There are three main bloodlines that make up the herds of red deer at Cambridge Deer Company - Eastern European (Yugoslavian and Romanian) and English Park - Woburn and Whittlebury. The herd comprises a breeding herd of 15-20 sire stags and 70-85 hinds with associated followers.


The Leopould II Eastern Herd:

There are two pivotal bloodlines within the CDC Eastern Herd; the Rosegg Park bloodline based upon the breeding of LEOPOULD (a pure Yugoslavian Stag) and the Lesslhumer bloodline based upon the breeding of pure Romanian deer based in Austria:


The Rosegg Park Yugoslavian Deer:


In 1963, because of rising river levels at Osjiek in Yugoslavia, the Forestry Commission began to catch red deer calves isolated on the islands. 12 of these calves were purchased and moved into an enclosure at Neuburg in Styria. One of these calves was Tito, the grandfather of Leopould II. Tito developed 55" long antlers, 11.81kgs cast weight and 247.9 CIC points. Leopould I was born in the Neuburg enclosure in 1972, a single sire mated son of Tito. Prince Heinrich Reuss III acquired this herd and so owns a truly unique herd in Europe to this day. The Yugoslavian deer bred at Rosegg were the only genuine source of single sire mated and selectively bred Yugoslavian red deer in Europe. Leopould II, a single sire mated son of Leopould I, was born in 1984 and imported to the UK as a calf. He came to CDC in 1993 along with the remainder of the Stanfield Oaks herd. The 'Leopould Herd' is continued at CDC with a selection of breeding hinds and Tuzla (see below), a son of Leopould II born in 1993, and their offspring.


The Lesslhumer Romanian Deer: Following many years of hunting in the Timisoara region of Romania, Erich Lesslhumer was determined to import some of these Romanian deer to his park in Austria. The first stag that he purchased was Trappa (a bottle reared calf). As a 5 year old Trappa produced cast antlers weighing 9.6 kgs. Unfortunately Trappa died as a 6 year old following an accident with a fence. Hinds were difficult to come by, however Erich managed to import some from Romania (again many of these were bottle reared). Some of these hinds originated from the estate of the late dictator of Romania, Nicholai Ceausescu. One example of the breeding from these original deer was Brasov. Brasov weighed 340 kgs as a 5 year old in 1993 and his mother is estimated to have weighed upwards of 170 kgs. The heaviest hind the Lesslhumer's have recorded was a barren hind who weighed in at 202 kgs.


Past, Present and Future CDC Eastern Sire Stags:



Leopould II:
Pure Yugoslavian introduced to CDC 1993
Central to the ET programs








Tuzla:
Yugoslavian x Austrian son of Leopould II (1993).









Bazias:
Yugoslavian x Romanian grandson of Leopould II (1996).









Orsova:
50% Romanian x 25% Yugoslavian (Leopould II) x 25% Hungarian (2000).









xxxxxxx:
50% Romanian x 25% Yugoslavian (Leopould II) x 25% Hungarian (2002).










The Woburn Herd:

The genetic pool for the Ramsey Island Woburn Herd derives directly from Woburn Abbey. A group of hinds and stags was selected from the Woburn herds and taken to Ramsey Island situated off the coast of South Wales over 20 years ago. Here the herd remained closed thus ensuring the purity of the genetics. In 1981 the Freeman family took over the Island and two carefully selected stags from Woburn Abbey were introduced. In 1986 the bulk of this herd was relocated to the Freeman farm, Bergh Apton Stud, in Norfolk due to the need to catch sire stags to fulfil orders that had been received - which was not easy on an unfenced 3 mile long island. Two further stags, including the renowned master stag "Woburn George", and selected hinds were added, again direct from Woburn Abbey. In 1995, Ramsey Island Deer (NZ) Ltd. was formed by a group of New Zealand deer farmers, led by leading deer veterinary surgeon Noel Beatson. Ramsey Island Deer (RID) purchased the entire herd of over 60 hinds and 2 stags from Bergh Apton Stud and relocated them to CDC. The herd was rigorously sorted reducing the number of hinds down to 40. One of the original stags was sold, and two more where added (Ramsey and Freeman). Also in 1995, RID secured the lease of 2 pure Woburn sire stags from Gunton Park in Norfolk - 'Polarus' (for the ET program) and 'Lucky Jim' (for semen collection).

In 2003, two new stags (grandsons of "Woburn Andrew" pictured above left) were introduced into the Ramsey Island Woburn herd at CDC.


Past, Present and Future CDC RID/Woburn Sire Stags:



Ramsey:
Pure Woburn introduced to CDC 1995
Central to the ET programs 1995-1997








Arrogant:
Pure Woburn son of Polarus (DoB 1996)









Rant:
Pure Woburn son of Ramsey (1997)









Allix:
Pure Woburn son of Freeman and grandson of RID 98 (2000)









Wedgwood:
Pure Woburn grandson of Woburn "Andrew" introduced to CDC in 2003 (2000)









Hutton:
Pure Woburn grandson of Woburn "Andrew" introduced to CDC in 2003 (2002)









The Whittlebury Herd:

The Whittlebury Park herd is one of the longest established deer herds in the UK, dating back to 1066. The genetic mainstay of the nucleus herd that was relocated to CDC in 2003 is that of Sir John. He is shown here on the right with his record breaking head of 15.9kgs of hard antler, with a massive spread of 62.5 inches (159cm) coupled with a bodyweight of 271kgs.

During the ET programs for Ramsey Island Deer (NZ) in 1996, semen was also collected from Sir John and exported to New Zealand and which was subsequently used to cross with pure Ramsey Island Deer hinds that were exported to NZ as embryos from CDC. Three stags from these crosses are currently used for breeding by Mark Hawkins in New Zealand.


Past, Present and Future Whittlebury Sire Stags:



Sir John:
Pure Whittlebury introduced to CDC 2003














Jonty:
Pure Whittlebury grandson of Sir John (DoB 1998)









Yellow 279:
Pure Whittlebury son of Sir John (1999)