14 
BULLETIX 1423, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
hooks, one on each side of the corral, may, of course, be constructed, 
but only one is needed if the direction of milling be known. It is 
easy to drive the reindeer into a hook properly placed, but difficult 
to drive them into a hook not opening toward direction of the mill. 
Of 25 herds observed in respect to milling, 3 were found always to 
mill counterclockwise and the remainder clockwise. 
HOLDING PASTURE 
A recent improvement for handling reindeer when the corral is 
used at round-up time is a holding pasture adjoining the corral. 
As the Alaska herds increase in size the use of a holding pasture will 
become more and more necessary. It not only insures convenient 
holding of the herd at the round-up but makes it more possible to 
handle a large herd at one time without starving the animals. The 
main herd is confined in the pasture on feed and water, and, from 
time to time as needed, bunches are cut out and driven into the 
Fig. 2. — Diagram of corral of the pen type successfully used at Kokrines, Alaska. The 
reindeer are handled in the working pen and the fawns are caught by use of sheep 
hooks 
corral for handling. Thus, except for the relatively brief time when 
they are being put through the corral, the reindeer are abundantly 
provided with feed and water in the holding pasture during the 
round-up period. 
BRANDING 
Reindeer are mostly marked by cutting off the tip of one ear or 
notching one or both of them. Some herd owners have used a metal 
ear tag or button in addition to cutting, but this kind of marking 
is being abandoned as unsatisfactory. Because of the numerous 
marks required to distinguish the many small owners, ear marking 
also has its limitations. Consequently, the organization of coopera- 
tive herds under one mark or brand is now being urged, and brand- 
ing with a hot iron supplemental to ear marking is being considered. 
Experimental branding has been conducted in several herds and 
where carefully performed has proved sufficiently satisfactory to 
