Up on the housetop, click, click, click...

By Debra Damron, Cooperative Extension Service
December 2005

Milan Shipka looks over the female reindeer involved in his study of reindeer gestation at the UAF Large Animal Research Station. Photo by Jeff Fay, CES.

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer may be running from house to house this December, but it's clear he and his reindeer friends have diversified their workplace. Reindeer aren't just for transportation anymore.

QUOTE: Reindeer aren't just for transportation anymore. While reindeer have for centuries sustained subsistence lifestyles for people throughout the circumpolar North, today Alaska's arctic and subarctic communities rely on the animals to help sustain local economies, fight heart disease and obesity, and through curriculum materials for K-12 students reindeer are even used as a tool to teach about history, renewable resource use, sustainable agriculture, northern ecology, biology and Alaska Native cultures.

Better tools for raising reindeer
At the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service, livestock specialists used to work with farmers throughout the state on traditional farm animals, like cattle, goats and sheep: what's the best feed for animals in the far North; how do nutritional values of what animals eat affect milk or meat production; what special care do cows in a subarctic environment need? Providing answers to these typical livestock production questions remains an important component of extension's outreach in the 49th state, but these days in Alaska the term livestock clearly has taken on a much broader meaning. In addition to the list of familiar barnyard animals, Alaskans now also raise non-traditional species such as bison, elk, muskox and yak. In Western Alaska and along the railbelt in the Interior, reindeer are a major factor in supporting local economies. All of these non-traditional livestock species are valued for the production of meat and fiber for the Alaska marketplace and beyond. Extension's livestock specialist Milan Shipka travels throughout the state to give advice to both traditional and non-traditional animal producers. [ more...]

What do reindeer sound like?

Better tools for raising reindeer

Reindeer meat is a healthy food

Thumbs-up to reindeer meat samples

Palmer reindeer are movie stars

Reindeer meat as part of a healthy diet
Nutrition is an essential component in determining the overall health of animals and humans. A healthy diet can help overweight people shed pounds and reduce obesity-related illnesses such as heart disease or diabetes. Graduate student Andrea Bersamin, working with UAF Extension Foods and Nutrition Specialist Bret Luick, is studying the diet of Yup'ik Eskimos. Bersamin's "Diet and Nutrition Knowledge Research Project" compares traditional and Western foods to diet quality and ultimately, overall health. [ more...]

Professional tasters evaluate reindeer meat
Taste is also an important consideration in a consumer's choice of what to eat. Extension Food Science Specialist Kristy Long conducts studies in Alaska's first, and so far only, state approved food-product test kitchen to assess the flavor, juiciness and other attributes of reindeer meat. Placing a value on what test tasters find appetizing provides essential information the reindeer industry needs to better market their products. [ more...]

Reindeer as movie stars and tourist attraction
Palmer reindeer farmer Tom Williams and his family derive revenue from a fairly diverse slate of reindeer-related activities, including national television and print advertising, film locations and offering reindeer for rent to pull a sleigh during the winter holidays. While they also sell reindeer meat, hides and antlers, the Williams prefer the more positive aspects of their business, such as letting tourists feed and pet the animals. [ more...]

Reindeer as teaching tools
Although reindeer have played a strong role in shaping Alaska history for over a hundred years, particularly along the western coast, this industry has largely been obscure, even to many Alaska residents. Reindeer Roundup! was developed by the Reindeer Research Program in UAF's School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences to use the context of the reindeer industry to teach K-12 students science and math, along with Alaska history, Alaska Native culture, economics, renewable resource use and sustainable agriculture.

Through the applied research activities and network of UAF's Cooperative Extension Service and the work of other departments and research institutes on campus, Alaskans have the essential and relevant tools to expand and grow this important animal agriculture industry. Follow the links to the right to learn more about the many ways reindeer research at UAF affects the lives of Alaskans.

For more information, please contact:

Milan Shipka, extension livestock specialist, Cooperative Extension Service and Department of Plant, Animal and Soil Sciences, UAF, (907) 474-7429, ffmps@uaf.edu
Kristy Long, extension home economics specialist, Cooperative Extension Service, UAF, (907) 474-7974, ffkal@uaf.edu
Bret Luick, foods & nutrition specialist, Cooperative Extension Service, UAF, (907) 474-6338, ffbrl@uaf.edu
Debra Damron, extension communications director, Cooperative Extension Service, UAF, (907) 474-5420, debra.damron@uaf.edu

For more information, please contact:

Other useful links: