Start Your Own Deer Farm! | GCC at Legends Ranch

Well howdy everybody my name is Keith Warren and welcome to the show and to the great state of Michigan. This program is going to be special because if you've ever thought about getting in the deer farming business, especially if you live in Michigan, pay close attention because we're going to tell you about a financial opportunity that is available now that you won't believe. The white-tailed deer is America's favorite big game animal and white-tailed deer farming is the fastest growing segment in the American agriculture industry. Our program's mission is to dive into the world of deer farming and discover why tens of thousands of Americans compete to create the biggest bucks in the world. And by the biggest bucks we don't just mean the size of the antlers. The financial investment opportunities produced even on small parcels of rural land will blow you away. Join me as we discover how white-tailed genetics, deer auctions, animal husbandry, and so much more drive the deer farming industry. My name is Keith Warren and this is Deer and Wildlife Stories. Most people that want to start a deer farm are really kind of intimidated and I don't blame them. You know there are lots of questions and all and if you've watched our show for many years and you want to start a deer farm but you're still on the fence, this show is targeting you. And if you're in Michigan this show is really targeting you because we're going to tell you about a brand new program something I've never heard exist before that I guarantee you're going to be interested in. And if you're already a deer farmer in Michigan you'll benefit from the same program too. This deer farm is located right next door to the world-famous Legends Ranch and the Wildlife Center which is a gigantic museum-like facility that exists to promote conservation of wildlife globally. Last time I visited the Gutierrez Cervid Company I spent a lot of time with farm manager Jake Badger and needless to say I was impressed at the operation here. The operation here is big. Matter of fact to my knowledge the Gutierrez Cervid Company is the largest deer farm in Michigan and you can't help but be impressed. The deer market is strong in many states but in Michigan the deer market is extremely strong and the reason why is supply cannot keep up with demand. There are so many wildlife preserves here and so many hunters that want to come here that's what drives the market. Now wildlife preserves they don't want just any deer they want giant deer and where they get giant deer is a deer farm. On this show we'll tell you about a unique business opportunity that's been created that'll help the new farmer get started and how you can take advantage of it. My name is Jake Badger I'm the breeding facility manager at Gutierrez Cervid Company at Legends Ranch. So when you're looking to start a deer farm you have to treat it like a business because it is a business. There's going to be expenses but most of that is going to be your pens and your land. Some people will already have their land so that's one of your costs right away the other expense is your pens so you're going to put fencing up. Once that's all done you need deer so that's where our program will come in. We have the ability to provide you with the deer that you need with no cost up front. So in order to do that program we are going to deliver bred does so you have your facility all set up we're going to provide those animals to start your facility right off the bat at no expense they will be delivered to your property bred already. So they deliver you the deer okay and they're not just any ordinary deer these are some of the best white tail deer on the planet and it took them years to develop the genetics to make them this good. So you may be thinking how do we get paid so once those does have those fawns those babies are going to be worth a lot of money and we want those babies so we're going to guarantee you a reduced rate to purchase those back from you and bring them back to our farm. So what we're planning on doing with this program is helping out people who are just getting into deer farming brand new never done it before but they're interested they may not have enough capital to go out and buy these animals so that's how we're going to help by bringing does to them that are already bred. Once this deal starts and we deliver those animals it's not over for us we're going to have a partnership I'm going to be a phone call away we'll help you through learning how to be a deer farmer it's going to be a long process but it'll be a good process. So the way this program works is really pretty simple okay you have your land you build a pen you put your feed and water and a little shelter up in there for the winter months and you get your deer. These aren't any ordinary deer they're super deer the best genetics in the north woods. They get delivered and all of a sudden those fawns are born all throughout the summer as soon as those fawns are weaned okay they're going to pull those fawns back and the Gutierrez Cervid company will sign a contract with you to purchase every single buck fawn that is born. That's pretty cool. Now the next thing is if you want to hold on to one of those bucks for a year or two you can do that as well. Every deal that they do out here is a little bit different so I advise you just pick up the phone if you're interested and call Jake and find out if it's right for you. Deer and Wildlife Stories is brought to you by MVP Whitetails, Dr. Ray Favaro's Whitetail Genetics, UVC Power Sports Tractors and Outdoors, and Vanderdrift Toyota in Arlington, Texas. Deer and Wildlife Stories will be right back. Okay so you've got property and you're wanting to build maybe a barn to many of them maybe deer facilities or maybe a badass lodge well you've got to check out Rafter P Construction the leading design build contractor across the state of Texas specializing in quality farm and ranch projects. Rafter P Construction encourages their customers to be very hands-on. Rafter P Construction will be with you every step of the way to make your one-of-a-kind build a reality. All right when you come to Gutierrez Cervid company you're going to want to come here in this room this is a shed room you're going to see hundreds of antlers in here and you've got to have data you got to know where you are what you're doing and this shed room or cutoff room has hundreds of antlers from different animals every one of these animals is DNAed so what they're able to do is they can compare these animals one year to another in other words there'll be a yearling set of antlers and then the two-year-old set of antlers right next to it you can see the growth you can also check which ones that you like and go back to the dam side the mother side and actually if you want to duplicate that animal breed it the same way or if you want to maybe take a chance and improve that animal you can do that as well. All right so this is a set of cutoffs off a one-year-old buck a yearling buck it's a nice typical set of antlers and okay they've got the mom and the dad to this buck so it's important with all these antlers in here to compare what they do from year to year I'm going to show you this little guy take a good close look at this guy what he looked like at two years old and you'll see how the genetics are really starting to show I mean as a yearling that deer showed a lot of promise but take a look at what he looked like at two this is a beautiful deer nice beams nice time length and just he's a supersized version of the way he was as a yearling but that's so important because when you're a deer breeder you're making decisions that the decisions that you make today for breeding aren't going to show up for two to three years down the road. So before we went to break we told you about this new deer breeder program that is available at the Gutierrez Serving Company up here in Michigan and now we're going to show you some does and I mean I come to the doe pens with Jake and the does are so gentle and some of more gentle than others but talk to everybody about the quality of genetics it's in all the deer. Yep so we've been breeding calm animals as well as strong genetics for years now every doe on our facility is bottle fed they're all a certain level of comfortable with people some a little bit more than others as you can see with this girl here but it all comes down to the animal husbandry the more you're with your animals the more you take care of them the better off you're going to be. Yep and the reason why you want them calm I mean calm animals are healthier animals you can keep an eye on them a whole lot better but when you deliver animals to this program these does are going to be bred correct? They are yeah. And these are super does folks these are these are does with unbelievable pedigrees and the offspring that's in them they're even better than the moms. Right. I mean when the truth be known the reason why is because we stack genetics but it is pretty amazing now the fawns that come out of them okay the deal is you've got a guaranteed purchase deal that you're going to purchase these some of these fawns back from these new breeders so the good thing about this is there really is a very little risk all you've got to do is keep the deer healthy and you're going to buy some of these deer back. Right. So as far as keeping the deer healthy you know people watching the show if you thought about deer farming are you thinking about getting into deer farming let me tell you something keeping deer healthy is absolutely essential because a dead deer is worth zero okay and you need help keeping deer healthy explain to everybody how you're not just going to drop off these does and just going to leave them. Right. I have my cell phone with me all the time it's not going to be a drop off and that's it we're going to be working with you the whole process. You're basically mentoring these people to assure that the health of the animal is paramount. Right so I mean if a problem comes up and they've never seen it before give me a call and I'm going to tell you everything I know about it. And see that's a lifeline I call it so that's good now as far as the facility the facility y'all have here is absolutely huge and consequently I mean you bring a lot of different people through the facility and I know it seems like every time that I go up there I see a different family or a different group of people wanting to get interested in getting involved in deer farming and taking you up on this program and so right now at the facility I mean you got ponds that are on the bottom right. Right. Let's go ahead and take a look at the bottle fed ponds and we're going to show you just a little bit about what goes on behind the scenes in that deer barn right now. My name is Troy. I own a business not far from GCC. Me and my family are always looking for different business opportunities. My kids enjoy feeding fawns every year. We've been coming here for the last five years to feed fawns. I think it teaches them responsibility taking care of animals a little bit different than a normal farm animal. Deer need a lot of close attention when they're Hi my name is Brie Harrison and my family and I have been coming to GCC for five years now and we've been feeding the fawns and our family just kind of fell in love with them. When we started feeding the fawns I told my husband I said feeding these babies and taking care of them would be a dream job for me. Deer farming definitely instills some worth ethic into our children. It learns responsibility. You know you have to work to make money but it's more than that. It's taking care of something other than yourself where they depend on you and we just started thinking more and more about it and we decided to sign up for the classes that GCC was offering and realized that we could make our own dreams come true. Deer and Wildlife Stories is brought to you by Varro Ranch, L.E. Fins, Record Rack Deer and Elk Feeds, Massey Ferguson Tractors at UBC Power Sports and by New Dark. Deer and Wildlife Stories will be right back. Closed captioning is brought to you by Advanced Deer Genetics. My name is Robert Sergi. I'm the Ranch Director of Legends Ranch up here in Michigan. We started our new educational center we call the Wildlife Center and it's all about promoting the youth and the future of conservation through hunting. We do lots of different tours from student field trips to different programs from our learn to hunt programs, our first time hunting programs and we do disabled kid sons veteran hunts and we're just really excited to give back to the community. All right so now it's time to take a look at some of the bucks out here and as we start showing you these bucks I want you to keep in mind that the deer that you're going to get with this new startup deer program are the exact same genetics as these bucks because the the does here are the sisters or the mothers of these bucks. I mean take a look at this uh how old are these guys? These are yearlings. Really? Yep. Folks take a look at these guys. These are these are nice yearlings. I mean like really big yearlings. You know I was here was it three years ago four years ago whatever and I can tell a difference like that night and day and the reason why is because folks here's the reason why the genetics are stacked. In other words every year they get better and so in the does the does that you deliver to these startup deer farms they're going to have stacked genetics in them and those fawns are going to be better than these yearlings. I mean take a look at that guy right there. That is phenomenal. Every one of these deer I'm going to ask you this okay because a lot of deer farmers will wind up buying deer and bringing them in okay do y'all do that? Nope. We have in the past that that's kind of how we got our embryo program going but these are all these are all born here. They were all born here and that's saying something so every one of these yearlings we're going to show you some two-year-olds in a little bit but every one of these yearling bucks and that one right there I like him a lot. He's a big boy. Okay yeah he's big. Every one of them was born here that means that in this program when you wind up getting these does okay the offspring is going to be the same genetics or better than all these guys right here. Okay so these does that you're going to be delivering they're going to have fawns when? May. Okay beginning in May and early May and late borns would be all the way through like July. Right. Okay and so and right now is beginning of August okay so you can take a look at it and some fawns are still yet to hit the ground you probably got a couple more. There's a couple more does that are still. Yeah but but you as a breeder you're going to have when you're involved this program you're going to have fawns on the ground in the summertime all right and so if you want to bottle feed them I would highly encourage you to bottle feed them okay but bottle feeding is a lot of work. It is. Okay you've got people to help you but if you deal in this program I mean most of your people that are in this program are getting 10 deer or less. Right. Okay and it's pretty easy to manage those few of deer but when you start managing something this big okay you're going to need to have some help but so the does that you drop off okay are all of them going to be bred. Every one of them will be and and if you have a problem with any of them he's he's your lifeline you can call him at any time okay give him a phone number it's uh two three one seven four five eight zero zero zero and let me ask you a question when you started here did you have any idea that y'all were going to be a successful growing these monster deer. Absolutely not it's it's been a dream. It is amazing yeah well folks we're going to tell you more about this program uh later on the show but right now we're going to head on over and take a look at some two-year-olds and you're not going to believe the two-year-olds. Deer and Wildlife Stories is brought to you by Maloof Whitetails, the North American Deer Registry, New Dark, and Whitetails of Louisiana. Now some great information on fencing from our friends at L.E. Fence. So I got the guys over here doing some fence work and I want to tell you when you're doing fence work around deer you need to be dealing with people that know how to not just do fences and do a good job with that but work around deer and that's the reason why I've got the folks from L.E. Fence over here. They office out of central Texas but they do fences all over the country but the one thing that's cool about the guys at L.E. Fence is the fact that they can come into a deer farm and erect the fence and get done real quick and they've got a saying at L.E. Fence you know when they work to they work from can to can so anyway in other words they work to get it done and they're getting it done all in one day here just another day on the farm. For more information about L.E. Fence please visit their website at lefence.com or you can give Ron a call at 254-709-9418. Deer farming is a lifestyle it's not just a job that you go to it's your life. I'm from Maine originally if you had told me 10 years ago that I would be raising whitetails I would have told you you're crazy. I never imagined that I would move to Michigan but deer farming has brought me to this place for a reason and it's my life now. So you may be wondering what kind of people are interested in deer farming well the thing that I've found is that deer farming is great for retired couples or couples that are nearing retirement the reason why is because it provides them a source of income yes but also a way to get outside stay active and healthy and be around whitetail deer. Deer farming also appeals to young couples kids love deer and so young couples will come out and they will bring their kids and the kids fall in love with the deer who doesn't fall in love with deer and they become deer farmers so deer farming is really for anybody that loves the whitetail deer. This new deer farmer startup program is one of the most unique ways I've ever seen to be able to get somebody into deer farming for not such a big financial investment. It's something that encourages not only people to get into deer farming but encourages the deer farmer to build a relationship and build a strong relationship and a better deer farmer with better deer and I think that the folks over here at the Gutierrez Cervid company have done a wonderful job developing this program and seeing it through to where it's proving itself. More and more people are starting in the deer farming industry and they're doing it the right way with the greatest genetics in the northwoods and if you'd like more information you can contact the folks with the Gutierrez Cervid company contact them online or you can give Jake Badger a call. Okay so all of them are two-year-olds? They are. Come on really? All of them. You don't have a three-year-old kind of mixed in that? Nope nothing but twos. Holy cow okay well I'm sitting here trying to look at which one is my favorite one and I got that tall guy right there oh my gosh I know he's not very wide but he has got the look that I like very symmetrical tall tined and at two years old you know genetically he's got it what it takes but look at that wide guy right there I mean he is look at him now they're beautiful both of them they are but these other guys in here no slouches I mean absolutely not the the thing about it is the cool thing about deer is that they all look different when you take a look at them every one of them is different okay but every one of them's got a stellar pedigree and the big thing to take away from me when I visit with y'all is that your attention to detail your attention to detail whether it's in the pins the pins are immaculate attention to detail with the wall in there you've got all the breeder bucks up on there and you know the details and details in deer farming are very very important and so Jake is a real good guy to teach you how to be very detail oriented okay but the thing that really impresses me about what's going on here is that Gutierrez Cervid Company is the only company that I know of that has got a program that helps people get in the deer farming industry the way you are and so if you were a wannabe deer farmer in Michigan and you've got land you got the pen and you need to have deer before you do anything else call Jake okay because Jake will help you out and you'll have some of the best genetics in the whole country not just in Michigan but in the entire country and the the thing that that I want to point out is that that I also learned that this isn't just for new deer farmers okay there's a lot of old deer farmers that have been breeding deer for many many years and I know a ton of them up here in Michigandale they've been breeding deer for 20 years and they don't have deer like this okay and so what they've realized they don't have deer like this because they don't have the genetic lines that y'all do y'all spent a ton of money a ton of time building these deer but those deer farmers that realize they don't have the genetics now they're jumping in and putting the genetics in by they'll dedicate what a pen or two yep okay and so they'll take their old genetics out and say okay we're gonna put the genetics in from here put them in there and it's real quick they can see that they didn't start with the right stuff right so okay if somebody wants more information whether you want to be startup deer farmer in Michigan or you're an existing deer farmer in Michigan and you want to contact Gutierrez Cervage Company give them a yep it's 231-745-800 and if you take the plunge and you get into deer farming I give you my word the lifestyle you're gonna love the lifestyle who wouldn't I'd like to thank y'all for watching if you're watching online on our YouTube channel you can go ahead and post a comment I'll get back with you shoot me an email or heck get a hold of me on Facebook and uh I appreciate y'all watching my name is Keith Warren and we'll see you next time