Jaalloka Reindeer Farm

We were pretty excited to go to the reindeer farm. We learned that all of the reindeer in Finland are domesticated and belong to someone. During most of the year, they are let out to run, but in mid-summer and in October they are rounded up and brought to the farms. Each reindeer is "branded" by nicks in their ears, much like cattle is branded in the US. Every family knows their brand, and although some reindeer have GPS trackers, they don't all have them. We were shown a sample of many of the brands of the family who owns the farm. Interesting how the farmers can identify their animals.

With over 200,000 reindeer in Lapland, it takes a long time to round up the animals, but apparently, all reindeer are accounted for by the families. The biggest surprise to us was how small the reindeer are in Finland. They are larger in other countries, but with these reindeer, their torso was no taller than my waist. Some of them have very large antlers that make them appear larger, but overall, they are not as big as a white tail deer. Our first adventure at the farm was to ride in a sleigh. We were tucked into a wooden sleigh, and the 9 sleighs were drawn through the snowy Finland forest. Each sleigh is tied to the one ahead, and in order to keep from stepping on the runners, the reindeer from behind walks next to the passenger in the sleigh ahead. Don and his friend had quite the conversation.

At one point, the group stopped, and when it re-started, the deer ahead of us jerked us, which jerked the sleigh behind us. CRACK! Our sleigh was totally broken. The man who accompanied us on the ride had to come back and tie the sleigh up so we could continue the journey. One of the sleighs was pulled by this gorgeous boy with his rack still intact. Don't you wonder what he was thinking?

After the ride, we fed the reindeer and then fed ourselves. We had a meal of reindeer soup, bread, and a slightly sweet, bear claw style cookie. I was particularly touched that the chef took the time to cook her own broth rather than use a beef base so that I could eat it. That has never happened to me before, so I was thrilled to be able to eat it!

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to th reindeer farm and would do it again!