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Lease our reindeer for your tree lot, shopping mall or tree farm!

The 12 beautiful reindeer have over a 2 acre penned in area to provide the shelter and space they need. Bring your children and let them see what what Santa's reindeer really look like! There are 7 female adult reindeer,  4 males, and a one new baby to be named this season, sporting their full racks (yes female reindeer have antlers too) and full winter coats. They like to stay near the top of the hill near the fence, maybe you can get lucky and get a family picture near the deer!

More about our Reindeer

The animals in our enclosure are domestic reindeer-- not wild caribou.

Reindeer, like other ruminants, eat their food in a hurry and chew their cud while resting. Large hooves allow their feet to spread on soft ground and in the snow, making movement for the animal easy. The popping or cracking sound they make while moving is caused by a snapping of the tendons in the hooves over anklebones.

Moss and lichen buried under the snow provide the nutrients needed by the reindeer to survive during the long winters of the Arctic regions. Reindeer can detect this food up to three feet under the snow, and with those large hooves, paw and dig for it. The reindeer's coat is thick with a hollow outer hair covering a dense underfur. It allows the reindeer to withstand the extreme cold of its northern environment.

 Reindeer are native to northern Europe but were introduced to Alaska in the 1890's from Siberia, and later from Scandinavia. Our original two reindeer came to Ohio in 1996 from a herd near Cold Water, MI. This herd of 600 was flown from Alaska to Michigan. There are presently about 3500 reindeer in the lower 48 states.

 The Sami people use Reindeer antler, bones and hides in the making of many useful and decorative items.  Some of these can be seen and purchased in our gift shop.

Antlers

 There is probably no single feature of reindeer that has fascinated humans more than the Antler.  Among mammals the antler is the only organ that is fully regenerated, and the only organ composed of bone to be regenerated by any vertebrate. 

 During regeneration a full complement of hair and fatty glands develops.  Nerves grow at the same rate as the developing antler.  The antler is used as a display of social status, a weapon, a back scratcher and for knocking down food.  The antler growth cycles are directly attributed to seasonal photoperiods, which influence the flow of the reindeer’s various growth hormones and steroid activity.

 When the velvet is shed, nerves around the pedicle remain functional and re-grow when the antler begins to grow the following season.  The antlers on male reindeer drop in December/January and begin to grow in March or April.  In female reindeer, the antler drops off in May and begins to grow immediately after the calves are born.  Calves begin to grow antlers several days after they are born.

 Mature antler is similar to skeletal bone and the tensile strength is similar to the human tibia.  Antler has a high elasticity and is much less brittle than ivory.  It can absorb a high amount of energy without breaking.  Antler is about 25% calcium, 19% phosphorus, 85 water and 39% organic matter.