm still puzzling the best way to do
> that, and am leaning toward 8-foot plastic fence.
>
> rant over...
>
> --
> Richard Robinson
> http://www.nasw.org/users/rrobinson/
>
>
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