Jan 30, 2025
With December and January hosting stag sales across the country, Deer Industry New Zealand (DINZ) had several team members at various sales and were mostly encouraged by the sale results.
DINZ CEO Rhys Griffiths was one of the DINZ staff out and about during sale season, attending sales at Raincliff Station and Edendale Station. Griffiths came away heartened by the overall results, though acknowledges some of the other sales had seen some variable results.
“2024 was a bit of an uncertain year for the industry, especially in the velvet space, so the mixed results we are hearing aren’t particularly surprising. The best part about attending stag sales, however, is getting among our stakeholders, our farmers, and gauging the sentiment out there. Given the challenges we faced last year, the sentiment was pretty good overall; quietly confident, understanding of short-term bumps ahead of long-term gains. This could be seen in some of the successful venison-centric stud sales.
“And with a number of potential velvet partnerships in South Korea and China either in full swing or under development, I’m pretty confident the velvet inconsistencies will be short-lived.”
DINZ Board Chair Paddy Boyd also attended a number of stag sales and noted a similar sentiment among producers.
“Having attended quite a few stag sales across the South Island and watching many more on bidr, it was good to see the solid attendance and strength in the market even with velvet market pressures,” Boyd noted. “The positive to take from this season is that the China trade protocol is now firmly in place, and trade looks good into the future. All of us will have to bear with the lower than acceptable returns that have developed for this year due to some manipulation in the market, but I look towards a positive future.
“Most farmers I spoke to at sales were understanding of the complexities of reestablishing this right of entry of velvet into China and showed full confidence in the whole industry by competing strongly for sire stags and breeding hinds put up for sale.
“Buying stags myself, as I always do, I found that prices for quality stock were on par or better than previous years. It was really good to be able to catch up with producers around the country and reassuring to see and feel the solidarity and understanding within this great industry.”
Sharon McIntyre, DINZ Deer Select manager and also Southland deer farmer, attended more stag sales than any other DINZ staff member, as she was out and about talking to breeders.
“I thought it was great to see a range of breeding values in breeders’ catalogues, with records for growth, meat, early conception, and parasite resistance among others,” said McIntyre. "And I noticed that at some sales, animals further into the catalogue with better BVs got stronger prices than those without.
“It was good to see overall mostly pleasing sales after the season we’ve had. A lot of time, money and effort goes into recording and measuring animals, but to be able to give buyers more precision around what they are buying, and to see the uptake of BVs in general, that was really satisfying.
“And it's just great to catch up with other deer farmers – some that I know and some new to the industry.”
