Explaining his six ways to produce income from Red deer, George ticks them off: First, there is a market for young animals as pets. Second, there is a worthwhile market for bred females. His third way to deer income is the farm's tour program, a hayride through the woods and pastures among the deer.

Meat Of Kings

Venison is the fourth source of income from the deer herd. Males are raised for slaughter in a government inspected plant. Some of the venison is retailed at the farm, but most goes to chefs of high-end restaurants in the cities. They pay a substantial premium over beef.

Red deer stags grow elk-like antlers which are valuable for their velvet.

Velvet is number five. It is sold for medicinal uses at up to $40 a pound. Long valued in the Orient, antler velvet is now approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use as an arthritis remedy. Antlers are removed from the stags to harvest the velvet. The deer grow a big new set of antlers every year. The sixth way to deer income at the farm is still some time in the future. The Georges are planning a 42-acre hunting preserve that will be their market for old breeding stags with trophy antlers. There is no hurry, however; their deer are not yet old. Red deer stags live for 15 to 18 years, hinds even longer as they continue to produce offspring for up to 20 years.

Third Generation

The farm has been in the George family for three generations, over a hundred years. George's father and grandfather milked cows, grew crops, fed cattle, and raised hogs. His father sold the cows and went to an Angus cow-calf operation and raised steers. Some of the steers and hogs were sold as farm-slaughtered beef and pork.

The current generation of Georges switched from the cow-calf operation to feeding fall-purchased feeders from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. That worked out well except for the low prices they received. Finally deciding on deer, they fenced in 70 of their 217 acres for pasture. Pennsylvania requires a 10-foot high perimeter fence for deer farms, a cost of $3.50 to $4.50 per foot. Starting with 13 hinds and a stag they brought in more from Canada and now have a herd of over 330 females and are increasing that number rapidly. The Rolling Hills Red deer are production animals. While they are not wild animals fending for themselves, they live outdoors. Their pasture is a seeded mix of timothy, orchard grass, Kentucky bluegrass, large white-tail clover, some alfalfa, and chicory. That pasture is their main source of nutrition. When snow covers the ground, hinds receive a minimal ration of hay, six or eight small bales for 330 head.

Children love to feed apples to the Red deer stags which willingly approach a pickup on Rolling Hills Farm.

Daily Ration

As retired beef feeders, the Georges are used to feeding a day's ration of silage and some alfalfa-rich 20 percent protein pellets every morning. The young deer come in for their fill first. Then they are turned out and the meat animals come in. When the meat stags have had as much as they care for the females come in for the leavings. By then the pellets and grain have been sorted out and the remaining material is coarse. The hinds thrive on it. Handling the herd this way is only a matter of opening gates and hitting silo unloader and feeder switches.

The deer prefer cold weather and will construct mud wallows by the creek to cool off even while there is still snow on the ground. So far, George says, the herd has not had health problems. The breeding score for his hinds is about 90 to 95 percent. They are wormed with Ivomec.

Red deer are production farm animals living outside, but they are not wild.

A copper and selenium-rich mineral is fed to support the stags' antler growth. Sometimes there are antler wounds, but they heal quickly if the animals keep eating. There is no bedding expense and almost zero manure handling around the feed bunks because the deer are on pasture year round. Protective Mothers Spring is calving time for the hinds, almost always single births. For the first day or two a fawn will lie perfectly still where it has been hidden by the dam. Just a few days later, after a nourishing meal or two of colostrum, the fawn is up and following its mother in the herd. Hinds are protective, and when they sense danger will cooperate to protect the young. A stray dog that ventures too close runs the risk of being stomped to death by the hinds. George suspects they would also make short work of a coyote.

He uses one American elk in a cross breeding program with the Red deer. The F-1 cross will be larger and grow faster than straight-bred Red deer. But restaurant chefs object. They want the smaller meat portions for their high-end trade. The elk crossbreeding helps the hinds produce faster growing fawns, but the market preference for smaller steaks and roasts is the limiting factor in their genetic decisions.

Venison produced in this program is exceptionally tender. Visitors to Rolling Hills Farm are told all about it. If you stop by this farm in east-central Pennsylvania (I-80 at Bloomsburg), be sure to bring the children.