Early season deer antlers in Thanh Chuong are priced well and are selling well.

Thanh Chuong is a mountainous district with great potential for deer farming. In recent years, the model of raising deer for velvet has been adopted by many communes in the area such as Thanh Xuan, Thanh Mai, Thanh Tien, Thanh Lien, Thanh My... Photo: Huy Thu

Each commune has dozens of households raising deer, each household raising from 2.3 to dozens of deer. Deer raising households all pay attention to investing in building barns, building new barns or renovating from cattle barns. Photo: Huy Thu

Mr. Tran Van Toan in Kim Son hamlet, Thanh Xuan commune shared: His family has been raising deer for 14 years now. In his barn, there are currently 10 deer (8 males, 2 females). Raising deer does not require as much food as raising buffaloes and cows. 4-5 adult deer only eat the same amount of grass as 1 young cow. Photo: Huy Thu

Raising deer has many advantages, eating little, selling for a good price, so the deer raising model is being replicated in some communes. Many families have switched from raising cattle to raising deer. In order to encourage people to respond to the deer raising model, some localities have issued policies to support people with funding to build barns and provide training in scientific and technical knowledge. Thanh Lien commune has established a deer raising association. Photo: Huy Thu

Mr. Pham Van Doai (54 years old) of Thanh Xuan commune said that when male deer are about to grow antlers, they need to be fed with more refined foods such as cassava, corn, peanuts, sticky rice, etc. They must "stimulate the antlers" regularly so that the antlers when harvested are of good quality. His family is raising 8 deer, and plans to increase the herd to 15 next year. In his village, some households are also building barns to prepare to raise deer. Photo: Huy Thu

Mr. Nguyen Huu Thao - a famous deer breeder in Giang hamlet, Thanh Tien commune shared: His family has been raising deer since 1997. Currently, there are 7 deer in the barn. Female deer are raised to give birth once a year. After about 3 months of raising, female deer can be sold for 12 - 14 million VND/deer. Male deer can be sold for a few million VND more, even double. Photo: Huy Thu

Deer farmers often raise both females and males. Male deer will produce antlers after being raised for more than a year. However, to have large and quality antlers, deer need to reach maturity between 5 and 7 years old. Antler harvesting should also be done when the antlers reach 45 to 50 days old. The time for male deer to harvest antlers lasts about 20 years. Photo: Huy Thu

Previously, when raising deer, when it came to the stage of cutting the velvet antlers, the family with the deer had to ask their brothers and relatives in the neighborhood to come and take care of them. It took a lot of people to cut the velvet antlers of one deer. Now, in the localities where deer are raised, people have formed velvet cutting groups to help each other and provide services. After cutting each pair of velvet antlers (about 10 minutes), they will charge from 200,000 - 400,000
copper. Photo: Huy Thu

In communes with a lot of deer, some households have purchased slicing machines, dryers, velvet grinders... After buying velvet, customers can bring it to these households to slice and dry at a price of 20,000 - 25,000 VND/tael. Mr. Nguyen Quang Huan in Thanh Xuan commune said that in recent years, his family has always maintained a herd of about 20 deer. He both raises deer and provides services related to velvet... Photo: Huy Thu

Early-season velvet in Thanh Chuong district is being sold for 10 million VND/kg. Many deer farmers said: "At the beginning of the season, there are no velvets to sell". Deer farmers can sell velvets to customers far away or velvet purchasing facilities inside and outside the commune. Mr. Bui Van Tri (58 years old) in Mai Trung hamlet, Thanh Mai commune said: His family is raising 22 deer (including 10 males and 8 young deer). To raise these deer, his family planted 1 hectare of elephant grass, 5 sao of cassava... "At this time, raising deer is more profitable than raising animals" - Mr. Tri said. Photo: Huy Thu

In addition to selling velvet and breeds, velvet soles (the base of the velvet that falls off before growing antlers after cutting), dried deer skins (tanned deer skin) and deer bones also bring income to farmers. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Khanh - Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Thanh Chuong district said: Thanh Chuong has potential for raising deer, but in reality, production has not been fully exploited. The Farmers' Association of the district is trying to promote, connect, promote and support localities to expand the deer raising model in the area. Photo: Huy Thu

Sika deer farming model in Thanh Chuong. Video: Huy Thu

Source: https://baonghean.vn/nhung-huou-dau-mua-o-thanh-chuong-duoc-gia-chay-hang-post287485.html