The potential of increasing deer production by broad scale selenium supplementation in Northern California

FLUCK, WT; NORMAN, BB; SMITH-FLUECK, JM; JACOBSEN, NK

Banff, Canada

Simposio; 4th Intern. Sym. on Uses of Selenium and Tellurium; 1989

Selenium responsive disease in livestock of Northern California has previously been documented. Records of the Cow Creek deer herd indicated a declining population due to reproductive problems. A clinical trial involving the supplementation of pregnant females with sheep rumen selenium pellets was conducted from 1984 through 1987. The treatment with selenium increased fawn survival to 4 months postpartum by over twofold suggesting a suboptimal selenium status of adult female deer. Supplementing a free-ranging deer herd may be accomplished by aerial application of selenium fertilizer.