Robert Morgan, 39, is the fifth generation in a line of farmers from the Morgan family working at Poundffald Farm on the Gower, just outside Swansea. Previously the farm worked with more traditional lambs and cattle but the challenge of competing with supermarket pricing made Robert seek out a more festive source of business.
Robert explains: "We found it hard to compete with supermarkets controlling the prices of meat so I started to plant Christmas trees and that went ok. I thought there was a niche in the market for good Christmas trees. I was fed up with the quality of the trees of the imported European trees and went from there.
"It was a sharp learning curve – in the first year all my trees got eaten by rabbits, I killed most of them.
"I always missed the animals as I was brought up on a farm with lots of animals around. After the Christmas trees, I thought the next best option was reindeer. I bought two reindeer about eight or nine years ago and now we’re up to 19 reindeer in total.
"Before I’d be looking forward to a long, cold wet lambing season with 500 ewes and 200 cattle. Now I've got 320,000 Christmas trees and 19 reindeer and quite a buoyant business."
Robert's reindeer are kept pretty busy in the run up to Christmas. He explains: "I take them out about a dozen times and that generally pays for their upkeep for the year. Basically, they work to pay their way. My family are very busy in the run up to Christmas and even the animals work for their keep.
"It's just a couple of weddings and a few school visits. The school visits are getting very popular and it’s nice to educate the children about where the reindeer come from. It’s not just about Santa it’s about how they live and how the Sámi people look after them and also the problems they are having with their herds over in Europe. The reindeer are dwindling there in vast numbers."
The reindeer seem to enjoy their trips out, Robert says, "I take about six or seven out each time. Obviously they are a herding animal so the more we take out the happier they are. I don’t agree with taking only one or two reindeer out. I always take a group and they enjoy it."
For the rest of the year the reindeer are left to roam in a huge wooded area. Robert says, "We've adapted our farm for the reindeer, rather than the reindeer for the farm. They just do what they do in the wild, except they haven’t got wolves, bears, eagles or lynx preying on their young.
"We do a bit of work with them, such as walking them, but they are mainly left to their full natural cycle – the mating season, the calving season in the summer, then there’s the rut when the males fight for the females. It's just like any reindeer in the wild, it's exactly the same."
Reindeer do like eating carrots but Robert imports special moss for them. "They love moss – it's like giving chocolate to children!"
Christmas is a very busy period for the farm, but Christmas Day itself is quiet. "The greatest feeling is at 4 o' clock on Christmas Eve when all the reindeer go out from the grotto. Everything comes together when they are all out on the field together waiting for the cold weather – they love the cold weather and the snow. They've got about 20 acres to roam in, which is home from home for them.
On Christmas Day Robert unwinds by swimming in the sea. "Christmas is a very testing time for me. I swim in the sea throughout the year without a wet suit on. The best part of my day is to jump in the sea on the Gower – obviously not naked – I put my shorts on!
"Christmas work is all over by then for me and it’s a great relief. I'm also out on the farm on Christmas Day. The reindeer like to see me every day and I like to see them – they accept me as part of the herd."
