| Issue 4 | April – July 2024 |
THE REINDEER EXPRESS
FIRST REINDEER HOUSE COMPLETED
We are happy to announce that the girls have moved into their new house! It has been a long time coming, but we have finally completed our first permanent shelter. Between design issues, weather, material shortages, and everything else life has thrown our way, it has taken us 6 months to complete this project. We were so happy when we finally got to open the gates and let the ladies explore their new home.
Not sure what to think at first, they steered clear and were more concerned with eating weeds and running around their new pen. After a bit, a few of them ventured inside to see what this new contraption they had access to was. Monroe, our mischievous one, took it appon herself to jump up and mark every side of the shelter, in and out. Thank you for adding some flare to the nice new paint job Monroe, we wouldn’t expect anything less.
It took sometime for the girls to get used to the new shelter, but since have spent a lot of time enjoying the shade and comfortable straw bedding to sleep in. The majority of their day is spent snoozing away in their house. They now have access to two full pens and enjoy running back and forth between the two. We have set up temporary panels to block off where the second shelter is being built. This allows us to work while the girls are able to move from pen to pen, but also allowing us to shut them off to one side if needed.
This is the first of 4 shelters that will be completed this year. We have started on the second shelter already and we are pleased to report that we have framed the entire shelter in, including the roof trusses, in two days. We plan on having this second shelter ready for paint and roofing in the next two weeks. Once this shelter is complete, we will move the boys over to this pen while we build fence and a shelter to finish construction of the third pen. After this is complete, we will finish phase one of our plan with the construction of the quarantine pen permanent shelter.
SPRING CLEANUP
After the mud finally dried up for good, we got busy cleaning everything up after a long winter. Pens were completely raked out, picking up all left over poop and rocks in the process. Shelters were cleaned and raked out. It’s amazing how messy things can get when you aren’t able to fully clean pens regularly. And the reindeer are absolutely no help with the process!
One of the cleanup projects we were most excited for was tearing down the girls temporary shelter. It served us well for many months, but it was our biggest eye sore. Once removed, we took out the pallet beds that we had made to give them a dry place to lay. All the straw was then cleaned up and hauled away. It was a great feeling of success once everything was removed and cleaned. Another goal completed!
Weeds have been relentless as spring has transitioned into summer. Hand pulling is a tough way to manage weeds, but we don’t like spraying chemicals near the reindeer pens, so that is our only option within the enclosure. We plan on trying a homemade concoction of vinegar, salt, and dawn dish soap around the pens to hopefully help us keep them more maintained.
Many other cleanup projects happened at the same time. All construction materials were organized and many of them moved out of the pens. Fence lines were cleaned from the straw that had accumulated from the winter. Sagebrush and debris were removed from two key areas that are now prepped for expansion of our facilities. The list is never ending, but we keep tackling one thing at a time, enjoying one small win after the next.
HOOVES, HUMPS, AND HORNS
Working with our reindeer is one thing that we spend a lot of time doing around the ranch. We strive to have sociable and friendly deer that interact with all age’s of people well. This comes somewhat natural to some it seems, but not for others. Some deer are more reserved, while others are social butterflies. It takes patients and a lot of repetitive time spent with each deer to successfully teach them to be caught easily, lead well on with a lead rope, stand still when you need them to, stay still when you trim their hooves, load and feel comfortable in a trailer, as well as get used to being in a display pen with a lot of people walking around them. These are just some of the things we put time working with each deer on.
We were beyond grateful to have Nick Marrow join us from Hooves, Humps, and Horns for a day full of education and teamwork. Nick is currently studying to be a vet at the University of Utah, and is an animal trainer. Nick is a wealth of knowledge and has trained many different kinds of animals. Reindeer, Moose, Buffalo, Zebra, Camel, Llama to name a few. If it’s trainable I’m sure he has trained it, or tried to train it.
We spent the first half of the day going over all the info relating to reindeer health that Nick could share with us. We discussed all the different medicine’s related to an array of issues we may encounter that we should keep on hand. We talked about parasite’s in reindeer and the most affective way to control them in our herd. General do’s and don’ts. Learned about the precautions we should take to keep disease out of our herd while interacting with the general public during reindeer encounters. You name it, if it had anything to do with reindeer, we talked about it.
The second half of the day was spent out working with our deer. Vaccines were given to the whole herd to protect them from Clostridium perfringens type C + D and tetanus. Hooves were trimmed. Nick taught us how to draw blood in the safest most affective way, so that we could get some baseline numbers on overall health of our herd, as well as general knowledge so that we are comfortable doing so if the need arises in the future. He also helped us work on lead training with two of our most stubborn deer, Pepper and Diamond. He did a great job of explaining what to avoid during our training and fine tuning our processes to gain the most out of our time spent on each deer. Overall we learned more in 1 day with Nick than we have in the 6 months prior, and we hope to have Nick out again in the future.
If you are needing help with any of your animals, or just want to discuss problems you are having, Nick Marrow is an excellent resource. Nick also runs a fecal lab to determine parasites and load in your animals. He has fast and accurate turn around times. If you need any help or advice, keep Nick in mind!
MEET THE REINDEER: NENA
Nena is commonly referred to as the big sister of the herd. She is very curious and friendly, especially when oats are involved. She is friends with all the other deer and is never involved in the drama. She is the athlete around here. In the evenings when it cools off she out paces all the other girls, running laps around the pens at mach 10 long after the other deer have stopped to catch their breath.
OUR FIRST HARVEST HOSTS GUEST
In April we hosted our first Harvest Hosts guests! We were a little nervous, not knowing what to expect out of the experience, but we were lucky enough to host a very nice couple that was staying with a host for the first time. We got to be first timers together! Everything went very well and we enjoyed their company.
Since, we have hosted many people from all over the country and haven’t had an unpleasant experience yet. This community of RV’ers is chock full of great people. It is always the highlight of our day getting to give them a tour and learn about their adventures.
Currently being a Harvest Hosts member is the only way to stay on the property. If you haven’t heard of this community before, it is a paid membership that allows you to stay at various hosts all around the country for a night for free. In turn you support their small business with a purchase. When you stay with us you are able to purchase a reindeer experience, along with a few other items we have for sale, Sawtooth Reindeer hats and reindeer hair Christmas balls. We are looking forward to many more Harvest Hosts stays in the future!
ANTLER GROWTH
By the end of April, all of our reindeer had shed their horns. This is a natural process that both male and female reindeer go through every year. Once the horn from the previous year falls off, a new one immediately begins to grow in its place. Antler is one of the fastest growing tissues and can grow at a rate of 1-2″ per day. Even at just over a year old it has been a sight to see watching all the differences transform in front of our eyes.
We have been very surprised to see how much antler Twinkle has grown so far. She has the most impressive rack out of all the girls so far. While we don’t think any of the other ladies will catch up with her, there are a few notibly cool antlers the other girls are sporting. Nina has a split main beam on her right side. Every one of them has their own individual characteristics from side to side.
Pepper is growing a skinnier heavy set of antlers this year. Last years set of antlers led us to believe this is the look he would have this year. One really cool feature of Pepper is his double shovels on the front. They have weaved themselves together over the past couple of months, giving off the vibe that he is praying.
Buckee is growing a wide set again this year. From day to day his have been impressing us the most. Seems like everyday you go out to see him, he’s grown another point, another twist, another split. We cannot wait to see how he finishes out this year!
HAIR, HAIR EVERYWHERE!
As the weather warms up reindeer start to blow out their winter coats. Revealing their soft and beautiful summer coat underneath. There is no shortage of hair sticking to you when you pet them or they brush up against you. Hair blows all around the pens and gets caught in the fences, waiting to be collected. We spend a fair amount of time collecting the hair off our deer, as well as around the pens and storing it in ziplock bags.
What do we do with our reindeer hair you may ask? We collect the hair to stuff glass Christmas balls to hang on your tree. This is a favorite must buy item here when you visit the ranch. Not only do you get a unique family ornament to hang on your tree, you get to take a piece of the ranch and our deer with you! People love the fact that they can cherish the memories of their visit here without any harm done to the reindeer they met in person.
We are currently only selling items on site during your visit. But if you are interested in purchasing a Christmas ball or a hat, please contact us and we would be happy to mail one or both to you. Our online store should be up and running soon, where purchase of these items will be easier.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
There is still a lot of construction to be completed in the next month and a half. Full construction of a pen and a shelter is scheduled to be completed by the end of august. We are in crunch time with the fast appoaching breeding season, but we have no doubts that we won’t meet that deadline. When the going gets tough, the tough get going!
We are going through the website consistently, updating and adding things regularly. We have added a few new pages under the “nearby” tab. Make sure you check them out! We are in the process of adding an events calendar to our home page. Here you will be able to see where we are doing events around the state so that you will be able to come see us on the road. Our online store should be up and running in the next few months, so be on the lookout to purchase some awesome items we will have for sale there.
WE ARE NOW OPEN FOR TOURS. VISIT OUR WEBSITE AND CLICK ON THE “BOOK NOW” BUTTON FOR AVAILABLE OPTIONS AND TIMES. WE ARE ALSO TAKING RESERVATIONS FOR REINDEER APPEARENCES FOR 2024. IF YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT REINDEER FOR EDUCATION OR YOUR EVENT WE WOULD LOVE TO TALK WITH YOU!
| http://www.sawtoothreindeer.com |
| 1-208-721-1459 |
| info@sawtoothreindeer.com |
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