Reindeer herding binds the community. As hard work and entrepreneurship, it teaches responsibility, perseverance, and respect for the land. To local people, reindeer are partners in maintaining the balance of nature, moving through forests, across rivers and brooks, and along the shores of clear lakes and ponds.
Life on a Sámi reindeer farm is as demanding as it is beautiful. Each day is shaped by the cycle of nature. The work rages from observation and marking of grazing herds to careful monitoring of snow, sheltering, and feeding in the winter.
Reindeer eat the lichen and hay in the winter, the first green shoots of spring, and the abundance of herbs, mushrooms, and leaves in summer and autumn.
The work is physically intense, involving transportation, marking, and sometimes even slaughtering. It blends old and new: wooden sleds and herding dogs move alongside snowmobiles, ATVs, GPS trackers and drones.
Electronic tags and satellite monitoring help follow the herd across vast territories, but nothing can replace the intimate knowledge of the land passed down over generations. Depending on the weather, the reindeer will be found in certain places. They have their favourite spots for taking cover from the wind or bathing in the sun. Driving in Lapland in the summer, you will come across reindeer on the roads, and they very reluctantly let you pass. They have just found a place with some winds and less mosquitoes.
In Lapland, the magic is everywhere – in the silence of the fjälls, in the first autumn frost on the birch trees, in the stillness of lakes mirrored with northern lights, and the gentle rhythm of reindeer racing across the snow.
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