More and more Lapland reindeer herders keep sheep as well

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Many of Lapland’s reindeer keepers have turned to sheep farming because of better income prospects.
      "The price of reindeer meat is so low for producers that I was forced to seek an additional source of income", explains reindeer herder Timo Jumisko from the Salla reindeer-herding association. "Sheep farming is suited to reindeer herders in a sense that both animals can be fed the same fodder."
      Furthermore, the most hectic work spells do not overlap. The sheep lamb in February-April, whereas the reindeer calve in May, and the earmarking takes place in June. The slaughtering of livestock can also be staggered.
      Jumisko has 320 support-entitling reindeer and 60 ewes. One reindeer earns Jumisko EUR 24.50 a year in the form of EU support, against EUR 164.55 per sheep.
     
Last autumn, already 900 sheep were slaughtered in Salla. The corresponding figure for the reindeer was 3,500. This year’s number for sheep will exceed a thousand.
      In addition to Salla, the number of reindeer herders who have turned towards sheep husbandry is on the up also in Kemijärvi, Pelkosenniemi, and Sodankylä. Still, many reindeer keepers shun the noisy sheep that are forever escaping from their enclosures.
      "The strict book-keeping and paperwork required of sheep farmers by the EU also came as a surprise. Filling in the forms is mentally exhausting”, Jumisko explains.
     
Sheep farming is best suited for a reindeer herder with an old cowshed and hayfields, for the sheep eat a lot, says chairman Jukka Knuuti, of the Reindeer Herders’ Association. "All means are required, for too many young people are leaving reindeer herding."


Links:
  Reindeer Herders´ Association

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