Nick Dean and family enjoy bringing festive joy to the area… with more than a little help from their herd of adorable reindeer!

There Are Few Sights more festive, or as jolly as a reindeer. For decades they’ve been inspiring wide-eyed awe as children look upon them as Santa Claus’s magical friends. But for one local family, their appeal goes much further, with Nick & Steph Dean enjoying a great bond with their herd of 22 reindeer on their 14-acre farm near Oundle.

“Welfare. Welfare above and before anything else,” says Nick, as he completes the ritual of the morning feed. “When you spend as much time around the animals you know instinctively whether they’re happy or not, long before they show any signs, and we can definitely vouch for the fact that our girls are really happy.”

“At this time of year we’re really busy taking them to schools, markets and other events, but when they’ve had one day out they’re always rested the next day, and at the events they’re always really happy to see people and enjoy being stroked.”

It was back in 1939 that Chicago department store and mail order business Montgomery Ward was enduring the worldwide downturn in the economy we would come to know as The Great Depression, with finances tight and many expecting a fairly bleak Christmas… doesn’t sound familiar at all, does it?

Montgomery Ward’s boss at the time enlisted advertising man Robert L May to create a story that could serve as the flagship element of their Christmas campaign, to cheer customers up and encourage them to part with their money.

In 1821, a poem called Old Santeclaus with Much Delight had already been published in New York, written anonymously, but attributed to its publisher William Gilley. This was the first time that Santa Claus or Saint Nicholas (who actually originated from Turkey) had been placed in a colder climate and associated with caribou and sleigh as a means of transportation.

Robert L May took the story a little further with the story of a red-nosed reindeer who saved Christmas… and his boss hated it.

He reckoned that the story implied Rudolph had been drinking, and so needed much convincing. Thankfully, he and May decided to publish the story nonetheless, and the resulting book sold 2,000,000 copies.

The association between both reindeer and Christmas had been secured, and some time later, 13 years ago in fact, Nick’s long-standing fascination with the animals led him to take on his first reindeer.

“There can’t be many more than 30 reindeer keepers across the UK, and most only have a few of them, so I reckon we probably have one of the largest herd in the UK. We’re definitely unique in the area and we’re often requested to take the girls further than the hour or so radius that we choose to work in. We’ve three bulls now, and 19 cows… alongside our rheas, emus, alpacas, llamas, and camels!”

“They’re not easy animals to keep, perhaps because they’re less common. In the wild they’d walk about 100 miles a day and in temperatures down to -30°c or -40°c. The climate here is quite different, and so are their nutritional requirements as a result.”

“We have to use particular reindeer pellets as feed and purchase a special grade of reindeer lichen – 18 pallets of it in fact – to ensure they remain healthy. In addition, they’ll eat hay and grass, and they’re hardy enough to live outside all year round.”

“Unlike roe, muntjac or fallow deer, reindeer (caribou) are the only species of deer whose females grow antlers. In January the boys lose their antlers but the girls will retain them until spring. They’ll usually give birth to their young in May and their antlers will grow back in summer at a rate of about 2cm a day. These are covered in a velvet skin which they scrape off, leaving behind solid bone.”

“About the same time, the boys enter rutting season and can get quite nasty as the hormones kick in and they get ready to breed in September. In spring they moult their thick hollow hair and are left with just soft fur, then their outer coat grows back in autumn.”

“Adult reindeer can weigh between 60-100kg. They can measure up to 240cm long and they’re really strong and fast. A 6-10kg calf can easily outrun a man!”

“We attend about 50 events a year, but most of those are for filming assignments in

Autumn and then appearances for Christmas, which help us to cover the cost of their feed and vets’ bills. But they’re pets, not profit. They’ve individual characters, from Snowflake and Coraline, who are really placid, to the slightly more ‘hyper’ Mary. But we do really enjoy looking after them and introducing them to people, especially children over the festive season, is really quite incredible!”

Nick and Steph Dean are based at Woodbine Farm near Oundle. Their 22-strong herd of reindeer are available for appearances for winter weddings and Christmas events… Nick also has a snow machine for hire to create the ultimate winter wonderland! See www.woodbinereindeer.co.uk.