Venison on the rise and taking up the slack as velvet returns are challenged by saturated market. 

While both products remain critical to keeping stock behind the wire, New Zealand’s deer industry production has always swung between venison and velvet.

That pendulum has shifted again. Velvet volumes now saturate the market, accompanied by the actions of traders domestically and offshore, driving wholesale velvet values down by 20 per cent in 2024/25, levels barely sustainable against the cost of production. 

While demand and retail prices remain static, year on year New Zealand farmers produce bigger, heavier velvet, slowing the supply chain. Between 2010 and 2021 farmgate value rose from $30 million to $100 million, a trend that will resume once supply and demand re-balance. Progress towards a Velvet Export Licensing Authority should facilitate a fairer and more transparent export system in time.

As slaughter figures run ten per cent behind last year and with prices forecast near $11 per kilogram, venison production is on the opposite side of the cycle to velvet.  

Heavier carcass weight limits overall and premiums for Elk/Wapiti make for an attractive terminal sire option over red breeding hinds. Government funded to 30 per cent from the Sustainable Farming Fund, the North American Retail Accelerator programme, including five venison exporters, is achieving beyond expected growth. 

With the high capital outlay required to enter beef, and the complementary low labour role of deer within pastoral farming, the latter becomes an attractive option.

Upcoming, on a hybrid sale platform, Melior Genetics near Fairlie start the in-calf hind sales season on 8 July.

To find out more about venison contracts and to explore the cashflow management potential of Go Deer, contact a PGG Wrightson deer specialist.