Velvet and Venison Income Calculator NZ
Deer farming earns from two quite different products and this puts both in one place: velvet, cut annually from stags that stay on the farm, and venison, paid on carcass weight against a schedule in the same way as lamb or beef. It gives you each income stream separately, the combined total, and what that comes to per animal on the property, which is the figure worth comparing against any other use of the same country. The two sides behave differently and that is the point of seeing them together. Velvet is a recurring harvest from an animal you keep, so a velvetting stag is a capital item earning a return each year, while venison is a single realisation at the end of an animal's time on the farm. A deer operation is really a decision about the balance between them, and that balance is difficult to see when the two are calculated in separate places. No velvet or venison prices are supplied here. Velvet in particular moves sharply with grade, and an average across a line will normally sit well below the top grade quoted anywhere, so the only price worth using is the one you were actually paid.
Velvet is 30% of this total and recurs next season from the same stags. The venison half does not. Income only. Feed, animal health, velvetting fees, freight and overheads all sit outside this figure.
How it works
Velvet income is stags velvetted multiplied by the average weight cut and the average price a kilogram. Venison income is deer killed multiplied by average carcass weight and the schedule, less deductions per head. The two are added for the combined figure, and each is also expressed per animal so the streams can be compared directly rather than only in total.
Why an average velvet price sits below the quoted one
Velvet is graded, and price differs substantially between grades. Any line will contain a spread, so the average across it lands below whatever the top grade was making. Using a headline grade price against a whole line is the most reliable way to overstate velvet income, sometimes by a wide margin. The figure to use is the one from your own sale, after grading.
Worked example
One hundred and twenty stags cutting an average of 3.2 kilograms of velvet at $110.00 a kilogram return $42,240, or $352.00 a stag. Two hundred deer killed at 55 kilograms carcass weight on a $9.00 schedule gross $99,000, and $8.00 a head of deductions takes $1,600 off, leaving $97,400 or $487.00 a head. The two streams together come to $139,640. Note that the velvet figure recurs next season from the same stags, while the venison figure does not.
Related calculators
- Kill Sheet: the deductions side in detail.
- Stock Units: deer alongside sheep and cattle on the same country.
- Average Daily Gain: how the venison animals are growing.
- Farm Lease Rate: what the country itself costs to run.