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Over the last thirty years, we have planted over two thousand native hardwood trees, and as well as those, most of the farm now benefits from the very wide 'wildlife corridor' hedges which have greatly increased the variety of insects, moths, butterflies, birds and small mammals.
There has always been a remarkable number of different species of wild bees and wasps. We have also made three ponds, which have seen the return of several species of orchids, as well as encouraging waterfowl like moorhens and wild duck, and herons who enjoy the huge numbers of frogs and toads living in and around the ponds. Some of the paddocks are species-rich pastures with a good variety of wild flowers in them. Even though summers are short and winters long and hard, we feel privileged to live in such a lovely place.
Why do you farm deer? The farm's history and philosophyThe short answer is that we want to produce the finest possible meat as humanely as possible and without recourse to commercial abattoirs. Reediehill Farm was the first deer farm in Europe, started by John Fletcher who is a veterinary surgeon specialising in deer. After finishing his veterinary training in 1969, John spent five years researching the wild behaviour and breeding cycle of the red deer on the island of Rum, off the west coast of Scotland.
In the early 1970s, livestock farming had many flaws, both in terms of animal welfare and in the drugs (steroids, for example) used to produce leaner meat, milk and eggs. The effects of animal fats on health were beginning to emerge. It was clear to John that, because deer had not been selectively bred to produce pathological quantities of milk, or wool, or lambs, or fat, they do not suffer many of the diseases that farm animals are prone to. Also, venison is a naturally lean meat that needed no steroids to make it so. And, after all, deer are native to Britain not like the sheep, goats and cattle imported from the Mediterranean. So he decided to start a new farming system using a new animal that did not have the baggage of centuries of farming traditions behind it.
Stags love to make wallows in the mud and to roll in them in the summer
Stags use their feet to box in the summer
His system aimed to work with the deer's natural behaviour, to provide a unique system that could produce superb meat without the stresses involved in transportation to an abattoir, and to keep full control over the process by cutting and packing the venison on the farm. That is what he still does today.
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OUR UNIQUE FARMING SYSTEM
because they feel most comfortable in herds and like to stay together. 
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Even so, it is hard, especially for the young ones. So at these times, we have a huge barn where they can shelter. Usually, it is just the hinds (females) and the calves that stay in, though sometimes the stags have come in of their own accord. They are not penned up in the barn - there is lots of space for them to run about.
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How are the deer killed?
No transport. The unique part of the livestock system here is that the deer do not have to be slaughtered in an abattoir, so there is no need to round them up for transport. This is a privilege that other farm animals can't have as legally they have to go to abattoirs. John Fletcher, however, has spent years of his life making sure that the legal right to continue to shoot deer in the field remains with us.
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He has worked with both UK legislation and EU meat hygiene legislation for a successful outcome, and still continues to monitor forthcoming legislation, lobbying vigorously where necessary.
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Instant death with no stress.
Our deer are shot at close range with a rifle, as they graze in the field. They drop to the ground immediately, as death is instant. So not only is there no adrenalin in the meat which could harm it, but also, the other deer are not upset by what has happened.
Even though they are 'sentient beings', they display no fear or anxiety at another deer being shot right next to them. Animals rarely drop dead in the wild, and healthy deer may pick on a sick or wounded animal that shows signs of distress, but instant death with no distress does not happen in the wild. So either they have no mechanism for understanding and becoming upset by it, or else they do understand that they may be killed and don't mind. Either way there is no grief or terrified anticipation of the next week's cull. They simply eat the potato the shot deer was going to eat and carry on with their lives, because they are not humans: they are deer.
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Two interesting studies about stress.
Not content with what we have observed ourselves, we have welcomed people wishing to evaluate the system in terms of animal welfare. Some years ago, we had a graduate vet student (who was a vegetarian). He wanted to observe the behaviour of the deer to see how it was affected by field shooting. He spent days simply sitting in the field taking observations and using a video camera to record the deer's behaviour. Then after he was satisfied that he recognised normal behaviour, he observed and filmed three different scenarios, each on different days. First, John went in with the tractor and put out a long line of food, as was normal on a killing day. Then he shot his rifle, but into the air. So there was the disturbance and excitement of the tractor with food, the loud noise of the gun, but no dead deer. In the second scenario John went in with the tractor and put out food as before, but this time a deer was shot, in the head at close range as usual, and fell down dead instantly. The third scenario was John going into the field with the tractor and putting out food as before. But this time he just darted a deer with his tranquilliser gun, which makes a far quieter bang. The deer took several minutes to fall asleep, and then was revived, which took another few minutes.
The results of his findings were not a great surprise to us. There was no discernible difference between the first and second scenarios. The deer came running to the feed, they jumped a little at the loud noise of the gun, and then continued to feed, eventually going back to grazing or sitting down to cud as they had before. The scenario that disturbed them the most was when the deer was tranquillised, even though the noise of that gun was so quiet. And the reason they were more disturbed by a darted deer than one that was shot dead is that the darted deer acted strangely, staggering about a bit before it fell asleep on the ground. And when it was revived, it was groggy for a few minutes. This abnormal behaviour attracted the other deer's attention because it was something they could recognise, whereas a deer dropping stone dead does not display signs of distress.
The second experiment was recently, when a researcher wanted to take blood samples from our deer immediately after slaughter. He was taking blood samples from deer killed in different situations (i.e. shot from a distance in the wild, shot at close range on our farm, and killed in on-farm and off farm abattoirs) and they found that our deer had so little stress that it was not even measurable on their scale. Wild deer, usually shot in the chest and with death often not being instant, were far more stressed. I have not heard the result of abattoir slaughtered ones. Again, scientific proof of what we already knew.
We also had a BBC2 team here making a series called 'Intelligent animals' which was investigating just what animals appear to know and comprehend. They filmed the shooting, and the deer next to it calmly eating his dead companion's potato, apparently oblivious of what had happened.
Approval by animal welfare bodies.
This system really does seem to be the answer to eating meat with a clear conscience. Over the years, we have had visits from many interested bodies (EU veterinary delegations, RSPCA, Farm Animal Welfare Council, National Association against Factory Farming, and many more). Some of these bodies have even witnessed the killing of deer and have been highly impressed. They have all concluded, formally or informally, that this system is as good as you can get, in terms of animal welfare. Compassion in World Farming has this to say of our system: "Clearly, farming systems that involve the animals enjoying an outdoor environment and are not subjected to transport stress or alien environments at slaughter are far better than the factory farmed conditions that most farm animals endure."
What do you feed your deer on?
In the summer, there is plenty of grass for them to eat so they don't need anything else. The
grass grows very fast in the summer with our long days. We use the manure from the over wintering shed to fertilise it and keep the ground in good heart. However sometimes, for a variety of reasons, we do top this up with a small amount of fertiliser, but the amounts are very small. Mostly the grass just grows by itself. Some of the paddocks are species-rich pastures with a good variety of wild flowers in them.
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In the winter, we feed them on hay (sometimes made here, sometimes from nearby farms), and also potatoes and/or carrots. We have also fed them kale, which they like.
The potatoes and hay are grown locally – they are the rejects from the vegetable growers, though in fact they are so good that most of us use them ourselves as well! Our policy has always been to buy as much as we can locally to reduce food miles.
Are you organic?
Most organic livestock enterprises are mixed farms that produce their own winter feed. However, our little hill farm is not suitable for a mixed farm – we have tried in the past, but it simply isn't viable (economically or environmentally) to grow crops up here. Grass is what our farm grows best. We cannot qualify for a Soil Association organic mark, because we can't get enough organic winter feed locally. In order to buy in enough for the deer, it would have to be hauled for hundreds of miles, and we feel that the pollution this would cause would totally wipe out any advantages of being organic. But in most respects, our philosophy is pretty close to organic, and indeed, compared to, say, organic poultry, our system uses far fewer chemicals and drugs, and is far more animal welfare-friendly.
What drugs do you give your deer?
Because, unlike conventional livestock, deer have not been selectively bred for centuries, they are not prone to most of the diseases that farm animals tend to suffer from. Having lived wild with the survival of the fittest for thousands of years, they are hardy animals that mate and calve without help from man. Many of the deer don't need any treatment at all, as most eventually gain immunity from lungworm, the most common problem for a livestock-only deer farm. However, the young calves are given some wormer poured along their back when they are brought into the over wintering shed, and again before they are turned out in the spring, to keep the pastures clean. After that they have no further treatment, so by the time they are used for venison, they will have been on grass for many months, if not over a year after the end of the withdrawal time (it's about a month) for their initial treatment. Clearly if any deer is injured or sick it would be treated like any other animal, but this would be a rare occurrence, and it would not be used for venison.
The Veterinary Medicines Directorate, carries out residue tests every year for the Food Standards Agency. They test various organs like the liver and kidney for drug residues, as these are the parts that trap the highest concentrations of drugs in a carcase. In all the years of testing, no residues have ever been found in our venison. Interestingly, and contrary to what some people would imagine, residues have been found in wild deer from time to time. Perhaps this is not so surprising, given that it is not possible to control where wild deer feed.
Below are one or two of the accolades we have received. We hope this answers your enquiries about the way we produce our venison. If you would like to ask us anything else, please email us and we will reply to you.
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Nichola Fletcher
Fletchers of Auchtermuchty
Some of John & Nichola Fletcher's awards:
Scottish Food Proms Lifetime Achievement Award
Slow Food Award nomination
Rick Stein Super Hero
Honorary Fellowship of Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
Best Small Rural Business Award
UKTV Local Food Hero
BBC Food and Farming Awards 2006
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