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September is a big month in the deer farming calendar. With a subtle change in the weather, colder, dewey mornings and the first Autumn colours peppering our landscape, our deer will be anticipating the seasonal rut. 

The rut is an impressive display during the Autumn when the stags will roar and parade to impress the hinds and ward off other stags. Sika are renowned for their repertoire of calls, from groaning stags to clacking noises, whistles and screams. The sika rutting season is slightly later than the red deer rut.

Prior to the rut, when in hard antler, all the stags’ antlers are removed for safety. This process is standard practice on a deer farm, and is harmless to the deer. It is equivalent to trimming your toenails – removing the tissue that is no longer growing! The antlers are removed above the coronet leaving a small stump of dead antler. In wild deer, the antlers fall off naturally, with the new antlers growing back in the Spring. 

During early September we will be sorting our rutting groups within the red, white and sika herds, and moving the deer to separate areas across the farm. There will be two groups of rutting red deer, one group of white and one group of sika. The majority of the time on the farm we single sire rut to control the exact genetic cross between sire and dam. By mid September we will have introduced the stags to these groups ready for the rut. 

With our eyes on the future, we have identified which of our yearlings will be staying for breeding, as well as eight magnificent young stags that we will be keeping for future breeding. 

The rut is really impressive! The start date will vary depending on the species and the weather – but it will be approximately mid September. Follow us via Instagram and Facebook to keep up to date with farm developments, and book your tickets to come and witness this fantastic display.