Family trying to get a reindeer farm going in Wellsville

Alora Lloyd lead one of her reindeer around on her family's Wellsville farm on Wednesday Nov. 30 2022.

WELLSVILLE – Dallin and Alora Lloyd are trying to get a reindeer farm going in Wellsville. They have five reindeer on their land and are still working on getting all the permits to raise them in Cache Valley. Bringing animals like reindeer into the state is a tricky process. They are not native to the area, or at least have not been for a long time.

Alora Lloyd and her husband Dallin are bringing reindeer to her family’s Wellsville farm.

With potential disease they could bring into the valley the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is being cautious to make sure the animals don’t mix.

We’ve been working on bringing them into Utah for five years,” she said. “It took that long to get the documentation and permits we needed to the state.”

There are two fences that separate the animals. One of the fences is 15 feet high, not to keep the animals from getting out but to keep deer, elk and moose from getting in and bringing in diseases. The couple bought nine acres in Wellsville and fenced off three of the acres for their animals.

“Federal Express will ship reindeer,” Lloyd said. “They must be small, they can’t have antlers and you have to pick them up at the airport.”

“We are hoping to grow the herd to 15 reindeer,” Lloyd said. ”There are not very many of them in the lower 48 states. When they reintroduced wolves in the United States it devastated the wild reindeer population.”

Ken Clark from Oregon works with one of the female reindeer on the Lloyd’s Wellsville farm on Wednesday, Nov. 30 2022.

The Lloyds are starting to take the reindeer to different events around the state to generate money for feed. They will have the reindeer at the Cache County Fairgrounds on December 2, 3, 9, 16, 17 and 23 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. On December 2, 9 and 23 it will be from noon until 4 p.m.

“There is a charge,” she said. “We must recoup some money to pay for their feed. It’s similar to the feed of a dairy cow. We buy our feed from the farm we purchased the reindeer from.”

Reindeer are unique animals. They have large hoofs for walking on top of the snow and those large hoofs help them swim across lakes and ponds. Both the male and female grow healthy antlers. They have two coats of thick hair that keep them warm in the snow and ice.

“Reindeer can swim six miles an hour and go for long distances,” Lloyd said. “We’ve had a lot of interest in them.”

She said once they get the permits in place they would like to raise mini cows and other animals and have a place where people can come and get educated about animals.

“Some people think meat comes from a grocery store and don’t know where the grocery store gets the meat,” she said. “I would like to have a place where kids can be educated on animals.”

Alora Lloyd and her father Ken Clark from Oregon lead a couple of their reindeer around on her family’s Wellsville farm on Wednesday, Nov. 30 2022.

Her parents have a hay farm in Oregon and Alora has lived on a farm all of her life. Her husband Dallin is an electrical engineer and works in Logan.

For more information about scheduling their reindeer, call Alora Lloyd at (435) 757-9576 or find them on Facebook and Instagram @rockymountainreindeerfarm.

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4 Comments

  • Felicia December 2, 2022 at 9:31 pm Reply

    Now that’s nifty. 🙂 I wanna pet it lol

  • Tool for a day December 4, 2022 at 2:47 pm Reply

    Good for you mom and pop! Small business owners rule!

  • Ttunac December 4, 2022 at 11:00 pm Reply

    Had some reindeer stew in Finland once. It was pretty good. Kind of bland. Finland is not known for spices. Might be a little bit harder after you’ve named it ‘Dancer’.

  • Dale December 5, 2022 at 6:47 pm Reply

    It’s great to see someone putting the effort into raising wild animals. But, the reintroduction of the wolf to the lower 48 states has nothing to do with the native reindeer population. Reindeer are not native to North America. Caribou are a subspecies of the reindeer are native in some very small areas in the lower 48 state and the wolf reintroduction has had a small effect on those herds. In general the populations of caribou have been declining for many years in all f North America.

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