Doe Management & Fawning Kit

Greetings from Monroe County, Michigan! My name is Dr. Kelsey DeLand, and I am a mixed animal veterinarian practicing in Ida. I graduated from Michigan State’s College of Veterinary Medicine in 2016 and returned home to work with my father in a veterinary practice that my grandfather started in 1947. I enjoy many aspects of mixed animal practice, but I have a developing interest in small ruminant and cervid medicine. I hope to share some tips and tricks I have picked up along the way and look forward to learning from all of you as well! January and February are the ideal months to be proactive about the upcoming busyness that is fawning season. Ensuring your does are well-settled in their pens, free of parasites, and receiving good nutrition all make for a healthy gestation. Once your does are settled, make sure your fawning kit is ready to go: I’ve compiled my list of preferred items below.

Preparing the Does

• Penning: Ideally, does should be in the pens in which they will fawn at least 60 days prior to fawning. It’s best to sort does into fawning pens based on temperament: mixing more dominant does with more submissive does during pregnancy is a recipe for condition loss and potentially even abortions. • Parasites: Having does’ fecal samples for parasite eggs is also a smart thing to do before fawning, as medications can be given proactively to help does maintain condition and prevent passage of parasites to fawns. • Nutrition: Proper nutrition is paramount during gestation. Maintaining an ideal body condition is dependent on both ambient temperature and feed type/availability: does that get over-fat in warmer winters may be subject to dystocia (difficult birthing) when fawning time arrives.

Preparing for Fawns: The Ideal Fawning Kit

• Colostrum - There is nothing more vital for the success of any fawn than ensuring they obtain colostrum in the first 24 hours of life. Most of the fawn’s immune system is derived from the antibodies they obtain from their mother’s colostrum. Ideally, fawns should be able to nurse within the first hour of life. If the doe does not have any colostrum, or she cannot be milked, frozen colostrum from another doe or from a disease-free goat herd can be used. Powdered colostrum replacers offer some antibody protection; however, they are inferior to on-farm or local goat-based frozen options. A great tip I recently learned was to freeze colostrum in ice-cube trays for quick and easy thawing without waste: a standard-sized ice cube is approximately one ounce in volume. • Tube feeding supplies (14 French red rubber catheter and a 60 cc (2 ounce) catheter-tipped syringe) - If a fawn is not seen nursing within the first 8-12 hours after delivery, I would recommend tube feeding colostrum immediately. Your veterinarian should be able to guide you in the proper placement of feeding tubes to prevent aspiration pneumonia: there are also many helpful videos online. Fawns should be fed two to four ounces of colostrum every four to six hours for the first day of life. Colostrum replacers must be mixed to the correct concentration and temperature before feeding, and mixing equipment should be disinfected daily. • Probiotic Supplements – I am a big fan of probiotic gels in newborn animals of any species: they are beneficial in preventing diarrhea while increasing the digestibility of milk and milk replacers. Probios© is the brand most widely available: I dose based on weight using the cattle dosage listed on the tube. • Navel Dip or Spray – I prefer 0.5% chlorhexidine solution, but any commercially prepared navel dip or spray is adequate. Make sure the navel area is clean and dry before applying the dip/spray. • Vitamin E-Selenium Injectable Solution (BoSe©) – Vitamin E and selenium work together in the fawn’s body to improve the function of the immune system, which is exceedingly important in young animals. Michigan topsoil is notoriously seleniumdeficient; therefore our forages - hay, pasture, etc. - are also low in selenium. While many pelleted deer diets provide supplemental Vitamin E and selenium, I

My dad and I TB testing deer at Lenny Sizemore’s farm in the pouring rain a few years back.

administer injectable Vit. E/Selenium products to every newborn foal/calf/ fawn/kid/lamb I see. For fawns, I give 0.5 cc of BoSe© subcutaneously. • Injectable Antibiotics – Fawns – especially those who are weak or don’t get colostrum– are extremely susceptible to pneumonia. Mild symptoms can progress to death rapidly in young animals: I highly recommend consulting with your veterinarian to have a medication plan in place for emergency treatment of pneumonia. Many antibiotics that work on one farm may not work on another - keeping track of what medications work on your farm year to year, as well as necropsies if death rates are high - are highly valuable tools in determining the best options for treatment.

There are many components of a successful fawning season: I hope these tips are helpful in making Spring 2022 one of your best yet.

Dr. Kelsey DeLand