Beverly banner. [volume] (Beverly, N.J.) 1877-1964, 1925-10-16

more like cattle They are more intelligent than
cattle. They are gentle, except that the bucks
are vicious In the rutting season. They are much
more easily handled by men on foot than are
cattle They can easily be broken to harness and
can be driven, ridden used pack animals
Ihey are very active for short distance and dis
play as much speed ordinary driving horse
with their broad, loosely connected hoofs they can
easily travel where horses and cattle would mire
Inc lawns come in the spring and are able to
follow the doe at once They shed their horns one
year after BIRTH Reindeer shed their coats every
summer and shed and grow horns every year. The
horns often grow fast that the animals show
signs of pain The adult does (two years of age or
over) shed their horns few days after the drop
ping of the fawns. Bucks two and three-quarters
years of. age and over drop their horns after the
rutting season in the fall.
Does continue to breed till about twelve years
of age. The average life of a reindeer is about
fifteen years Nearly full growth is reached in the
third year. full maturity in four five years. OF
the bucks a certain number are reserved for breed
ing purposes; the rest are raised as steers to be
slaughtered when about three years old
October and November the best months for
slaughterng; steers are then prime Bucks do not
make good meat does are not killed Reindeer
store up their winter fat in two masses on the
back. on either side of the backbone BY the
whites 1t Is often cut into strips and used like
bacon; the natives think 1t tidbit The meat is
fne-gralned and of good flavor. The liver is large
and much like that of calves in quality. The
tongue and heart are of good quality.
The dressed weight of ful-grown steer is 200
pounds (maximum). The dressed caribou of GER
tain Alaskan districts will often weigh 800 pounds
crossbreedng and the grading of the reindeer
herds will in time greatly Increase average weight
deep layer of underground ice along the
Alaskan coast offers natural cod-storage facilities
In many places-for example. on the Seward pen
insula-the soil Is not more than foot or two
thick. The ice Is free from impurities and shafts
have been sunk in it thirty feet deep Thus meat
can be kept indefinitely and at trifing cost at
the place where the herd is slaughtered
Reindeer need no protection from the weather
and can always find food in suitable grazing dis
tricts. In the winter they dig for gray ichens In
the summer the tundra furnishes grasses and
sedges. Apparently they eat almost anything
from mushrooms to duck eggs. They will steal
half-dried salmon. They are crazy over salt
The lasso or larat used In Alaska differs radical
~ from that used in the West. A flexible cotton
rope about one-fourth inch in diameter Is pro
terred- The eye Is heavy and is made from a
piece Of reindeer horn. The roper does not throw
single loop, cowboy fashion, but throws tho
whole rope so that it hits the horns and entangles
Them Roping cannot be used to advantage while
the horns are in the velvet, as bleeding NAV resui,
and infection set In
In other countries milk from reindeer is used IN
the making of butter and cheese. In Alaska LITTLE
milking is done and milking strains have NOT baan
developed. The tanning of skins Is poor and evan
the natives buy reindeer skins. imported from
Siberia. Modern slaughtering methods are not gen
orally used; the native owner goes our and ki,,.
his reindeer whenever he wants It, in season o,
out. The skinning is easier than in the case 81
cattle No use is made Of by-products
An Alaskan reindeer roundup is a pctures,,s
affair. There are only few modern corras. Tbs
usual method employed is crude brush enclosur.
on the open plain and the roping method IL n
vogue. AT a recent demonstration of modern
corral at the head of Kotzebue sound a round
up of 10000 reindeer was staged. The deer war.
put through at the rate Of IA to the hour nroc
tically without injury.
Previous to 1920 the crude methods Of tba or,o
inal herders prevailed. Then the Biological snrva,
established reindeer experiment station ~
Unalakeet- Every phase Of the situation is beine
studied Preliminary surveys indicate thar thor.
is available grazing sufficient to carry batwoa,
100000 and 100000 reindeer The annual snr
plus from that number would yield nroluo
worth more than all the minerals mined and nor
Inns equal the fisheries -