Reindeer herding

Reindeer herding is when reindeer are herded by people in a limited area. Currently, reindeer are the only semi-domesticated animal which naturally belong to the North. Reindeer herding is conducted in nine countries: Norway, Finland, Sweden, Russia, Greenland, the United States (Alaska), Mongolia, China and Canada. A small herd is also maintained in Scotland's Cairngorms National Park.

Reindeer herding is conducted by individuals within some kind of cooperation, in forms such as families, districts, Sámi and Yakut villages and sovkhozy (collective farms). A person who conducts reindeer herding is called a reindeer herder and approximately 100,000 people are engaged in reindeer herding today around the circumpolar North.

The domestication of the reindeer does not lend itself to a simple explanation. There is no doubt that when the glaciers retreated at the end of the last Ice Age, people followed reindeer to the North, using traps during the reindeer hunt. Modern archaeological data (rock art) suggest that domestication may have taken place for the first time in the Sayan Mountains between Russia and Mongolia, possibly 2–3 thousand years ago. According to another theory, the Tungus (the ancestors of the present Evenks and Evens) independently domesticated reindeer to the east of Lake Baikal, and that reindeer herding originated in several places simultaneously. Reindeer herders have their own stories about how reindeer were domesticated, and about the relationship between wild and domestic reindeer. Whatever the debate, the very fact of domination of a reindeer led to a reindeer revolution that spread to the North, East, and West. Sleds pulled by reindeer appeared later than dog sleds. The reindeer sleds made accessible areas of the tundra and mountains, which can only be accessed by helicopter. Reindeer became the preferred vehicle on the expanses of Eurasia.

The Sámi people lived and worked in so-called siiddat (reindeer herding groups) and reindeer were used for transport, milk and meat production. The siida is an ancient Sámi community system within a designated area but it can also be defined as a working partnership where the members had individual rights to resources but helped each other with the management of the herds, or when hunting and fishing. The siida could consist of several families and their herds.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the traditional regions of Sámi reindeer husbandry were divided by state borders between four states: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia, which led to the destabilization of traditional reindeer husbandry practices. The state borders (in 1852 between Norway and Russia and in 1889 between Sweden and Finland, then owned by Russia) have divided the reindeer siids.

In Scandinavia, about 6,500 Sámi are engaged in reindeer herding. In Norway and Sweden reindeer herding is characterized by large herds and a high degree of mechanization in all regions. The main product of reindeer herding is meat. However, skins, bones, and horns are important raw materials for making clothes and handicrafts. The involvement of young people in Norway and Sweden is hindered by legislative acts, and the lack of pastures and economic opportunities hamper the growth of the industry. The total number of reindeer in the Sámi territory, with the exception of Russia, is privately owned, despite the fact that in many aspects the reindeer grazing is carried out collectively within the framework of the Siid.

In Norway, there are six pasture territories, divided into 77 pasture areas. Only ethnic Sámi have the right to reindeer husbandry in these areas. The reindeer is also bred in southern Norway in special concession areas. There, reindeer herding can also be practiced by non-Sámi Norwegians. The reindeer graze on pastures with an area of approximately 146 thousand km² in the provinces of Finnmark, Troms, Nordland and Trøndelag, which is 40% of the mainland part of Norway. Reindeer herding is managed by the Norwegian Reindeer Husbandry Administration Archived 2018-05-29 at the Wayback Machine, which is directly subordinate to the Ministry of Agriculture of Norway. 2936 reindeer herders graze about 240 thousands deer, most of which are based in the province of Finnmark.

Reindeer herding is regulated by the New Norwegian Reindeer Herding Act of 2007. Only specified persons have the right to a reindeer earmark and to conduct reindeer husbandry in the Sámi reindeer herding area. Only a person who is a Sámi and themselves, their parents or their grandparents have or had reindeer herding as their primary occupation qualifies for an earmark.