10 CIRCULAR 82, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Unmarked yearlings are apportioned among the owners in the same 

 way as are the fawns. These include all unmarked animals other 

 than fawns, whether 1 or 2 years old or older. Actually there are 

 four distributions and four percentages to be considered. *^ These are 

 the male and female fawns and the male and female yearlings. Each 

 requires a separate apportionment, although, as stated, the per- 

 centage of the sexes in the fawns will run about the same. 



The total percentages at the close of the first day's work should be 

 used in distributing fawns the next day and until a further recheck 

 is made. In continuing the marking the next day, however, a balance 

 should first be effected to check off longs and shorts. The second 

 recheck may show 60 or 70 per cent, for example, but whatever it 

 may be, this new figure should be used for the subsequent marking. 



Each recheck should be based on the total number of animals previ- 

 ously handled and not on that particular day's work only. Further- 

 more, with each recheck the increase due each owner should be re- 

 figured from the beginning, and a retabulation of longs and shorts 

 should be made for further balancing. 



Prior to working the last bunch of reindeer through the chute a 

 final recheck should be made and a balance of longs and shorts 

 obtained to be carried over for correction in the next year's marking. 



BRAND REGISTRY 



A brand registry law recently put into force in Alaska requires 

 each individual owner to have registered a brand or mark (or both), 

 as is done in the States. Cooperative herds need only the one herd 

 brand or mark, and such brand or mark should be registered under 

 title of the company or association. Ear marks as well as brands 

 should be immediately registered in order that any question of 

 ownership may be settled. 



The use of numerous ear marks should be discouraged. Each 

 member of an Eskimo family now uses an individual mark, and the 

 result is a great confusion of marks in the herd; often there are 50 

 marks or more. Instead of a separate mark for every individual, 

 there should be only one mark for each family or each community, 

 with individual ownership shown by a book record. 



CASTRATION 



The main reasons for castrating reindeer are to produce steers for 

 meat and to reduce the number of bucks to a proper proportion of 

 the herd, only those being retained that are best suited for breeding 

 purposes. Animals may be castrated either as fawns or as adults. 

 The fawn, however, should be at least 2 months old, so that the 

 testicles will be developed sufTiciently for ready handling. 



The tools necessary for castrating are a sharp knife and an emas- 

 culator, an instrument shaped like a pair of pliers with a broad cor- 

 rugated crushing surface and a cutting edge. These should be kept 

 in some good disinfectant when not in use, and instruments and hands 

 should be rinsed in it after each animal is operated on. 



In castrating, cuts in the scrotum should be made with the knife 

 directly over the middle of each testicle. The testicles are then 

 slipped out through the separate cuts, and removed by severing the 



