The Rural Voice, 1987-09, Page 22RAISING DEER:
A CANADIAN
ENTREPRENEUR
by Rhea Hamilton -
Seeger
hile deer farming in Canada
may be in its infancy, its
future is promising. Accord -
'ng to Eugen Hutka, a pioneer in the
business of raising deer, the animals
are easy to keep, suited to rugged
country, and have very few problems
with disease.
Add to the list that the fallow
deer is small, three feet high at the
shoulder, and marketable at 18
months. The animal likes to be left
alone during breeding and birthing.
Wholesale dressed venison weighing
about 120 pounds costs $5 a pound.
The meat is lean, low in cholesterol,
and high in protein.
"Venison," says Hutka, "is pro-
duced much more cheaply than any
other meat and done in a much more
humane manner than with any other
farm animal."
Hutka and his partner, Vicki
Turner, have a menagerie of wildlife
on their 450 acres of hilly land near
Sundridge, Ontario. Fallow deer make
up most of their stock count. Hutka
believes that when his herd of fallow
deer numbers 1,000 he will be in a
position to sell breeding stock (he
now has well over 300 head).
In Ontario, it is the fallow deer and
the wapiti (elk) that will be the breeds
of the future. White tailed deer and
other species native to Ontario cannot,
by law, be farmed. In fact, Hutka
went to court over the definition of
"native species" when he wanted to
buy some wapiti from the Metro-
politan Toronto Zoo. The province
stopped him under the jurisdiction of
the Game and Fish Act, which pro-
hibits the buying and selling of native
animals. But the court ruled in favour
of Hutka and stated that an animal
such as the wapiti that had been
extinct in the province for 100 years
could not be considered native. The
Ministry of Natural Resources is
looking into redefining "native."
Venison, says
Eugen Hutka, who
has a Targe herd of
fallow deer on his
farm near Sundridge,
Ontario, is produced
much more cheaply
than any other meat
and in a much more
humane manner than
with any other farm
animal.
Hutka believes with a passion that
this is one area in which the govern-
ment should use some imagination
and start preparing for the future. He
suggests that a licencing system be
established to control the number of
animals and that a government body
have control of standards. (Agricul-
ture Canada has worked closely with
Hutka and Turner helping to test all
the animals for tuberculosis, brucel-
losis, and brain worm, among other
things.)
Turner, a former veterinary
assistant, shares Hutka's love of
animals. They work side by side in
the running of the farm, sharing their
knowledge of deer and the quirks and
habits of the animals — finding a
veterinary who can help, they note,
can be a problem. But with ten years
of experience under their belts and the
help of a local vet who is keenly
interested in the work they're doing,
they have not come up against any
insurmountable difficulties.
Hutka and Turner have settled on
a feed program that includes hay and
a delicious mixture of corn, soybean,
wheat., and barley. The mixture is pre-
cooked (or jet -puffed) and then dried.
They buy feed from New Life Feeds
in Hanover and use 12 tonnes every 3
days.
To help off -set his yearly feed bill
of $35,000, Hutka acts as a broker for
zoos, game farms, and preserves. He
buys excess stock from one place and
sells or trades it somewhere else. He
culls his stock and any young males
he cannot sell he has slaughtered and
sells to restaurants. Besides the fallow
deer and the wapiti, Hutka has rein-
deer, one of which is an albino and
looks like a painted pony. She had a
painted calf this spring.
There are, in fact, 34 species of
animals located in three different
barns and in eight -foot -high enclo-
sures around the house. Delicate sika
deer along with red, fallow, and mule
deer mill outside with llamas, buf-
falos, musk oxen, elands, and several
Pere David deer (of which there are
only about 400 in the world).
There are also wild pigs and a
delightful little creature from New
Zealand called the "cune cune"
(pronounced ku-nee, ku-nee). And
Hutka has the only pair of Polynesian
pigs in North America. They have
20 THE RURAL VOICE