Are brassicas poisonous to deer?

By Grant Woods,

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← Grant's Answers — Food Plots
Question
Dr. Woods,
I enjoy watching your show every week, and I appreciate how you encourage people to look to Christ the Creator of all, and enjoy the beauty of all He has made. I also enjoy all the tips and advise that you give on the show.

I am an all season deer, (and turkey), hunter here in central IL. I hunt on 50 acres belonging to a friend of mine. I have thought about trying to put some food plots in to supplement the late season forage.
I attended a seminar last fall with Dr. James Kroll. One of the things he talked about was how brassicas are poisonous to deer, and that they will just eat themselves to death on them. I’m assuming he meant in large quantities.

Now I know that you guys use the Eagle Seed blend that has brassicas in it. Obviously you wouldn’t use something that you feel would be detrimental to the deer herd. Can you give me some thoughts on this? I know that Dr. Kroll is also selling a product that he has helped develop, but he seemed to make it sound like this is something the people should never use at all.

What do you think? Have you done any research on this?

Thanks and God bless,
Mike Yotter

Michael,

I first learned about brassicas while touring deer farms in New Zealand.  These farmers raise deer and elk to harvest their antlers.  They wish to produce the largest antlers possible.  These deer were in high fences and only had access to brassicas.  The New Zealand deer industry is very well established and sophisticated.  They are the world’s best at growing deer for antler production and brassicas are the primary crop they use.

Since then millions of deer have consumed brassicas throughout the United States.  Farmers plant various types of brassicas as cover crops on millions of acres throughout the whitetail’s range.  With all of this I’ve never heard of one scientific study that reported any negative consequences of deer eating brassicas.  

I’m sure, like with any plant, too much of a good thing could be bad.  However, I’m not aware of any reason to not use brassicas as part of a good food plot program.

Enjoy creation,

grant