Productivity of semi-domesticated reindeer in Finland

reindeer increased during this period. This was possible due to calf harvesting and supplemental feeding. Results from multiple regression models indicated that calf harvesting influenced both per unit area and per capita production more than supplemental feeding. Correlation between meat production and animal density decreased with increased supple-mental feeding. Traditionally, southern and central herds of reindeer fed mainly on arboreal lichens in late winter; howe-ver, due to large-scale logging, woodlands rich of arboreal lichens had been greatly reduced. Economic carrying capacity of the winter range apparently has been exceeded in the south; a heavy crash in the number of reindeer is likely if supple-mental feeding ceases. In northern herds, intensive calf harvesting enabled satisfactory yield without supplemental fee-ding. In northern herds, yield increased mainly per unit area (i.e. by increases in herd size); in the south yield per reindeer increased. _ t 1 c ~ r ~ Rangifer, l l (2): 53—63 K e y words: reindeer, meat product ion, F i n l a n d, calf harvest, supplemental feedin