Deer industry offering multiple options

Steve Annan has been PGG Wrightson North Island deer and velvet coordinator since November 2021.

While he cherishes the role, he concedes he has come in at a challenging time, when venison prices are struggling to recover from the economic after-effects of covid.

“Much of our export product is sold through high end restaurants, which suffered heavily through lockdowns around the world during the pandemic, while the global impact on shipping has posed logistical challenges taking venison to international markets. Prices are gradually improving, though it is a long, slow process. Fortunately, deer farmers have multiple options, including velvet and trophy genetics, which are paying much better than venison at present,” he says.

Although only in his present role for a few months, Steve’s deer experience goes back around four decades. He grew up on his grandfather’s Te Rapa dairy farm, where as well as producing milk, the family also farmed deer. In addition to farming, Steve’s father Rob was a livestock agent, starting out with Newton Kings, which merged into NMA, and then became PGG Wrightson.

Prior to following his dad’s footsteps into the company, his professional experience was in sales and marketing, in telecommunications, engineering and transport. With that background, Steve works hard to see things from his clients’ perspective.

“You have to be able to negotiate the negativity we currently have around venison, to be able to acknowledge those challenges and also take the conversation in a more positive direction, which is where the velvet discussion comes in, with a stronger market at present. Farmers have options and can use that to drive their business forward, which is one of the reasons I enjoy this industry so much,” he says.

More a facilitator than an advisor, Steve emphasises the importance of listening.

“Many of my clients have been in the sector a good long while. Their knowledge base is as good as anyones. I don’t believe it’s necessarily appropriate for me to put an answer in front of them. My philosophy is to work through decisions alongside them. You never stop learning, and you have to be able to listen in order to learn,” he says.

Steve regards recent deer industry data collection initiatives as a clear opportunity for farmers to increase profitability.

“These enable us to target knowledge, particularly around traceability and genetics, therefore creating better products for each specific purpose, whether that be to produce velvet, trophy stags, or venison. Each requires a different animal for optimal performance. Quantifying and qualifying those genetics for each category will ensure the best animal and therefore the best result,” he says.

Having been instrumental developing a North Island venison procurement agreement for PGG Wrightson clients, Steve already has a significant accomplishment next to his name since starting his role.

“That was the first challenge for me. From the company perspective, and also of course for our clients, having an agreement for venison is beneficial. Farmers work with others in the PGG Wrightson Livestock team, where they have established relationships, to facilitate sales, while my role is to secure all the details in the background for that process, such as logistics and timing, making sure that the agreement delivers maximum benefit for all parties,” he says.

Although Waikato born and bred, Steve has lived in Hawke’s Bay for the past six years, on a 65 hectare Maraekakaho property, west of Hastings.