We get, each year, people saying that reindeer only live on lichen etc., and are not used to English ways of welfare and husbandry. As you will be able to see from the pictures, which were taken in Scandinavia, reindeer being feeding on hay, feeding on haylage, feeding on straw, feeding on silage and being fed a dry reindeer pellet so they do not only live of lichen. In England, they will graze quite comfortably on grass as long as it is short in nature. The shorter the grass the better and of a high protein meadow/rye type base. Also over the last 12 months Scandinavia have been developing a supplementary reindeer feed to offset the use of dry food that is developed into a 3mm grass pellet.

The reindeer we have here in Blithbury are free range. They have access to field shelters, water, free access to the farm and live happily in their compatible groups which they like. We have never had any escape of yet. The reindeer, when it comes to the Christmas side of things, get really excited because they know they are going out on shows where they get loads of fusses and treats. Until you have done this and see them you wouldn’t believe it.

Until you have owned or worked with reindeer you will never know what the animal is like. There is no two reindeer the same and once you have trained a reindeer into sleigh pulling he will be your best buddy for life because they will look upon you as their best friend for whatever you want. They look upon you for protection etc. for when you think about Scandinavia the reindeer have the worry of the lynx, wolverines, eagles, bears, wolves, foxes, wild dogs, and of course the layabouts that think it is clever to speed around on snow scooters and chase the females around late at night causing them to abort their calves late at night in the forest. The only predators they have here in England is people trying to send them back to Scandinavia.

Reindeer do adapt to English climate contrary to what people believe and do not live only on lichen (moss) and fly at night. I spend a lot of time working in Scandinavia on the round-ups, the culls, etc., and the general husbandry of reindeer. I have now been handling reindeer for 15 years, before that I commercially farmed (mainly cattle) so the husbandry side of reindeer came second to none to me – I gained the finer details of the species while in Scandinavia. I travel their approximately 6 times a year and will be again spending January/February 2011 in the Arctic Circle as working with an animal is the best way to learn. The knowledge that I have gathered over the years I pass onto my customers who purchase reindeer from us. All our customers receive an in-depth discussion and information packs informing them on handling, diet and husbandry of their reindeer.

There was a consensus a few years ago when Alpacas were brought into the UK from Argentina. They said Alpacas brains would explode if they lived 3,000 metres below sea level. As well as you know there are now Alpacas all over the country so that was a myth but people tend to sort of pick up on little items and become general experts on the subject and do not really understand it at all. People who have criticised us over the past I have invited to visit the Lodge and have a look round as yet nobody has ever taken me up on this. We take reindeer very seriously here at the Lodge and we have some cracking reindeer and welfare.

When in Scandinavia I also work with the vets and get receive some valuable veterinary advice. Those vets and I carry out various trials and exchange our results. We are not just a commercial business we are also very careful on the husbandry and welfare of the species. There are some people that have brought reindeer into the country from Scandinavia and are a bit mercenary by delivering the reindeer, taking the money and not being seen again. We do not operate like that at all. We operate a 24/7 service whereby if anybody has got a problem they can telephone me and we will sort it out. I probably talk to one or two vets a fortnight to give advice on the livestock. Reindeer are not rocket science as people are led to believe, all they need is just careful management like any other livestock i.e. polar bears, parrots, etc. they just have their own special requirements. You don’t feed turkey pellets to racehorses do you.