Southern Velvet Buyers owner Kelly Bennett, of Geraldine, embarks on an antler buying expedition twice a year.
He and his father-in-law Philip Evers-Swindell, 79, had been visiting farmers, hunters, pest contractors and safari parks across New Zealand to buy hard antlers and buttons.
Mr Evers-Swindell drove a truck from Canterbury and Mr Bennett travelled by plane to start the latest expedition in the Bay of Plenty earlier this month.
Mr Bennett had been doing the runs for about 30 years.
Business was good and continues to expand by word-of-mouth, he said.
‘‘It just keeps on growing and growing and growing.’’
He pays clients between $25 and $40 per kg, depending on the quality.
Now most of the antlers were shipped to China.
In China, the antler was chopped into chunks, machine washed to remove blood and then steamed.
The steam was then processed to extract collagen for use in the beauty industry.
Calcium was extracted from deer antler buttons for consumption by breastfeeding mothers.
Mr Bennett stopped to talk to Southern Rural Life when travelling south through Dunedin last week, on route to visiting 10 deer farmers in Southland, with plans to buy antlers from hunters along the way.
After 30 years, he continued to enjoy the road trips including the social side and being able to visit remote parts of New Zealand.
‘‘Some of the valleys are 60km long.’’
