The two main income streams of deer farming are venison and deer velvet. Other minor income may come from the deer skins being turned into product, and possibly tourism revenues, but after the sale of live deer, it’s the meat and the velvet.

If you have a shop for example and tours on your farm, then you can always convert the deer skins into key rings or other trinkets, and at the same time sell some meat. Deer velvet however is an export product, with demand firmly positioned in the East.

Here are some actors that influence the price of deer velvet:

Grade

The grading of deer velvet is subjective, but it is necessary in order to classify it for sale. The grades are Super A, A, B,C, D and E. Super A is commonly known in the trade as SA. Other grades include Damaged, Manufacturing, Regrowth, Taiwan and Spiker.

Supply

The main countries supplying deer velvet are New Zealand and Canada. When one season finishes, the other begins. That’s good for the buyers as they can have consistency of supply, but for the suppliers, your start price of the season is influenced by what the other half did at the end of the season. If there is a pool amount of deer velvet on the international market as your season begins, then your prices will be depressed and there’s little you can do about it. Read the rest of this entry »