It is hoped recent showers in northern New South Wales will be enough to keep baby deer safe from their biggest survival threat — ants.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 9 minutes 10 seconds 9 m Graham Moore runs 1,200 fallow deer on his farm near Glen Innes, NSW Download 4.2 MB

Black ants seek moisture and, if there is no other moisture around, will find it in the eyes of fawns.

Graham Moore runs 1,200 fallow deer for venison and game hunting tours near Glen Innes, and is preparing for his does to give birth in coming weeks.

"The does start fawning at the end of this month and in another three to four weeks you'll see little bubs everywhere," he said.

"The biggest problem with fawning at this time of the year is black ants.

"They're looking for moisture and the fawns' eyes are a supply of moisture. It can be a big problem.

"Thankfully we've had a few showers of rain and that might steady that problem up."

Graham Moore runs five deer to the acre on his farm near Glen Innes. "They're browsers rather than grazers," he says. ( ABC Rural: Lisa Herbert )

Mr Moore said deer were a difficult animal to farm, and the processing of his animals also was a worry.

"The cost of fencing for a start, and also the markets have been tough," he said.

"Our distances are getting greater and greater every year with the demise of smaller, local abattoirs."

They can also be difficult and dangerous animals to handle.

"I fear their hooves more than anything. They're very sharp. Like any animal, you've just got to keep your eyes on them."

Tall fencing not only keeps Graham Moore's deer inside his property, it keeps wild deer out. ( ABC Rural: Lisa Herbert )

The deer are killed for venison at two years of age.

Mr Moore works towards a dressed carcase weight of 30-35 kilograms.

To eliminate a strong, gamey taste, the males are castrated and then supplemented with grain to improve their eating quality.

"We've been trying to get between 6-8mm of fat on them for a specialised market in venison racks," Mr Moore said.

"We use pure Hungarian bloodlines to improve our genetics, both in antler growth and also body."

When deer lose their antlers annually, Rosemary Moore gathers them and cleans and sells them. ( ABC Rural: Lisa Herbert )

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 3 minutes 28 seconds 3 m 28 s Rosemary Moore says she is passionate about her herd's antlers Download 1.6 MB

While venison and hunting tours are the farm's core business, Mr Moore's wife Rosemary Moore is passionate about their herds' antlers, which she sells locally.

"I collect them in the bush and every set of antler has a story to it from a very special animal," she said.

"They never drop them together. I have to find one and then maybe three days later I'm lucky to find the complete set."

The stags are currently growing velvet now ahead of the mating season at Easter.

"They lose their antler at the end of October every year and then by February they have their full growth," Mrs Moore said.

"I never get the hugest ones because Graham's trophy shooters come here especially for that purpose, and they are bred for that purpose.

Rosemary Moore collect antlers from the bush paddock on her deer farm and sells them as decorative ornaments. ( ABC Rural: Lisa Herbert )

"They have lovely veins that run through the outside of the antler. They're solid. There's a fair bit of calcium in them.

"They must be medicinal because if I don't collect them quickly from the paddock, other animals chew them to pieces."

Mrs Moore said the antlers sold quickly at this time of year.

"They just enhance Christmas. They look natural and they look lovely on any tree," she said.

A Tenterfield butcher is the only local stockist of Graham Moore's venison. ( ABC Rural: Lisa Herbert )

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Listen Duration: 3 minutes 51 seconds 3 m 51 s Tim Rose value-adds locally grown venison at his butcher shop in Tenterfield Download 1.8 MB

Mr Moore has built a solid business relationship with a butcher 120km away.

Tim Rose has been selling the value-added venison at his Tenterfield store for four years now.

"Being a small shop in the country you've got to try something different," Mr Rose said.

He said he had worked with Mr Moore to come up with a niche product, even suggesting a change to the deer's feeding regime to encourage a bit more fat on their meat.

"We bone it all out — cutlets, loin chops, racks. It's all the same as lamb, basically," Mr Rose said.

"We have been value-adding it. That's probably our main market now, value-added venison.

"Venison pastrami, salamis, venison hams, venison sausages, and the latest experiment is a venison prosciutto."