A fence: it is convenient. Tundra reindeer are becoming taiga ones

The practical part of the “pilot” project for development of fenced reindeer husbandry was started in Nadymskiy district. A farm holding of Vladimir Slepushkin implements it with help of a regional grant in the amount of 15 million rubles. The information was given to the news agency “Sever-Press” in the department of agro-industrial complex of Yamal.

The site is located 30 kilometers to the south from the settlement Longyugan. A team of eight people worked on construction of the fence. The team included seasonal reindeer herders from Kutopyugan and representatives of the reindeer-herding community from Khabarovsk Krai, who were interested in the project and decided to receive experience in order to implement it in the future. Construction of the fence was completed at the end of last year, its total length made 40 kilometers.

Recently, the livestock of reindeer from Yamalskiy district was brought to a new place. Two families of reindeer herders, Vladimir Slepushkin and Konstantin Serotetto, also settled here. Now they together have more than 400 reindeer for two. This is the most interesting part of the experiment, which should show how successfully tundra reindeer can get used to conditions of taiga.

The site for this purpose was chosen successfully, it occupies two zones at once – both tundra and taiga. The place is rich with yagel (reindeer moss) - the main food resource for reindeer. In tundra in the open area the reindeer will be located during calving, so it will be easier for the owners to monitor the herd.

“The fence is convenient, it is necessary so that reindeer will not go north in spring. We plan to increase the number of animals up to 500”, said Vladimir Slepushkin, the head of the reindeer-herding farm.

“Many reindeer herders are afraid of moving to Nadymskiy district and the taiga zone due to the fact that nobody had such experience in the district before. Precisely grazing of reindeer in conditions of the fence should prove that this is all feasible. And the project is aimed at that, and in three years we will sum up the results”, commented the head of the office for agricultural development of the regional department of agro-industrial complex of Yamal Andrey Revnivykh.

Last year grant support for development of agro-industrial complex was provided for the first time, and study of alternative ways of reindeer herding became one of the priorities. One more project for a won grant is implemented by the community “Syadei-Yakhinskaya” in the south of Tazovskiy district.