Timing is crucial

Richard Prior, widely regarded as the world expert on roe deers

By Richard Prior

Saturday, 03 July 2010

(Q) How soon can a roe fawn jump? There was a doe and a very young fawn in the field behind our house on 29 May. The field is surrounded by sheep wire and there is one gate left open as the field has been laid up for silage.

One cut was taken two weeks ago and another is imminent. Would the fawn be able to run and jump by then or will it end up going under the blades? C. MORGAN Dorset

A) In the south of England it is fortunate that silage-cutting tends to take place before the peak of fawning when the young are already mobile, but further up country the problem becomes worse. It is distressing to see the remains left behind a cutter, and from the farmer’s point of view, each casualty means a spoiled bale of silage. Some years ago Laurent- Perrier launched a competition to find the best way to get mothers to remove their young to safety.

This needs to be done the night before cutting as a fawn’s instinct is to lie flat if it feels threatened. Even if it is capable of jumping a fence, it will probably panic and forget how. Dogging, electronic noise-emitters, bars attached to the tractor and deterrents were tried, but the most effective method was a string of flashing lamps.

Though it’s probably now too late, your best course would have been to find out when the cutting was due, hire a few lamps from a plant-hire firm with stakes to hang them up and place them here and there in the field the night before. The doe will know about the gate and would take her family through it. The lamps must, of course, be removed before cutting starts.