Farmed game: Hunger
Red deer
The red deer eats mostly grass and herbs during summer.
Photo: Anders Jarnamo.
Mouflon
The mouflon is, in northern Europe, mainly active during daytime and at dusk. When it comes to choosing food, it is thought to be a generalist. It would rather graze from the ground, but can also stand un the hind legs to reach leaves up un trees and bushes. The food is during spring and summer mainly composed by sprays and herbs. During the autumn they eat more sprays with berries, heifer, and shrubs. When the ground is snow-covered they eat twigs and shrubs.
During the summer the red deer eats mainly grass and herbs.
They also eat farm crops, leaves, sprays with berries, heather, lichen etcetera.
During the winter, when the ground is covered with snow, the red deer eats mainly juniper and pine, but can also eat bark from mostly young firs, so called ”bark gnawing.
The mouflon is a generalist about their selection of food.
Photo: Jonas Malmsten.
Wild boar
The wild boar can thanks to olfaction find food well under the ground. Photo: Anders Jarnemo.
The wild boar is considered to be the least selective of the farmed game species. As omnivores they can assimilate energy from several sources. The wild boar is adapable and it eats everything from plants to animals. On average, plants and mushrooms make up 80-90% of the food.
During summer and autumn, the access to food is the highest, and also the growth of the boars. They then willingly eat field crops, and also root for worms in the field, and can also graze.
The wild boar prefers hazelnuts, beechnuts, acorns, and windfall. They are drawn to areas where these resources grow. In enclosures they are often fed with roots and cereals. They are also scavengers.
Ostriches
In the wild, ostriches mostly eat various parts of plants such as sprouts, leaves, flowers and seeds. They also eat insects, lizards, and smaller mammals. They move, on a daily basis, over a surface with a radius of on average 20km in their quest for food. Enclosed ostriches must have fodder that has appropriate structure and size every day. The portion of fodder should be well balanced and guarantee that the birds get enough food.
The birds should from the age of six days have access to sand or stones of appropriate size and amount, that they need to facilitate their digestion. All ostriches, except chickens, should have access to grazing. During the part of the year when there is no grazing they should be fed with roughage. Roughage should be offered to birds from the age of one week.