Deer Industry Today

There are an estimated 3,000 farms in New Zealand with deer. These farms range in size from smaller lifestyle properties to extensive stations.  Deer in New Zealand are grass-fed and live outdoors all year round. Deer in New Zealand are never housed or confined to feedlots.

Generally deer are farmed as part of a diversified livestock portfolio with other species including sheep and cattle.

There are approximately 1.2 million deer farmed in New Zealand (est. as at 30 June 2009) - perhaps half the world’s farmed deer population.

Most deer are farmed in hill country in the central parts of the north and south islands. Deer are also farmed on lower pastures in areas such as Southland, Westland and Hawkes Bay. But there are deer farms from Northland to the tip of the South Island.

Split roughly 40 percent in the North Island and 60 percent in the South Island, there are an estimated 700,000 breeding hinds (or 'cows') and 500,000 males ('stags' or 'bulls'). Young deer are known as 'fawns' or 'calves'.