Roaming freely since 1952
For all of the UK, 2025 started with a cold snap and in many places lots of subsequent snow. In the Cairngorms we were treated to about 10 days of beautiful snowy weather and temperatures down to about -17. Luckily reindeer are so well adapted to the cold, that they don’t even feel the cold at -17, instead they actively enjoy cold weather in the winter. Here is a photo blog showing some of the beautiful snow days that we have had recently.
Lotti
So the newbies to Christmas this year are: Morse, Jelly, Ärta, Akubra, Jester, Busby, Cowboy, Mr Whippy, Gelato, Magnum and Mivvi. They were all trained in Oct/Nov this year to wear harness and pull the sleigh. This is always done alongside a reindeer who is already trained to show them the ropes. Most of them went out on Christmas events as a 5-6 month old calf but these boys have now all been trained to harness and to pull the sleigh so lets hear how they have all got on this season.
Morse’s antlers are so big we had to train him alongside another Christmas reindeer who either had one antler or no antlers so he could fit. As a result we decided that once he was trained here in Glenmore that on actual Christmas events he wouldn’t pull the sleigh as we didn’t want him to have a bad experience so he just had to follow behind with the others. The last time he did Christmas event was back in 2018 when he was a calf so 6 year ago now, but, he hadn’t forgotten and has been great and looks so, so impressive. We did alter his team to only have 1 calf (usually there are 2) because we didn’t think there would be enough room at the back of the sleigh for two adults and two calves with the sheer size of his antlers.
Jelly and Ärta are Covid calves. This means they didn’t actually go out on Christmas tour in 2020 so it was a slightly steeper learning curve for them. The training the calves get at 5-6 months old is so valuable come adult hood when they have already seen what it’s all about. But, it’s not to say they can’t, it just takes special handling and picking the correct events for these reindeer to take part in. Both were harness and sleigh trained in Oct/Nov and I’d say Ärta was better than Jelly so we may need extra time for Jelly to get there. Jelly lost his antlers fairly early on in the season so he was just a ‘back reindeer’ behind the sleigh this year. Ärta has pulled the sleigh on a couple of straight-forward parades which weren’t very busy and he’s seems like he’ll be grand in the future. Like I said we just take things a bit slower with reindeer who need that extra training but in a few years time I suspect they will be the ones training the newbies so watch this space!
The 3 year old boys have been absolute superstars this Christmas. Akubra from the day he joined the herd has always proved to be Mr Chill and the others – Cowboy, Busby and Jester aren’t far behind. They have all been out and about pulling the sleigh or walking at the back and it’s looking like we have some cracking ‘Christmas reindeer’ up and coming in these guys. They make us so proud!
Then we have four 2 year olds – Magnum, Mr Whippy, Gelato and Mivvi. We don’t usually geld our reindeer until they are 3 years old (unless we use them as a breeding bull), however, these four were particularly big for their age so we decided gelding them a year early wouldn’t impact their growth. We did train them here in Glenmore to pull the sleigh, which they were great at, we decided that on events if it was a long parade then they would walk at the back rather than put that pressure on a younger body. If it was a short parade with a light Santa then we might give them a go. All four have been so good and taking everything in their stride. Like the boys who are 1 year older they have the making of being a fantastic Christmas reindeer.
So there you have it, class of 2024. A real mixed bag but all characters in their own way. When working with them at Christmas time we really get to know them as individuals which only makes that bond and knowledge all the better.
Fiona
All of the reindeer in our herd are great, of course. But the reindeer we usually shout about are the big breeding bulls, the sweet little calves, a trusty Christmas reindeer or a female who stands out from the rest. In today’s blog I’m going to chat about some of our old girls. They have bred some wonderful calves over the years and guided the herd around the vast Cairngorm Mountains teaching the younger females along the way. Now they are too old to breed so now they live their life on the free range for about 90% of the year as there is no reason for them to be in our mountain enclosure which we use for management purposes such as calving or the rutting season. The 10% they do come into our enclosure is for routine vaccines and check-ups.
These old girls are: Fern (aged 17), Sika (16), Sambar (16), Gazelle (16), Ibex (16), Pavlova (15), Oatcake (15), Ryvita (15) and Hobnob (15). Although they don’t look quite as spritely as they did a few years ago, equally, they don’t look like they’re going anywhere in the near future.
The oldest reindeer we’ve ever had in the herd got to 19 years old and Fern is only 4 months from her 18th birthday so she’s doing amazingly. She’s such a sweet old lady and a firm favourite amongst us herders. Then there are 4 others hot on her heels at only 1 year younger. 2008 must have been a pretty special year with strong genetics to have this many getting to such a good age. Then we have 2009 when we named the reindeer after cakes biscuits and puddings and we still have four females from that year. Ryvita recently has been acting granny as a couple of months ago she landed herself with a small herd of young females who where on the free range with her but I’m sure she kept them all in check. She was certainly boss, and quite right too!
Considering reindeer live on average 12-14 years these cows are doing just great! I always think if a reindeer gets to over 10 years old they are doing well as they live such a harsh life especially in the middle of winter. Winters in Scotland aren’t quite as harsh as those across the world where other reindeer herds live so I suspect as a result we have a higher average age in our herd.
So cheers to the old girls in our herd. What a wonderful bunch of reindeer you are and thanks for being the role models to the youngsters following in your hoof prints.
Fiona