Time for another installment of our – rather sporadic – memorable reindeer series. This time it is Porjus’ turn for stardom!
What a handsome chap!
Back in 2004, we imported a batch of male reindeer, mostly calves and yearlings, from Sweden in order to bring in new bloodlines, and one of these yearlings was Porjus. He was named after a settlement up inside the Arctic circle in northern Sweden just north of the town of Jokkmokk, where our founder Mikel Utsi was from. His name was pronounced ‘porr-e-us’, though we frequently referred to him as ‘Gorgeous Porjus’, sounding the ‘j’ so the words rhymed!
Porjus, at the farm not long after he arrived from Sweden. He’s around 1 and 3/4 years old here.
By the time I started here in late 2007, Porjus was an adult and had just been used as a breeding bull in his second rut, going on to breed during the next three ruts too, his last crop of calves born in 2011. His genetics remain in the herd today, most prominently through the descendants of his daughter Chelsea (who include the lovely Winnie, Zap, Diamond – and somewhat less lovely Pumpkin (a reindeer with a serious attitude issue!)) and daughter Jenga, whose son is Jelly. Whilst Porjus fathered lots of offspring over the years, not every calf survives long term, but some of his better known male offspring were Gnu, Topi, Horse, Origami and Svalbard, though these lads didn’t follow in dad’s hoofprints and breed themselves.
Strutting his stuff in the 2010 rut, with Joni and Fiddle behind.
Porjus was a big, bulky reindeer, the ‘normal’ (average) colour for a reindeer, but with a distinctive paler forehead. Throughout each summer he always got incredibly fat – there was never any issue with his appetite – so much so we once tried to put him on a diet briefly (with hopeless results), but it never really mattered as bulls lose a lot of weight during the rutting season. A fat bull at the start of the rut is one that will go into winter in at least ok condition, as opposed to being underweight by the time the rut is over and winter arrives.
Fast asleep – saving his energy for the upcoming rut. Look at that belly!
Looking at our database, Porjus’ entry includes notes saying ‘A friendly boy’ and ‘well behaved during the rut’, and I certainly never remember being particularly wary around him during the autumn, though obviously we always give any bull a lot of respect at this time. Grandson, Jelly, would have done well to have considered Grandpa Porjus’ gentlemanly tendencies though – we planned to breed from him (Jelly) in 2023 and by less than halfway through the rut had changed our minds and castrated him instead!
Porjus’ grandson Jelly, looking like butter wouldn’t melt…
It is pretty unusual for a mature breeding bull to die in early autumn as they are in robust health ahead of the rut. However, Porjus did just that, dying extremely suddenly in September 2011 from an unknown cause (most probably tick-related), much to our dismay. However, whilst he left his mark in the form of his genetics in the last 20 years’ worth of reindeer born into our herd, he’s left another legacy too.
His is the incredible huge head in our Exhibition, gazing serenely over the thousands of people that come through our doors every year. Early autumn is the time of year reindeer look at their absolute best, with fresh thick winter coats and full grown antlers stripped of their velvet skin, so we therefore took the opportunity to have his head taxidermied. The only other taxidermied bull head we have hangs in Tilly’s house, having been brought from Sweden by Mr Utsi back in the 50s. For the last 14 years he and Porjus have gazed at each other across the room, but Porjus is so beautiful it would have been a waste for him to remain at the farm with hardly anyone seeing him.
So Porjus has found his rightful place back here at the Reindeer Centre – he was always a handsome lad during his lifetime, and now he is an awe-inspiring sight with his majestic look and his enormous antlers. I’m glad I knew him, and I’m glad to be able to admire him every time I come to work still.
As well as being highly qualified reindeer herders… (a qualification that takes years of course 😉 ) quite a few of us herders have our own wee side-lines which we either do as a hobby or to get an extra bit of pocket money each month selling our goods online or through our reindeer shop.
Olly has been part of the reindeer herding family for over 5½ years now, since he was 17. Although he is one of the youngest herders he is by far the most practical when it comes to handyman, maintenance and craftmanship work and the list goes on! He has fixed many a thing at Reindeer House and constantly gets roped in to help with projects including woodwork and building. As well as being a reindeer herder he has worked for a bushcraft company, teaching groups of kids the skill set and more ‘simple’ life when it comes to living and embracing the outdoors… away from the hustle and bustle of normal life!
Olly with a handmade stool
Throughout 2020 Olly has established his own company, Corvus, doing everything from putting up shelving to building sheds, whittling spoons and his latest venture of hand carving beautiful wooden cups. Each one turns out different due to the nature of the wood and working with the grain. He now has his own social media following and Etsy shop which is proving to be extremely popular. During winter/spring last year when the whole country went into lockdown, Olly lost work with the bushcraft company due to restrictions not allowing it to go ahead and has really made the most of what could have been a very long year – instead he has broadened his skill set and kept Reindeer House up to scratch in maintenance… Thanks Olly!
A carved Sami-style cup
See links below for keeping in the loop and what’s for sale through Corvus.
I’ve (Fiona) been crafting with reindeer antler for over ten years now. I guess I’ve been inspired by the beautiful handicrafts made by the Sami people throughout Scandinavia having visited there in the past – their craft is a whole new level but having been self taught through trial and error I’ve worked out what sells and along the way got to work with a really great product. The best sellers are of course the necklaces, bracelets, keyrings and earrings I sell through our reindeer shop. These are affordable and don’t take too long to make. Pairing reindeer antler with colourful wooden beads it makes for a unique present or souvenir. I then took it a step further and now I do antler/wood handles for knives, bottle openers, cheese knives etc. This has been fun working out and having Sami friends to quiz along the way means I’m getting the best of the best advice!
One of my knives with an antler and curly birch handle
I’ve made cake knives for friends weddings and even reindeer antler rings. I don’t have a company as such but call myself Antler Crafts. It’s a great way to switch off, especially if it’s a bad weather day, I can tinker around in the workshop and my bedroom making bits and bobs from the reindeer antler.
Andi has been in the reindeer herding scene now for well over ten years and full time since 2011, but has a very different hobby to Olly and I who work with wood and reindeer antler. Andi has self taught herself the art of taxidermy.
Not sure Andi would have her hand under those talons if this Buzzard was still alive!
Whenever she, or someone else (usually other reindeer herders) finds an animal or bird which has recently died through natural causes, we pop them in the freezer ready for Andi to work on. She is self taught in building manikins and tanning skins to restore these beautiful animals. Although we appreciate it is not everybody’s cup of tea there is certainly enough interest for her to keep up this unusual hobby. Seeing some of these animals up close through taxidermy may sometimes be the only way you can really appreciate their colouring or structure as in the wild they are often they are seen in a split second and you may never know it’s true beauty.
A brace of beautiful brown hares.
You can follow her on social media and she also has an online Etsy shop you can check out.
Manouk worked with us for a couple of years from 2018-2020 and still lives locally. I was always very jealous of her artistic skills and beautiful drawings.
Some of Manouk’s beautiful cards
Over the last couple of years she has been sketching landscape and mountain scenes as well as her day to day subjects such as the friendly local sheep in nearby fields. She has turned her art into gift cards and sells them online. Check out her Etsy shop and get yourself some lovely cards.
Sheena is definitely the most artistic of us all… even though she would try and say otherwise!
Sheena busy at work!
She has a real eye for colour and shape and you can be midway through a conversation and she’ll whip out her sketch book and pencil and start sketching the surroundings. We’ve been to many music festivals over the years and while everyone is taking photos there is Sheena with pencil and paper capturing the moment in a very different way. She is so encouraging to anyone who wants to give it a go, giving them sound advice but at the same time making sure they create something from their own mind, not hers.
Art pieces on recycled wooden boards, plus a couple of prints
Sheena’s ptarmigan and mountain hares in our shop window
She paints on wooden plaques and canvas as well as making clay animals and selling them through our reindeer shop. Mind you it only makes it to the shop if another reindeer herder doesn’t buy it first! Sheena doesn’t have any social media pages or online shop, but some of her items are always available in our shop here at the Centre, and can occasionally be found in our online shop too.
Small canvases
Joe has been a seasonal herder now for over 3 years and when he’s not working here he’s usually a mountain guide so knows the hills throughout Britain very well. More recently he’s got into photography, buying himself a fancy pants camera! He’s got a great eye when it comes to capturing a moment or scene – this was always very apparent on the photos he took on his phone so now he has the high tech equipment the photos are even more mind blowing. So with his love for being in the mountains coupled with his knowledge and fitness to take him to some incredible places in the outdoors I suspect there are going to be some pretty amazing photos to come out of it. We will definitely rope him in to get some good reindeer shots, so watch this space – particularly for our upcoming 2022 calendar perhaps!
Well chuffed with his new toy!
Loch Ness Leather is a company ran by a reindeer herder from back in the day, HeatherHanshaw. I don’t want to call her an ex reindeer herder cos you never really know when these ex herders dip their toe back into the odd bit of herding… Both Heather’s parents have always worked with leather and created businesses from it and Heather has now taken on that role and has built the most amazing company and products to go with it.
Heather hard at work (well mostly!) and some of her beautiful products
Some of you already have a keyring she has made as these have been going out in adoptions packs since last May for all adoption renewals (about which she wrote a blogfor us about last summer). She knows the rule for our shop – if it’s got a reindeer on it then we’ll sell it – so now we also have whisky hip flasks and dram sets available online. Living locally to us, we can easily catch up on her latest products; usually done during a dog walk or once the chaos of COVID is over lots of lovely social times, dinner and drinks! While checking out her website see if you can recognise those fancy models she got to advertise her products. 😉 Lol!
Fancy models! Well, reindeer herders in disguise… Hats and bags all made by Loch Ness Leather. Photo copyright: Catriona Parmenter
