Reindeer realm: Farm delivers Christmas spirit

CANTON, Ill. — A love of teaching, children, nature, animals and Christmas, along with a fitting name, led a couple along a path toward raising reindeer on their Fulton County farm.

Retired art teachers Scott and Tracy Snowman operate Snowman’s Reindeer Farm and are in the midst of some busy weekends with visitors from around Illinois and other states.

The 11-acre farm features reindeers Snowball, Mistletoe, Kringle, Sugar Plum, Griswold, Marshmallow, Kluger, Sparky and Cocoa. There are also mini donkeys Jingle and Jangle, along with a host of Silkie chickens and a friendly duck.

The farm includes a little Christmas village of sorts with Sugar Plum Pavilion, Farmer Scott’s Antler Shanty, Flying Reindeer Snack Bar, main Reindeer barn, Alaska Reindeer Pavilion, Little Reindeer Railway, Jolly Old Elf Gift Shoppe, a learning area and, of course, reindeer games.

Snowman’s Reindeer Farm is open to the public on weekends in November and December, as well as during the week for field trips. Reservations are required and can be done on the farm’s website.

Their journey toward this winter wonderland began about 10 years ago when they were anticipating retirement from teaching and looking toward new adventures.

“Our kids were grown and we knew we needed to come up with something before we hit that retirement window with teaching that would keep us engaged and doing something educational,” Tracy said.

Agriculture has been a part of the Snowmans’ life. They’ve raised various animals over the years, owned farm ground since 1986, and Scott’s background is also in forestry, having planted thousands of walnut and pine trees. His brother and dad operate the nearby family farm where they raise crops and Angus.

“We’ve always raised animals of different sorts and when you’re last name is Snowman, you do tend to really love Christmas and we do. We just started getting curious about reindeer, Scott began researching it and the more he researched it, the more intrigued he became,” Tracy said.

“One of the things we realized very quickly is that they were challenging. It wasn’t going to be an easy path. It was going to be unique and challenging. It is not for the feign of heart.”

After extensive research, they took the leap and were on a reindeer adoption waiting list.

“In the fall of 2015, we adopted our first two reindeer, a 4-month-old baby boy and a 1-year-old girl — Klaus and Nutmeg,” Tracy said.

Heartbreak

Unfortunately, Scott and Tracy experienced heartbreak with their first reindeer two years later when the male and the then-expectant female contracted Babesia, a tick-borne illness, and died.

“That was a devastating blow. Within two years of beginning we were totally wiped out. It was an emotional blow. We are very tender-hearted and yet we are tough enough to know that this is part of farm life, too. So, we understand that you have to take the losses with the wins, but those losses are very hard for us,” Tracy said.

They regrouped and dug deeper into the research.

“We became very interested in Babesia as a disease and we interviewed about 24 other reindeer farms specifically because we wanted to learn more about what could be done to increase our chances of never dealing with it again. Then we ended up bringing in some more animals. We have not had a case since. We really have not had any parasite issues since,” Tracy said.

“We probably have one of the strictest, most comprehensive parasite and biosecurity control protocols of anyone in the industry. That is because the loss was so devastating.”

“We also manage a split herd as part of our biosecurity. For us, that is just one of the parasite controls that we’re using,” Scott added.

Six of their reindeer are on one side of the farm and three reindeer are on the other side.

“Our reindeer have come from lots of different places. The herd one group is half imported from Midwestern farms and half homegrown. Three of the six on that side were born right here on our farm,” Tracy noted.

Flying Reindeer

Yes, reindeer do fly. The three in the other herd were flown in from Anchorage, Alaska, via FedEx cargo in 2020. Scott and Tracy picked them up at the Indianapolis airport and brought them home.

“We started negotiations for the three from Alaska in 2017. It was a long process because Illinois has some of the strictest import standards of any states and both states have to be involved in approvals, so it was a tedious process,” Scott said.

The Alaskan reindeer were from a meat production farm.

“They don’t have cattle in Alaska and they raise reindeer for the meat. The farms sell the meat to packing houses. Some animals top 600 pounds,” Tracy noted.

“I talk to the breeder, George Aguiar, frequently. I believe George is the foremost expert on reindeer nutrition in the United States. He has a master’s degree in nutrition and works for the University of Alaska. You really could not find a more knowledgeable person in terms of his expertise. He didn’t just sell me reindeer, he basically sold me a lifetime contract of information and I talk to him all the time. He checks in on them all the time.”

Permanent Site

When Scott and Tracy first entered the reindeer realm and the notion of sharing them with the public, they did not have on-farm visits and brought them to another location.

“For example, when Canton has their old-fashioned Christmas walk downtown we put up a pen and set them up on the square and people came to visit them. That’s what we envisioned as our business model,” she said.

“We originally pretty much bought them for pets and we thought we can cover some of the vet bills (with display work),” Scott added.

“Our kids, who are grown, had suggested we just post on Facebook that you could come and see the reindeer. We didn’t do any paid advertising. We just posted on Facebook that we were going to open up on a Sunday afternoon. The line was backed up all the way from the house out to the road. We did not have staff, we did not have port-o-potties and we were not prepared. We had not idea people would come to the middle of Fulton County to see some reindeer,” Tracy said.

“What we realized really quickly was people will come. Our banker comes out about once a year to kind of check on things and he said we’re like the Field of Dreams. ‘If you build it, they will come.’ That’s exactly what happened.”

A Destination

Tracy estimated about 90% of the visitors are from outside the immediate area.

“We get a lot from the Quad Cities, Springfield and Peoria areas. Once I learned the IT side of Facebook and how to use it properly I have targeted those markets very heavily for three years. Now that I have such a good following there I’m haven’t had to do a lot of paid advertising. We get a lot from Missouri, Indiana and Iowa and we can tell that mainly just looking at our parking lot on the weekends. The furthest we had were visitors from Spain,” she said.

“A lot of our success is also back to our training. Tracy has a social media and IT background. She posted a picture of the gift shop the other day and within two days we had 69,500 people that had viewed it. That’s organic,” Scott noted.

“We have one of the biggest Facebook followings of anyone in the industry in the entire world, and I think that for our size we have the biggest following in general. So, for Canton to be so small and for us to have 10,000-plus visitors a year is tremendous,” Tracy said.

“We were a little mystified at first and started building the pieces. We realized if they’re going to come here it’s going to be better for the animals. We don’t have to get them on the road. It’s more fun for us. It’s more fun for them.

“So, if we’re going to do this, let’s do it right. Let’s make it a real Christmas experience and so what do we need for that to feel like a real Christmas experience. We’re going to need a gift shop, we’re going to need a snack bar and we wanted a kiddie train.

“Our kids asked why we think that we’ve been so successful. Nobody really asked us that before because it’s just gone like gangbusters. It’s been overwhelming and so fast. We gave it some thought and we came up with the same answer that both of our kids agreed was the answer and that is our teaching background.

“It is our approach that makes it welcoming because we train our staff to know a lot about reindeer and to know about each animal. So, you’re not just coming, and people don’t know this until they’ve been here once, but you’re not just coming and looking into some field and looking at reindeer back there.

“From the time you walk in the door to the time you walk out, you’re going to know a lot about that species and on top of that you’re going to know a little bit about how Kluger is different than Marshmallow and how Snowball is different than Kringle. You’re going to know them as individuals and also as a species and that is exciting.”