Today, we went on a tour of the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station farm on the University of Alaska-Fairbanks campus. Greg Finstad, Program Manager and Instructor, gave the PolarTREC teachers a quick tour of the facilities, described the history of reindeer in Alaska, and described the research of the reindeer program.
The purpose of the reindeer farm is to develop management strategies for the free-ranging reindeer herds and to study the nutritional requirements of reindeer. They are researching and trying to develop cost effective food rations for the reindeer with a mix of barley, hay, and other protein sources. Research is being conducted on the feed varieties and their affect on the meat quality and flavor.
We went out to the pastures and got to see the herds up close! First, we went to the reindeer cow pasture and then we got to go see some of the breeding bulls kept in a separate pen. It was incredible to see the animals up close! We had a bag of lichens, which when we held in our hands and the reindeer cows ate right out hands. The bulls were a little more cautious; they maintained their distance from our large group.
What are the differences and similarities between reindeer and caribou?
For more information on the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Reindeer Research Program, visit their website at http://reindeer.salrm.uaf.edu/index.php.