https://medium.com/re-form/antler-farm-dbd3ba1ec3f2

On these farms, deer with names like X-Factor, Big Rig and King of the Mountain have been bred to grow antlers that, at their largest, can be so thick and bulbous that they look like patches of mushrooms sprouting out of the deer’s head or like thick growths of coral, surfaced from the sea. Sometimes the antlers will have errant branches that drip towards the ground like candlewax. Sometimes they’re just huge.

“It’s a lot like cattle or horses,” says David P. Anderson, a professor at Texas A&M, who’s studied the industry. Farmers have bred deer to have desirable characteristics and cultivate their herds to express those qualities. And there’s one quality that has been prized above all: “Bigger antlers is what you’re looking for,” says Anderson.  

There's something unsettling about this industry.