Feeding for Velvet Feeding Velvet Stags Bruce Friedel, M.Sc., P.Ag. With intensifying competition in the international velvet antler marketplace, wapiti producers must make extra efforts to ensure that top quality Canadian antler products bring premium prices.
Many farmers feed velveting stags exotic energy sources or expensive protein.
Research has indicated that once stags are fed to appetite, little additional increase in velvet antler growth will occur from feeding surplus protein or energy. Excess protein consumption by stags is not only wasteful, it can cause prepucial ulceration and prolapse when bacteria in the penis sheath hydrolyze urea to form ammonia causing a caustic burn. The ingestion of excessive quantities of highly fermentable starch produces potentially lethal levels of lactic acid by the bacterium Streptococcus bovis. Prevention of grain overload can be achieved by the slow introduction of higher energy rations, regularly scheduled feeding time and the provision of adequate bunk space to eliminate excessive competition in the herd's pecking order. The first focus of an effective feeding program should be the post-rut recovery of a stag's body condition.