NEW LIMERICK — In the business of deer velvet antler, size matters and big is definitely better.

Just ask any of the 30 deer and elk breeders from around the United States and Canada who gathered at Shakaree Red Deer Farm on Saturday for the second annual North American Red Deer Velvet Antler Competition.

Touted for thousands of years in the Orient for medicinal uses ranging from pain control to aphrodisiac, supplements made from processed deer velvet antlers are finding increasing markets in Western cultures.

“Deer velvet antler is used for what is considered a complete healthy body,” said Gary Dwyer, owner of Shakaree farm and host of Saturday’s event.

Breeders, judges, buyers and equipment dealers strolled around the Shakaree barn while on the other side of an 8-foot fence a half-dozen mature red deer stags, the pride of the farm, strutted their stuff.

Each of the stags, products of several generations of selective breeding, sported multiple-point racks weighing 25 to 30 pounds. In those racks lay the bread and butter of Shakaree Farm.

The rapidly growing antler of the deer is known as velvet or velvet antler. Velvet describes the condition of the antler when it is covered by a hairy layer of skin during this phase of growth. Velvet antler refers to the entire antler during the rapid growth of tissues including skin and developing cartilage. Each year a stag grows and casts off a complete set of antlers.

Red deer, fallow deer and elk are raised for their velvet antlers. The antler growth process of mule deer, white-tailed deer and moose make them unsuitable for harvest, said Dwyer.

With Grade A velvet antlers selling for $35 to $45 per pound on the open market, and proven velvet antler-producing red deer stags selling for up to $112,000, high marks at Saturday’s competition meant more than mere boasting rights.

Flanked by six freezers filled with antler samples brought to the competition, judge Mike Bringans, a native of New Zealand now living in Toronto, studied the dozen antlers from 2-year-old animals set out on a freezer top in front of him.

“We’ll be looking at the overall quality of the antlers, their shape and conformation,” Bringans said. “The ratio of bone and cartilage is also an important factor.”

Picking up an antler, Bringans showed a cross-section with a narrow band of calcified material surrounding a thick center of healthy red marrow. “That’s really what you want to see,” he said.

He pointed at an antler with tines jutting out of a single point at the base, another desired trait. Next to it was a set of antlers that had been allowed to grow too long for optimum harvesting. “These should have been cut a bit sooner,” Bringans said.

During the growth phase, the antlers have a very low ratio of calcification and high rate of bioactivity. That combination, said Dwyer, gives the product its medicinal properties.

A big part of velvet antler production is knowing when to cut the antlers for that maximum ratio.

“The antlers can grow too long and begin to calcify,” said Mark Drew, Shakaree Farm manager. “What you want to see are short, fat antlers with a lot of points.”

Antler collection at Shakaree Farm begins in early April and runs through July, Drew said. A nerve block and local anesthetic are used to subdue the deer during the process.

“The animals are not traumatized at all,” Dwyer said. “In fact, when they are released a lot of them stop on their way out of the barn to eat some grain.”

Typically, the antler is removed 60 days into the rapid growth stage.

“Some days we do three and others we do 20,” Drew said. “It depends on the rate of development.”

Dwyer and Drew agree selective breeding and genetics have led to great strides in the industry.

Due to regulations imposed in the mid-1990s, live red deer can no longer be exported by some European countries, areas known for high-quality velvet antler deer, and Shakaree Farm has had to rely instead on imported embryos and artificial insemination, often spending up to $5,000 on a single embryo.

Acting a bit like a proud father, Drew gestures to the mature stags as proof of genetic selection.

“You can really see how far the genetics has come,” the farm manager said. “We have gone from stags with racks of 12 points to now having 30 or more points.”

Selective breeding, stressed Bringans, is not bioengineering. “It is important to breed for something that will affect your herd for a long time,” he said. “But we are not manipulating the DNA and I don’t see that happening in an industry [that is] based on natural products.”

Saturday’s competition was important to the breeders at several levels, said judge Wade Hainstock of Missouri. “The producers have to learn how to cut the antlers correctly and to have a gauge for their breeding stock,” he said.

“I came here to learn the proper way to cut antlers for their maximum value,” said Kenneth Swetts, a deer farmer from Carmel. “I get to share information and get a chance to see what the other guys are doing.”

Swetts came to the competition with antlers from young and mature stags. “I just want to see how they relate to everyone else,” he said.

This was the first time New York deer farmer Ted Illjes had entered his antlers in a competition. “I’m mainly here to learn,” he said. “I’m not sure if my velvet is in a high-class category but at least I have a chance to participate and see how we compare.”

Illjes, who admitted to being skeptical at one time of velvet antlers’ powers of healing, said he is now a firsthand advocate of the product. He said an old shoulder injury has been almost completely reversed after a year of taking velvet antler supplements.

Deer velvet antler supplements are available in most health food stores, through Internet sites and from the deer farmers themselves. Prices for a one-month supply range from $20 to $35.

The home field and barn advantage may have helped Shakaree Farms take first place in the 2-year-old, 5-year-old and 6-year-old deer velvet antler categories. Harpe Farms of Quebec earned first place honors in the 3-year-old and mature categories while Yurtland Farms of Ontario placed first in the 4-year-old category.