Deer’s dietary habits often spark curiosity, especially near human activity or agricultural areas. Understanding what deer consume and avoid offers insights into their biology and environmental interaction. This article clarifies why certain abundant materials are not part of a deer’s preferred diet, explaining their foraging choices.
Distinguishing Straw from Hay
Straw and hay are agricultural byproducts often seen in bales, but they serve fundamentally different purposes due to their distinct compositions and nutritional values. Straw consists of dry stalks of cereal grains (wheat, barley, rye, oats) left after harvest. It is typically golden, lightweight, and has hollow stems. Straw offers very little nutritional content, making it unsuitable as a primary food source for animals. Its main uses include animal bedding, garden mulch, and sometimes as a building material.
Hay, in contrast, is cultivated and harvested as animal feed. It is made from cut and dried grasses, legumes like alfalfa and clover, or other herbaceous plants. Hay is cut when plants are green and at peak nutritional value, before nutrients are used for seed formation. This results in hay being rich in protein, energy, and other nutrients, making it suitable feed for livestock. Hay typically retains a greener color and a fresh, sweet aroma, distinguishing it from straw.
Deer and Straw Consumption
Deer generally do not consume straw as a significant part of their diet. The primary reason is straw’s minimal nutritional value. Straw is composed mainly of cellulose and lignin, structural components that provide roughage but offer very few digestible nutrients necessary for a deer’s energy and protein requirements. While deer are ruminants, their digestive system is adapted to process higher-quality, more easily digestible forage compared to grazers like cattle. Attempting to subsist on straw would not meet their metabolic needs, potentially leading to malnutrition.
The low palatability of straw also contributes to deer’s avoidance. Deer are selective feeders, often choosing plants that are palatable and nutrient-dense. Straw lacks the taste and texture that typically attract deer to forage. Although accidental nibbling or exploratory consumption might occur, especially in times of extreme food scarcity, straw is not a preferred food source. Feeding straw to deer, particularly in harsh winter conditions, can be detrimental; a starving deer fed only straw would continue to deteriorate due to the lack of essential nutrients.
Understanding Deer Foraging Preferences
Deer are highly selective herbivores; their diet varies significantly with seasons and the availability of preferred plant species. Their natural foraging primarily involves browsing: eating leaves, buds, and tender twigs of woody plants, shrubs, and vines. Forbs (non-woody, broad-leaved plants often considered “weeds” or commercial crops like soybeans) are also a major, highly digestible component of their diet, especially in late spring and summer.
Seasonal diet shifts are common. In spring and summer, deer focus on green, succulent forage, including forbs and new growth from trees and shrubs, which provide easily digestible nutrients for regaining weight lost over winter. As fall approaches, their diet often includes hard mast like acorns and other nuts, as well as soft mast such as berries and apples, which are rich in carbohydrates and fats to build reserves for winter. During winter, when other food sources are scarce, deer rely more heavily on woody browse, twigs, and buds from species like white cedar, sassafras, and maples. Agricultural crops, including corn and alfalfa, are also readily consumed by deer when available due to their high nutritional content and palatability.