Reindeer calves dubbed with names

For reindeer calves at the Fairbanks Experiment Farm, the feed trough is much more interesting than a new name.

At the age of five months, the calves in the UAF Reindeer Research Program have received their names. While one was named Obama last year, the "politician of the moment" name granted a calf this time is Sarah P.

"Sarah Palin was the name nominated but we shortened it to Sarah P to avoid trademark issues," said Darrell Blodgett, RRP technician.

Sarah P is healthy young female who spends her days frolicking and eating at the Fairbanks Experiment Farm. Her companions are the other 18 calves born in April.

RRP staff wait until the calves are weaned from their mothers to begin the naming process. Until then they are simply referenced by the numbers on their ear tags.

Monikers are suggested by school children from around the country. Students from Fayetteville, Ga., Savage, Md., Surprise, Ariz., and other towns nominated names and the RRP staff gets the privilege of selecting which ones will be applied to which calves.

Male names this year are Fireball, Rocko, Sami, Dexter, Graham, Fritz, Pikachu, Froggie, Clyde, Ernest and Houdini. In addition to Sarah P, females will be called Penelope, Solveig, Trudy, Bella, Lucy and Jellybean.

The name Solveig came from Colorado, which happens to be where RRP Manager Greg Finstad's granddaughter of the same name lives. "This calf is adventurous and independent just like my granddaughter," Finstad said. On the day of her birth Solveig entered the world at 7 a.m. and escaped her pen by crawling under a fence. By 9 a.m. workers found the calf in a completely different area than it had been and reunited it with its mother. "How and why it managed to get out of the pen it was in and away from Mom we will never know for sure," Blodgett said.

School children are welcome to enter names each spring. The program received 58 male names and 61 female names at the RRP website this year.

RRP conducts research in meat science, range management, nutrition, reproductive health, disease prevention and radio telemetry. The program has been active at UAF since 1981.