Auction buyers bid high on reindeer

Brianne Frame shows off her reindeer at the Tanana Valley State Fair livestock auction.

The second year that reindeer were included in the Tanana Valley State Fair 4-H and FFA livestock auction saw a huge increase in the price of reindeer on the hoof.

The auction, held Aug. 13 at the fairgrounds, featured an evening of local business owners and individuals bidding on turkeys, steers, rabbits, lambs, goats, swine, geese, chickens, and reindeer.

While 2009's reindeer prices topped at $7 per pound, this year's reserve champion, shown by Joe Bue, sold for $10.25 per pound to Bucher Glass. The grand champion animal, shown by Joe's sister Cortney Bue, went for $9.75 per pound to Patrick Mechanical Inc. Brianne Frame's animal sold to Delta Meat and Sausage for $7.25 a pound.

"I was pleasantly surprised," said Reindeer Research Program Research Coordinator George Aguiar, who provided guidance to the students throughout their time raising the animals. RRP, a program of SNRAS, donated the reindeer to the 4-H'ers with the agreement that they would sell the animals at the livestock auction for butchering purposes only.

Aguiar credited the students with promoting the value of their animals to local business people prior to the market auction. "There was a lot more serious bidding than last year," he said. "I was very happy with the prices. The animals looked really nice and the kids did a great job raising the reindeer, tracking their intake and costs, and maintaining their hoof trims and vaccines."

Due to budget cuts, RRP was not able to provide reindeer calves to 4-H'ers for the 2011 auction, but the program is currently seeking funding to help the project continue. "We are trying to show that these are livestock and meat animals," Aguiar said.