Nutritional requirements of pregnant and lactating pregnant and lactating fallow deer (Dama dama)

This thesis describes a number of experiments undertaken to assess the nutritional requirements of pregnant and lactating fallow does with the aim of enhancing production and Quality Assurance in the Australian Deer Industry.Areas of study include determination of metabolisable energy intake of farmed fallow deer does of two genotypes throughout pregnancy and lactation, metabolisable energy intake of fallow deer fawns from 12 to 20 weeks of age and the effects of restricted maternal nutrition on foetal and placental development at different stages of gestation.In conjunction with nutritional adequacy, a body condition scoring system based on ante-mortem and post-mortem descriptors was developed for fallow deer. The results of this research make possible the precise strategic feeding of fallow deer breeding stock, which should lead to more consistent reproductive performance and higher quality slaughter animals. Furthermore, use of strategic feeding in conjunction with BCS systems will lead to better resource management and profitability, as farmers consistently produce animals to specificatio