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New Zealand deer breeders are known throughout the world for their technically advanced deer farms. In the 1970s, agricultural pioneers in New Zealand began the first deer farming using with animals captured in the wild to build their herds. Today, New Zealand is home to more than 4,000 deer farms that collectively contain over a million hinds, or female deer, and about 600,000 stags, the male counterpart. New Zealand accounts for over one-half of the world’s production of farmed deer. While some breeders are content to raise a small number of animals on a small farm, the New Zealand deer production market is characterized by large commercial operations that cater to the export market.

Most New Zealand deer breeders raise red deer that originated from Europe. Red deer are not native to New Zealand; this species was imported from England and Scotland in the mid to late 1800s as a sporting animal for hunting. They were released in the Southern Alps of New Zealand which have a climate similar to the European Alps where red deer also live. They adapted well to their new home, and without native predators, they multiplied until a century later they achieved the status of pests.

As red deer increased in population and became pests, New Zealanders developed a new industry of capturing wild deer and selling deer meat, called venison, and antler velvet, which has proven therapeutic value, abroad as an export product. It wasn’t long before agricultural entrepreneurs began establishing deer farms that were stocked with wild deer. Farmers began cultivating stocks of domesticated deer that never spent any time in the wild. They then next began breeding red deer, selecting for desirable traits such as meat production and antler development in stags. Breeders do not focus just on the genetics of stags; studies show that stags receive 60% of the genetics that contribute to antler development from their mothers. Breeders are concerned about antler development because one of their products, the velvet, comes from antlers.

Western Europe, particularly Germany, Scandinavia and the United States are the main markets for New Zealand venison. New Zealand deer farmers derive about three-quarters of their export income from venison and nearly one-quarter from deer velvet. While most New Zealand deer farms raise red deer, a small number of farms raise European fallow deer species or North American elk. Deer breeders are concerned with enhancing the genetics of any breed of deer being farmed.