Diet Selection
Numerous studies have examined the seasonal diets of wild populations. They report a wide variation, depending on food availability. Generally, a foraging trend is apparent under normal conditions of good habitat where all plant classes are available.
Grasses, sedges, and winter cereals are selected in early spring because they are the first vegetation to initiate new growth. Typically they will comprise 50-80 per cent of the diet, especially during a peak phase early in the season when all other vegetation is still dormant.
One author suggests there is no physiological reason white-tailed deer could not be true grazers year round, provided the grasses being grazed supplied adequate nutrition. In early summer, white-tailed deer switch the majority of their diet to the new growth of forbs and browse.
These are commonly selected equally, but the variation can be high depending upon availability and preference. When available, alfalfa is a highly preferred forb, and western snowberry (buckbrush) is a highly preferred browse.
During fall, forbs tend to decrease in the diet because of their lack of quality and availability. However, where forbs are managed for fall regrowth, such as second cut alfalfa hayfields, their use may not decline.
The use of browse tends to increase during the fall, making up 40 - 90 per cent of the diet. Selection for grasses tends to show an increase, most often when fall rains enable a flush of growth before freeze-up. Grass has been reported as high as 50 per cent of the diet in fall.
White-tailed deer switch to their winter diet when snow depth reaches about three inches. Generally, browse from trees and shrubs make up a large portion of their winter diet. The variations reported are considerable, depending on winter conditions, geographic location, and the food sources available. Preferred browse species in western Canada are western snowberry, aspen and prickly rose. Other browse selected are common chokecherry, saskatoon, dogwood, buffaloberry, and willow.
Pasture Mixes:
White-tailed deer are non-bloating concentrate selectors. With current knowledge, it is believed legumes can and should make up a high portion of their diet. Research has not discovered the levels of grass and legume that are optimum for animal health, Boone and Crocket scores, fawning rates and growth rates. In pastures that contain 50 per cent grass and 50 per cent legume, the two species are not grazed equally. A majority of the legume will be grazed before grass plants are selected. In these situations, white-tailed deer could be held on the paddock and forced to graze the grass portion.
However, this would likely compromise production, especially if the grass plants were not kept vegetative. Some producers question whether seeded paddocks should include grass. No research was found to investigate whether pastures with 100 per cent legume could be grazed season long without health or production problems. The current recommendation is to aim for 80-90 per cent legume and 10- 20 per cent grass in the forage stand. It needs to be emphasized this recommendation is a best guess and it may change as more knowledge is gained.
When seeding paddocks, alfalfa is the highest producing legume in most cases. Meadow bromegrass is probably the best suited grass for white-tailed deer grazing. The alfalfa/grass combination can be achieved by mixing the two across an entire paddock, or seeding the two on separate parcels inside a paddock. The current thinking by experienced producers is to seed the alfalfa and grass on separate parcels.
For example, in a five acre paddock seed 4.5 acres to alfalfa and 0.5 acres to grass. In this situation the grass portion can be cut or mowed by itself if it begins to elongate and mature. Also, this avoids the problem of the grass increasing over the legume, especially when the legume is grazed more heavily. A disadvantage of a pure legume stand is a lesser firm sod. During wet weather, muddy soil conditions have higher trampling loss and weeds have a greater opportunity to establish. One suggestion is to seed roadways and high traffic areas to grass, and the rest of the paddock to alfalfa.
If seeding a grass/alfalfa mixture, consider the following seeding rates. Alfalfa seeded at 1.0 lb./ac. gives a seeding rate of 4.5 seeds/sq. ft. Meadow bromegrass seeded at 1.0 lbs./ac. gives a seeding rate of 1.8 seeds/sq. ft. A seed mix that contains two lb. alfalfa to one lb. meadow bromegrass will have 83 per cent alfalfa and 17 per cent meadow bromegrass by seed count.
Forage Species Selection:
When choosing forages to seed, the following are important questions to consider:
- Which species are palatable to white-tailed deer through the grazing season?
- Which species meet the nutritional needs of white-tailed deer?
- Which species produce the highest forage yield?
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