IMPROVED REINDEER HANDLING 



11 



cord fairly close to the abdomen, with about 1 inch of the cord 

 attached to the testicle. In fawns the cord may be cut by scraping 

 with the knife, but in older animals the emasculator should be used. 

 In opening the scrotum care should be taken to make the cuts clear 

 to the end of it, in order to insure good drainage. 



FEEDING 



Reindeer may be readily trained to eat hay and grain, and will 

 fatten on it. They are particularly fond of alfalfa but eat the fine 

 parts only, thereby wasting about 50 per cent. Feeding alfalfa meal, 

 therefore (molasses and plain), is more economical. Desirable 

 grains are whole oats, crushed barley, and mixed chop feed. For 

 ordinary feeding the animal will consume about 8 pounds of hay or 

 4 pounds of meal a day and 4 pounds of grain. 



The quickest way to teach a reindeer to like hay and grain is to 

 mix lichens with the new feed for the first couple of days or to 

 sprinkle salt on it. As soon as the animal gets the taste, it is but 

 a short time until it will be eating a full ration. An animal that has 

 been handled previously in any way, as a sled reindeer, will take 

 to the new feed more quickly than the others. It usually takes the 

 average range animal about a week to 10 days to become established 

 on a full ration. 



When held in, confinement and fed, reindeer should be given salt. 

 Placing a cake of block salt in the corral or inclosure where the ani- 

 mals are held is the simplest method. Water must also be provided 

 where feeding is being done. In winter, snow should be given, as 

 the reindeer prefers taking its water in that form. 



BREEDING 



For the most part the reindeer in Alaska have been permitted to 

 increase without much attention to breeding, their inferior size and 

 quality in many cases showing evidences of deterioration of stock. 

 These conditions have naturally arisen from the use of unscientific 

 and inefficient methods. Exchange of blood between herds has been 

 more a matter of accident than design, and scrub and inferior ani- 

 mals have been permitted to breed indiscriminately. Such practices 

 can not continue if a worth-while industry is to be built up, and 

 reindeer owners must adopt improved breeding methods if there is 

 to be continued development. 



Selective breeding is the first and most important step toward 

 establishing a better grade of stock. Only the best animals should 

 be used for breeding; and all scrub animals, both does and bucks, 

 should be promptly eliminated from the herd. As old does either 

 are unproductive or have weak fawns, it is highly desirable tO' cull 

 out part of them each year. All stunted, sickly, or otherwise un- 

 desirable animals also should be disposed of. 



It is especially important that more attention be paid to the selec- 

 tion of herd bucks. At present there are too many undesirable small 

 bucks in service, and in too many cases the larger animals, which 

 should be heading the herds, are castrated and later killed for meat, 

 herd should be kept down to this ratio by castrating. The largest 



