News

Photograph of the outstanding, internationally recognised, trophy stag, whose semen is now available from Deer Improvement.

An outstanding trophy stag taken on the Rata Maire estate in the central north island has won international recognition and is about to contribute further to the New Zealand deer industry by generating offspring using semen collected after his death.

Scoring 470 points on the Safari Club International (SCI) scale, the trophy was the subject of a special award at the recent SCI conference in Reno, Nevada.

Semen straws are now available to farmers through Deer Improvement, a new company specialising in deer genetic improvement and reproductive technologies based at Invermay in Otago. Director Peter Gatley said the recovery of the semen presented breeders with the potential to generate even more impressive antlers in future. "The initiative taken at Rata Maire is a good example of the value created through the application of reproductive technologies. This stag was magnificent but we expect some of his sons will be even better."

For further information please contact the Deer Improvement Team.