Canes Deer Velvet – From our place to yours

Dear velvet has been used as a traditional Chinese medicine for over 2,000 years being highly valued for its protective, regenerative and strengthening properties.

For centuries it has been used as a tonic for general well-being and immunity, bone and joint health and recovery from stress fatigue injury and surgery.

In the middle of the North Island of New Zealand you will find Malcolm and Kathy Cane, farming deer and producing velvet antler. For over 30 years Canes have been perfecting their breeding and farming systems

I was brought up on a farm, I’ve always loved being outdoors, I’ve always had a passion for deer. Once you learn and how to handle them they are just a pleasure to work with. Yeah, it’s just developed over the years, we started farming just for venison and then it developed into the velvet. Over the years we’ve invested in genetics and now we produce some of of the best antler in the country and when we’re really proud of that.

Reporoa, it’s got a great climate for farming deer. It has distinctive seasons, it’s quite cold in the winter we have a good spring, and the summers are generally not too dry and the deer just thrive in this environment.

Malcolm Cane

The deer a free-range all year round and live predominantly on good quality grass. Over winter when the grass growth is slower they are supplemented with Lucerne, silage, swedes and kale crops. As a result they remain healthy and naturally productive.

Each springtime the male deer grows a new set of antlers. I the early stage of growth these are called deer velvet. If not removed they continue to grow into long hard bone and are now called antler. During the mating season the stags use these as weapons to fight each other in the quest for superiority, so it’s important when farming deer to remove the antlers to prevent the animals harming each other.

The process of removal is a very strictly controlled protocol to ensure animal welfare. The best time to harvest the deer velvet is between 55 and 60 days from when it begins to grow. This is when it’s packed full of nutrients to support the growth of blood vessels, nerves, bone, cartilage – all the joint structures in the body.

I have a nursing background so I’m very interested in the way the body works, and velvet being a traditional Chinese medicine. I was very interested in the way that it interacted with the body, and why it had beneficial effects that it does.

Kathy Cane

The most potent part of the antler is the tip, and canes guarantee that all tips are included in the capsules. What really sets them apart, is that after 30 years of selective breeding their deer are now producing antlers with more points. Therefore the product has more active ingredients than ever before.

We know exactly what is going into our capsules, we know that the deer have been healthy and well fed throughout their lives, and we know the processing of the velvet from start to finish is under our own ownership and control.

Kathy Cane

During processing, the velvet goes through a thorough cleaning and hair removal process, then is freeze dried and milled into
powder. It undergoes sterilization without the use of heat, thereby avoiding damage to the proteins, and finally is vacuum-packed ready for transport to the factory for capsulating and bottling.

Dear velvet is an extremely versatile supplement, with a wide range of uses and a very long history. A product that lasts the test of time like this must be truly something special, and velvet has assured a strong future too as researchers around the world continue to validate the benefits that have been treasured for centuries.

I consider myself extremely fortunate to be farming dear it’s a passion of mine and I guess a benefit of that, is also that we’re helping in people’s health and we’re sharing this wonderful product with them.

Malcolm Cane

Canes are proud to bring you this amazing natural product in convenient capsules.