The Scotts were forced to quit their hind herd because of Johne's disease, but little did they know that integrating a weaner-finishing operation with sheep and cattle on their Southland farm could have worked so well reports The ODT. Lamb-finishing weights have risen sharply, they have a successful steer-finishing business and the overall farm performance has improved. The Pukerau farmers buy 1400 weaner deer from February to July, with three-quarters killed before Christmas. Mr Scott, the Southland-Fiordland branch of the New Zealand Deer Farmers Association monitor farmer, told a recent field day that frustration at the presence of Johne's forced him to stop running a breeding hind herd about 10 years ago. He found that weaners bred on the farm were suffering from the wasting disease, but when he started buying in weaners it largely disappeared, although the disease has reappeared in some lines he now bought in. Mr Scott said it appeared some weaners were arriving on his farm still young enough to contract the disease. "It is something I don't want to get any worse or I'll be moving away from deer," he said.
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