# Sweet Feed for Deer - Pros n Cons



## catch22

I know it has to be kept dry.........I know its not as good source of protein as deer pellets etc

i've never used it before.....does it attract as well as corn??

just looking for an alternative to $11 dollar corn.......


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## Buck Hammer

You could mix corn in with it until the deer got used to it!  For that matter some protein pellets also!


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## wildlifepro

Do not use sweet feed for deer!!! It can cause lactic aciddosis in their system and it changes the ph levels in their rumen.A deers ph level has to stay at a neutral 7.0 and feeding deer sweet feeds are not recommended.Also when the ph is changed it kills enzymes and bacteria deer need to break down and start digestion of their food sources( browse,food plots etc..It's even more wastefull than corn.Use a top quality deer feed and you will be doing yourself and your deer a big favor.Pm me if you have,any health or nutrition questions and will be glad to help you out. Hope this helps out some.Thanks


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## biker13

Fawns can inhale the dust and choke on it


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## king killer delete

*Good Info*



wildlifepro said:


> Do not use sweet feed for deer!!! It can cause lactic aciddosis in their system and it changes the ph levels in their rumen.A deers ph level has to stay at a neutral 7.0 and feeding deer sweet feeds are not recommended.Also when the ph is changed it kills enzymes and bacteria deer need to break down and start digestion of their food sources( browse,food plots etc..It's even more wastefull than corn.Use a top quality deer feed and you will be doing yourself and your deer a big favor.Pm me if you have,any health or nutrition questions and will be glad to help you out. Hope this helps out some.Thanks


Thanks


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## ben300win

Never knew that. I will stop feeding them sweet feed. I did mix it with corn at one time. Just put 50lbs in the feeder the other day. Will go take it out. I did put in some deer feed in the feeder just after the sweet feed.


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## tdc4dade4

used to feed goat chow mixed with corn an molasas  is this also not good for them they sure did like it


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## joshb311

wildlifepro said:


> Do not use sweet feed for deer!!! It can cause lactic aciddosis in their system and it changes the ph levels in their rumen.A deers ph level has to stay at a neutral 7.0 and feeding deer sweet feeds are not recommended.Also when the ph is changed it kills enzymes and bacteria deer need to break down and start digestion of their food sources( browse,food plots etc..It's even more wastefull than corn.Use a top quality deer feed and you will be doing yourself and your deer a big favor.Pm me if you have,any health or nutrition questions and will be glad to help you out. Hope this helps out some.Thanks



Actually lactic acidosis can be caused by consuming too much corn as well as sweet feed. This falls into the category of "too much of a good thing". No animal, including cattle are by nature eaters of corn and corn alone. (This is the reason that the agricultural industry is the nation's number one consumer of antibiotics. Acidosis is a MAJOR problem faced by beef producers whose stock is on a predominantly grain based diet.) If there is no diversity in an animals diet, then health problems will follow over time. I compare it to what would happen if you ate twinkies for 9 out of 10 meals. It might taste great and fill you up, but eventually bad things are gonna make their way to the surface.


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## wildlifepro

*RE Corn also*



joshb311 said:


> Actually lactic acidosis can be caused by consuming too much corn as well as sweet feed. This falls into the category of "too much of a good thing". No animal, including cattle are by nature eaters of corn and corn alone. (This is the reason that the agricultural industry is the nation's number one consumer of antibiotics. Acidosis is a MAJOR problem faced by beef producers whose stock is on a predominantly grain based diet.) If there is no diversity in an animals diet, then health problems will follow over time. I compare it to what would happen if you ate twinkies for 9 out of 10 meals. It might taste great and fill you up, but eventually bad things are gonna make their way to the surface.



Correct on corn as well.So many think corn is a great thing for deer.When you give a deer unlimited and unrestricted access to corn as well it can cause lactic aciddosis or (grain overload). As stated when the PH levels are then acidified it kills the needed bacteria and enzymes they need to procees and digest everything else they take in. Corn only 8% protein offers no real health advantage to them other than late season sugars and starches for energy. I have seen guys shoot a deer and say look how fat that deer is and when I open it up and show them all of the corn sitting and ferminting in the rumen and other leafy browse and matter is not being broken down and then goes through the digestion process and you can see unprocessed matter in the chambers of the stomach, In reality alot that you put in your food plot,m native browse or protein feeding stations bypasses , does not get broken down and metabolised. I have seen this in so many areas where guys are just pouring out tons of corn and because they do not know its really doing more harm than good.I have put water tubes down a deers throught before and with a  mix of fresh water and mineral oil had to flush out their system to save them. Not a pretty sight to see or do .But your gonna still have guys that are gonna do it anyway regardless of what you tell them. We can only reach so many, a quality education is something I truly care about and teach in seminars in hopes of changing the old school ways of thinking and really get people the knowledge to be betters stewards of their land.


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## nickel back

catch22 said:


> I know it has to be kept dry.........I know its not as good source of protein as deer pellets etc
> 
> i've never used it before.....does it attract as well as corn??
> 
> just looking for an alternative to $11 dollar corn.......



nature provides great food for deer,just hunt natural browse and save your self some money.


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## gacowboy

nickel back said:


> nature provides great food for deer,just hunt natural browse and save your self some money.


Excellent advise!!! That would bring us back to really hunting again!


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## nickel back

gacowboy said:


> Excellent advise!!! That would bring us back to really hunting again!



yep,that's what I'm getting back to......


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## caw caw

We have been hunting over corn for a LOOOOOOONG time in SC and had no problems.  Corn makes up only a small part of the deer's diet.  They still prefer natural browse and eat a variety of natural foods.


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## nickel back

caw caw said:


> We have been hunting over corn for a LOOOOOOONG time in SC and had no problems.  Corn makes up only a small part of the deer's diet.  They still prefer natural browse and eat a variety of natural foods.



well if you got the money to throw away then have at it.

I'm just saying that nature provides great food for wildlife so why spend money to feed deer like they are cows,goats........


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## Okie Hog

> nature provides great food for deer,just hunt natural browse and save your self some money.



Not in this part of OK.  Not this year.  It's been very dry here for well over a year.  There is no green grass.  There have been no acorns since 2007.  

Many of the deer here are in bad shape.  Many does have lost their fawns due to the heat and the drought and have come into heat early.  Unless we have some rain soon there will be few fawns next year. 

i increased the feeding of corn, soybeans and blackeyed peas in hopes of helping the deer through the fall and winter.


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## nickel back

Okie Hog said:


> Not in this part of OK.  Not this year.  It's been very dry here for well over a year.  There is no green grass.  There have been no acorns since 2007.
> 
> Many of the deer here are in bad shape.  Many does have lost their fawns due to the heat and the drought and have come into heat early.  Unless we have some rain soon there will be few fawns next year.
> 
> i increased the feeding of corn, soybeans and blackeyed peas in hopes of helping the deer through the fall and winter.



sounds like nature at work to me,the strong will survive.I applaud your effort though,good luck.(hope yall get some rain soon up that way)


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## DAR

The deer in the midwest sure look like they benefit from the corn.


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## DCHunter

Back to the original question....I've had a trail cam set up with a corn and protein pellets mix and the deer eat it all. Meanwhile, my neighbor puts out sweetfeed about 100 yards away and the deer hardly touch it. They might not even touch it at all. All I know is that the pile goes down a little bit but never gets totally eaten. It could be raccoons or something that is eating it.


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## omenshooter3535

Hey wildlifepro i sent you a pm again but havent got anything back??


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## Mistrfish

I use to feed my Horses sweet feed everyday.  They would always drop a little on the ground and not clean it up.  The deer would wait until the horses went to the back of the pasture to come and eat what they left on the ground. 

This gave me the idea to use sweet feed in my feeder as it was so much cheaper than deer food.  At one time I could put a five gallon bucket in the trough and there would be crumbs left in the morning.  

I have since stopped using it per Wildlifepro and went to a pellet feed that I feed my goats.  I have to feed something to keep up with the big money guys across the street.  No feed means no deer on my side of the road.


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## wildlifepro

omenshooter3535 said:


> Hey wildlifepro i sent you a pm again but havent got anything back??




He Tim,It slipped by me ,sorry about that one .I will email you some info to you tomorrow when I get in the office.


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## Son

I'm learning, good information. I've always used food plots, and fertilized natural browse. Some hunt the food plots, I never have unless I was on an invited hunt, and that's where they put me. In our woods, have never seen a big buck shot on one of our food plots. Yet.
Most of our big buck kills are during the rut, pre rut, post rut.


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## Forest Grump

DAR said:


> The deer in the midwest sure look like they benefit from the corn.



The deer in the Midwest benefit much more from the SOIL that grows the corn than the corn. 6 foot deep topsoil that grows cornstalks 12-14 feet high also supports very nutritious browse plants. And soybeans in the next field over. The corn left standing (not much, except where they want to hunt) is an important food source in their exceptionally harsh, downright miserable winters. There is a significant difference in that vs. a pile of corn or sweet feed that suddenly appears in a Southeastern forest.


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## jbp84

wildlifepro said:


> He Tim,It slipped by me ,sorry about that one .I will email you some info to you tomorrow when I get in the office.



you should consider opening up shop in GA or find a dealer sell your product im sure majority of GON members would love to try your pellet feed.. when i told my gf i was going to order a pallet of your pellet feed she ask if i was nuts i told her i love my deer


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## nickel back

Forest Grump said:


> The deer in the Midwest benefit much more from the SOIL that grows the corn than the corn. 6 foot deep topsoil that grows cornstalks 12-14 feet high also supports very nutritious browse plants. And soybeans in the next field over. The corn left standing (not much, except where they want to hunt) is an important food source in their exceptionally harsh, downright miserable winters. There is a significant difference in that vs. a pile of corn or sweet feed that suddenly appears in a Southeastern forest.



very good point that a lot of folks do not look at,the soil is what  makes it happen


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## River Rambler

I wonder why no one has come out with a probiotic for deer.


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## Dinosaur

I would have to think of an alternative as well if I had to pay $11 a bag for corn. I payed $6 for 50 lb bags last season. Not sure about this year yet, but I hear it will be about the same.


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## Killdee

How things change and stay the same, deer still eat corn, Wildlife pro is in jail or should be by now!


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## Forest Grump

River Rambler said:


> I wonder why no one has come out with a probiotic for deer.



They did, 20 years ago: it's called chicory.



Killdee said:


> How things change and stay the same, deer still eat corn, Wildlife pro is in jail or should be by now!



Yet his points above are valid; you should not feed sweet feed to deer. The molasses & sugars are much more likely to induce rumen acidosis than corn, & very quick to mold, which can be directly toxic. It's 12% protein, not an improvement over good, native forage, much less a food plot.

I'm not defending him, he was in large part a charlatan, apparently; & earned his ban from here before he ran afoul of the law. 

Not sure why people resurrect these old threads?


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## work2play2

Very old thread but I saw it on a google search. Whatever happened to this cat? Was he running some sort of scam? Anyone remember what happened?


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