Starting from 17 March 2026, deer managers in England will again be able to apply for grant support in the purchase of a chiller trailers for lardering deer carcases taken as part of deer management work. This comes as part of Defra’s Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF) 2026.

The value of this grant will be £7,545 for a 20 carcase chiller trailer or £9,919 for a 30 carcase chiller trailer, both being 50% of the expected average cost of the new item. There are specific details which chiller trailers must comply with for the grant to apply, those interested can find the full details here.

This funding follows Defra’s recently published Deer Strategy, which looked at with the issue of financially incentivising deer management, along with the subjects of night shooting, land owner obligations and more. Rejecting calls for per-carcase bounties and subsidising price paid per-kg for venison to stalkers, the existing grant route is Defra’s preferred route.

Greater access to chillers for stalkers will help with efforts to effectively manage the booming deer population in England, but this grant scheme is far from a panacea. It is still the case that stalkers see very little incentive to control populations of non-native muntjac, whose rapid population growth poses threats to forestry and conservation of rare bird species like the turtle dove, alike. There is such poor financial reward to managing muntjac compared to larger species that stalkers often turn their focus towards fallow and red deer.

To read more about the recent Defra Deer Strategy, please see our summary here.