Farmers on feral deer alert over biosecurity threat to cattle

There have been at least a dozen sightings of feral deer in the Northern Rivers area since a community awareness campaign started three months ago. 
Key points:

The Northern Rivers community is asked to report sightings of feral deer via an app

The district vet is concerned feral deer could spread diseases to cattle herds

The first feral deer spotted on a property in the Byron Shire has been culled

Outside the region, the destructive environmental and agricultural pest is already well established with its range covering 22 per cent of the state, or 180,443 square kilometres, according to NSW Department of Primary Industries data for 2020.  

Now the Feral Deer Alert program has extended to the Northern Rivers region â€" which has been relatively unscathed by the introduced species â€" to help prevent the population from spreading further.

Tweed Shire Council's Rachel Hughes says 12 sightings of feral deer across the Northern Rivers have been reported in the past month.(

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Tweed Shire Council's feral deer project officer Rachel Hughes said there had been a great response with sightings reported and photos uploaded to the FeralScan app.

She said most of the sighting had been of single males, potentially looking for new areas to expand into.

"We're going to start basing our monitoring procedures in and around those sightings," she said. 

"We would place monitoring cameras up for a period of time just to confirm that we do have movement through that area." 

Ms Hughes said she expected an increase in the number of sightings reported.

"With deer, especially with the mating season, you're most likely to see males out and about, and at the moment we're in that rut season for particular species," she said.

Four community workshops on how to identify, record and control feral deer were held in July.(

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"People weren't really on the lookout before and didn't really have an idea of what to look for, and now that people are aware that there are deer in the area, they're starting to notice them in the landscape, and that’s a good thing."

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There have been sightings in both the Kyogle and Byron local government areas, but Ms Hughes said most were in the Tweed area, including one being monitored at Crabbes Creek. 

"I think the most concerning one recently was actually seeing how close a male deer was to cattle and willingly just grazing in and around them," she said.

"If those cattle are in season, there's that potential that the male deer might feel rather amorous and want to mate with those cattle."

A male feral deer with a mob of cattle on a Crabbes Creek property in the Tweed Valley. (

Supplied: Tweed Shire Council

)Deer-cow hybrid?

With the growing feral deer population, and interaction with local cattle herds, should producers be worried they could end up with deer-cow hybrid calves?

Northern Tablelands Local Land Services district veterinarian Nigel Brown said while the sexual act was physically possible, conception was highly unlikely. 

District vet Nigel Brown says feral deer can transmit major diseases to cattle.(

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"Cattle and deer have been living together … around the world for thousands of years and there really aren't hybrids … with any of the species of deer that I'm aware of," he said.

Damage caused to bile ducts by liver fluke in an adult bovine liver. (

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Dr Brown said it was unlikely hybrid offspring could result from mating between cattle and deer due to the wide variation between the species' chromosomes.

He was more concerned about the biosecurity and productivity risk that feral deer could pose to cattle through transmission of liver fluke, Johne's disease, and cattle tick. 

"There’s a report … on culled deer that clearly shows that they carry liver fluke, and we know that things like Johne's disease … could be [spread by deer]," he said. 

"Even simple things like cattle ticks, the migrating animal can pick up a tick in one place, travel large distances in a few days before the tick might drop off and lay eggs."

Unwelcome visitor culled

Earlier this month a cattle producer in the north of the Byron Shire spotted a young male Rusa deer grazing alongside his livestock.

This young male Rusa deer photographed by a Byron Shire landholder was later culled.(

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Byron Shire Council's biodiversity and agriculture project officer Peter Boyd said it was the first confirmed sighting of the feral pest in the area.

"As exciting as it sounds, it's quite concerning really because they say often that wherever you see one there's generally others around in the area," he said.

"We haven't had a reporting of another one since, but I hope it's not the start of a trend with deer coming into the Byron Shire."

Mr Boyd said the landholder was initially surprised and then concerned for the safety of his children and rang the council.

"A hunter was contacted who went out there and dispatched the deer as soon as possible," he said.

Deer are included in the list of feral animals that landholders are responsible for controlling under the NSW Biosecurity Act. 

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