The layout of a deer farm will have a huge influence on the ease with which stock can be gathered, managed or moved between fields. Deer will always seek higher ground when there is a threat and this includes when people, dogs or vehicles enter a field with the purpose of gathering the deer. For this reason, where possible, the exit gate from a field should be at a high point. Trying to push deer down a hill will result in them breaking back up the slope to an elevated position. Where there are raceways connecting fields or handling yards, these should be fenced with posts at a greater frequency and there should be the option to shut gates along their length to prevent deer breaking back. The raceways can be straight or curved; right-angled bends should be avoided; there should not be any dead ends where deer can bunch up or run at fences.

Farmed deer fences must be 1.8–2 m high, depending on the species. Rylock fencing (a galvanised wire system) is commonly used, although the wire knots should be non-slip; this is important because stags sparring through a fence can quickly strip the vertical wire to the side, resulting in what is effectively a plain wire fence that is easy to broach. When under no pressure, deer are more likely to escape under a fence and, therefore, care must be taken on undulating ground or where a watercourse passes under a fence. When threatened, deer will throw themselves directly at a fence or attempt to jump over it.

Electric fences are commonly used as a management tool for strip grazing of grass or forage crops. They can be used as a management barrier in calving fields, allowing calves access to cleaner grazing while set at a height that hinds cannot access. It is necessary to train deer to respect electric fences by initially setting the fence up against a fixed fence line and then moving it out into the field. Deer are intelligent animals and will quickly learn to respect the temporary fence line. There is a risk that stags cleaning their antler velvet may get their antlers entangled in non-live electric fencing. Within farmed systems, stags are routinely de-antlered, reducing the risk; however, care should be taken to ensure the integrity of electrified fencing when velvet is being cleaned.

There are many effective designs for handling pens or yards, depending on deer species, number, location and facilities already available. The priority with their design is both human and deer safety. For red deer, it is not important if the area is fully/partially roofed or completely open. Fallow deer, however, are easier to handle in dim light or partial darkness, using light to encourage them to move between areas. Divisions within the system should be 2–2.4 m high, solid and without sharp edges or gaps where animals can get injured or trapped. Red deer benefit from an opening at their eye level throughout the pens, with the exception of the crush and dosing box (a handling pen of approximately 1200 × 2400 mm) because they will remain more relaxed when they can see other deer around them. It should be possible to move deer through the pens and into the crush by using doors to push deer through. This is particularly important when working with stags in hard antler for the safety of the handler. Sliding doors have the benefit that they do not open into the pen, so they work well with smaller areas; however, you lose the ability to force a deer through by pushing a gate behind it. Solid, full-height handheld shields may be used for the safety of handlers and to allow deer to be pushed. Shields can also be an aid to protect handlers from stags in hard antler that may become resistant or aggressive in the system.

Some systems have elevated walkways with the ability to open and close doors from above. All passageways must be at least the width of two deer and where stags move should be at least 1200 mm to accommodate wide antlers. Corners or curves will give the deer the impression they are getting away and will help flow through the system. Handling pens are often a series of rooms leading into each other, each half the size of the one before; for example, an area that is 6 m wide and 12 m long would have a full-width area 2.5 m deep leading into two equal areas 3 × 2.5 m, one of which would lead to two rooms 1.5 × 2.5 m and the other would lead to the crush. Each room should have at least two doors; the smallest two rooms can act as dosing boxes or weigh rooms. All areas should be interconnected to allow deer to be split off or separated depending on the task being carried out. An addition or alternative to this is the use of a circle with multiple entrances and exits into rooms or the crush, with two centrally pivoted doors that can rotate internally like the hands of a clock. Deer will learn the system rapidly and a well-designed set of pens will make management tasks more straightforward.

Deer must be restrained for the process of de-antlering because it is a dangerous procedure for both the deer and the personnel (for information about chemical restraint, see Chapters 3 and 34). Although semen collection from stags is not routinely carried out on most farms, the stag must be restrained individually. For other routine tasks such as tagging, dosing, scanning, examination and treatment, the ability to restrain individual deer is beneficial, although these can all be done in small enclosures with small groups of deer.

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