Relationship between velvet antler weight and liveweight in red deer (Cervus elaphus)

The allometric relationship (Y = AX b ) between velvet antler weight (Y) harvested at 2, 3, and 4 years of age and the respective winter lean liveweight (X), was examined in 145 farmed red deer stags (Cervus elaphus). The stags which were the progeny of 10 sires, were born in 1982 and 1983. The allometric coefficients (b) for the 1982‐and 1983‐born stags were 2.4 and 1.7 respectively which indicated that velvet antler was late maturing relative to winter lean liveweight. Sire had a significant effect on the scaling factor (A, P < 0.05) of the allometric equation, which indicated that over the liveweight range in this study, there was up to a 30% difference in velvet antler weight adjusted for winter lean liveweight for stags from the different progeny groups. The sire effect on the relationship between velvet antler weight and winter lean liveweight indicates the possibilities for selection of genetically superior sires for velvet antler production relative to winter lean liveweight.