TONY ORMAN
The outlook for deer farming is positive says Jason Rentoul new chairman of the Marlborough branch New Zealand Deer farmers’ Association.
“Venison prices are improving with demand strong while velvet has particularly exciting prospects,” he said. Expanding on the promising outlook for velvet, Jason described the velvet sector as a real industry with strong prices and grounds for optimism.
NZ Deer Industry New Zealand has predicted velvet could reach $200 million a year over the next 10 years with potential sales growth in several markets including Korea and China and other Asian markets. More opportunities are emerging in South Korea’s healthy foods market where companies are investing. NZ Trade and Enterprise workshops are helping NZ velvet to connect better with Korean consumers and more innovative products are in the pipeline. Despite covid’s impact and other obstacles, China represents a significant opportunity for growth where currently consumption is natural and organic and entry to the market must be well managed to replicate what has been done in Korea.
As well investigations are underway in Taiwan where Korean company KGC recently reported success for a second new velvet product.
With the Venison market moves are being mooted to move more NZ venison to the US in the hope of boosting prices.
“Venison needs to be $2 /a kg better than lamb for viability,” explains Jason. “At the moment it’s not but there’s endeavours to attain that margin above lamb.”
Jason Rentoul is a fourth generation of his family running a 1400-hectare mixed livestock farm at Wye hills in the Wairau valley. The area usually gets 1,100mm of rain and tends to be dry in summer. The farm comprises mostly hills with just under 100 hectares flat and just over 50 hectares irrigated.
The deer farming side of Wye Hills has 1200 deer made up of 500 hinds, 220 velvet stags and finishing stock. Other stock carried comprises 85 Angus cattle and 3,200 sheep. Of the latter there are 650 crossbred and just over 2,500 merinos. Adding to the diversification is 85 beehives and typically Marlborough, a 17-hectare vineyard.
The deer side of Wye Hills was initiated by Jason’s father Euan in 1998 when Jason was 19 years of age. Three hundred hinds for venison production were shared farmed by Jason, his brother Sam and father Euan. A neighbouring 147 ha. was bought in 2010. Irrigation over 54 ha. was installed. Jason’s brother opted out to forge a new career and Jason focused on improving the deer farming side. So far 223 ha are deer fenced with another 39 ha. scheduled for the new future.
Despite his venture into added deer production, Marlborough’s farmed deer numbers have declined somewhat as vineyard development continues in the region. Currently there are about 20 deer farms in Marlborough.
