So, what does happen at the Reindeer Centre in January?

We are now once again open to the public, hooray! Each year the Reindeer Centre shuts its doors for about 5 weeks from the end of the Christmas holidays to February half term.

8th of January and we are CLOSED! Re-opening on the 10th of February!

This begs the question what do the reindeer and herders do for these weeks of the year! Well, some herders choose to head off on exotic travels to Australia, others choose to take time off to be with their families. Others remain hard at work clearing up after a busy Christmas season and preparing for a busy year ahead… albeit with some fantastic flexi-time, for example finishing work a wee bit early to make the most of some good weather by running up our local hill (thanks Fiona!).

View from the top of Meall a’ Bhuachaille in the late afternoon!

As for the reindeer it’s the time of year when the whole herd heads for the hills, free-ranging for the first few months of the year. Some we still see on an almost daily basis, others weekly, and others not for several months! This winter has been great for the herd; cold, snowy and the usual huge abundance of lichen to keep them going.

Each day, if the weather allows, we usually go up and check on some of the herd…

Reindeer House dogs Tiree and Sookie are ready to head up the hill and search for the cows and calves.

Reindeer Herder Chris spies for the reindeer from the ski car park, with the rain and patches of snow it’s sometimes pretty difficult…

Have you found them yet?!

And we’re off to check on the herd and give them a wee bit of extra food!

Found them! We like to make sure the calves get a wee bit of extra feed. It’s a tough job!

How many reindeer calves can stick their head in one bag?

: We also ‘need’ to check the calves are nice and friendly ready for when we re-open!

Counting the cows and calves to see who is about

When we’re not out on the hill we have a big list (mostly left by the herders who went to Australia!) to try to complete, such as repairing boardwalk, repainting the floor of the Exhibition, checking first aid kits, oiling the Christmas harnesses, re-packing Christmas kit boxes etc etc…

Chris has been scrubbing and re-labelling our wellies, ready for our first visitors to make them mucky!

Morna sorting out the Christmas kit boxes ready for November!

Meanwhile there are always the adoption packs to make up, reindeer food to mix, Wild Farm Cottage bookings to take, plus emails and phone calls to deal with. On top of all this Captain Christmas herself, Fiona, has been incredibly busy organising Christmas 2018!

Ruth completing the daily diary after a busy day in January

Olly writing letters for our adopters

Now we’ve got the place ship-shape and all the herders and reindeer have had some time off, we are refreshed and delighted to be open again and hope to see you soon on a Hill Trip or in the Paddocks!