At the Komi Koral

Once a year, generally between December and March, reindeer herds are rounded up from across the tundra of the Kola Peninsula and driven to Lovozero, 160 km southeast of Murmansk, where the Tundra Agricultural Cooperative is based. It is koral – a time for sawing off antlers, castrating adult males, and attaching ear tags. (koral is likely taken from the Spanish word corral, which also made it into English).

The herders arrive by snowmobile, guiding and guarding the herd. Their dogs often ride along with them, keeping an eye out for predators. And it’s an important duty, because between predators, disease and injury, up to 30 percent of a herd can be lost in a given year. Without the care and protection of the herders, only 30 percent would survive.

Most of the herders have been at this for generations. Their foreman, Valdemar, traces his involvement back through his great-great-grandfather. Oleg, who is technically retired and whose son Vasily has taken his place, continues to show up to help out at the Koral. He cannot live without it.

The entire procedure takes a day. The reindeer are driven in, processed, and by evening they are sent back out into the tundra. They are better off in the open, where they can forage for themselves – most often on lichen or grasses. Today’s group arrived from just a short distance away, as there was a heavy blizzard blowing, and the herd had been  left in a lowland overnight. Nikolai stayed with them to watch over and protect them.

The sawn-off antlers are sold, most often to Chinese buyers (though Russian buyers exist). Reindeer antlers are felt to have medicinal value in traditional Chinese medicine and they sell for around R800 per kilogram ($9). By the time they make their way to China, the price rises to $400-500. The harvesting procedure is painful for the animals, but they would shed their antlers regardless – usually in May, and likewise not painlessly, and usually with bleeding.

In this traditional culture, the reindeer are venerated and not one bit of an animal is wasted. The meat is highly prized, and in fact the castration of the bulls is done so as to increase the yield of meat and to make it less tough. Traditional clothing is sewn from the hides in spring or early summer. Muscovites, meanwhile, purchase hides to lay beside a fireplace or drape over a car seat. And for that they prefer winter hides, as the fur is denser.

After 1,000 head are vaccinated and chipped, we load into a snowmobile and travel to see the reindeer off into the tundra.

At exactly that moment, the blizzard increased its already brutal temper. Snow lashed our cheeks and made it nearly impossible to open our eyes. We rode along behind the herd, swinging a little to the right or left now and then to keep them from forming a circle — if they do, it is hard to get them moving again. Then, suddenly, the fences on either side of us fell away and we drove onto the open expanse of the lake, framed on both sides by low-growing firs.

This is where the reindeer will spend the night. In the morning, after the blizzard eased, they were driven farther up into the mountains.