Fallow Deer

Fallow Deer is a deer species (Dama dama) native to the Mediterranean region and parts of the Near East, farmed for venison in a deer farming industry that developed substantially in the late twentieth century. New Zealand became a pioneer of large-scale commercial deer farming from the 1970s onward, fencing fallow and red deer into managed pasture herds to supply the growing international venison market, and other countries in Europe and elsewhere later developed their own deer farming operations. Fallow deer had also long been kept in parks and enclosed estates across Europe well before the modern farming industry emerged, valued for their distinctive palmate antlers and often spotted coats. Farmed fallow deer are raised much like cattle or sheep, on fenced pasture, though they retain more of their natural wariness and require higher fencing than conventional livestock.