In 2018, I placed a big black checkmark next to a lifelong goal at the top of my bucket list – mission accomplished. Together with my husband and youngest son, I drove to a remote ranch in Seneca, Nebraska, helped lasso a reindeer calf I had just purchased from the ranch owner, gently loaded the calf, Comet, into our horse trailer and became a true Colorado reindeer owner.
For the next five years, Comet, and later Prancer as well, helped my family and I deliver the magic of Christmas. We displayed our domestic reindeer at public events from Old Colorado City to Franktown. I fell in love with snuggling soft reindeer noses and observing children become wide-eyed upon learning that reindeer are in fact as real as horses and not as real as unicorns. I adored watching grown men become kids at heart upon scratching Comet’s coat or feeding Prancer cranberries. Reindeer spread Christmas joy with the same strength that a mid-winter blizzard scatters snow.
This April, Peyton, Colorado’s own Hilltop Reindeer Ranch welcomed the area’s newest joy-spreader; a reindeer calf named Juniper. Hilltop Reindeer Ranch is co-owned by Beth Genz and Kathy Winkler. The ladies welcomed their first reindeer to eternally windy but wide-openly beautiful Peyton in 2021.
When Genz lost her mother in 2010, she also lost her connection to Christmas.
“My mom loved Christmas,” Genz remembered. “It always looked like a Christmas shop in our house during winter.”
When her mother died, she said, so did her desire to celebrate the holiday.
Genz has spent her life studying and practicing animal enrichment – originally with horses – but the same year her mother died, Genz had the chance to work with domestic reindeer. The brief experience lit a spark of Christmas magic. Eleven years later, the ladies purchased bull calves Mistletoe and Jingles from a farm in Washington State. The calves’ arrival opened the door for Christmas magic to reenter Genz’s life. She and Winkler tenderly call the big bulls (now weighing roughly 400 lbs. each) “the boys.”
When my personal reindeer adventure ended in 2023, sweet Prancer became the third member of Genz and Winkler’s herd. In my opinion, Prancer could not have found a more welcoming home – or two more protective bulls between which to retire.
Following the addition of Prancer, Hilltop Reindeer Ranch purchased two more heifers from a reindeer farm in Loveland, Colorado – Joy and Winter. Joy is the mother of Juniper. With a total of six reindeer, Genz said she and Winkler are happy growing their little herd.
“I would like to see our farm tours turn into something that students from the School for the Deaf and Blind can attend,” Winkler said.
Winkler, who is practice manager at a vet clinic in the Springs, believes the magic of reindeer surpasses just one season.
“Mistletoe is my favorite,” she said, though a bit hesitantly, as she doesn’t really favor one reindeer over the other.
Winkler joked that Jingles’ growing antlers currently resemble pig tails. I, too, see the uncanny resemblance between his velvety antlers and a hairstyle most commonly found on small girls.
A unique characteristic of reindeer is that both females and males grow beautiful antlers. These organisms are one of the fastest growing organisms identified by modern science. The antlers start as tiny buds in the spring, when they are filled with blood. They grow quickly and feel warm to the touch. By fall, new growth stops, and the antlers harden. It is an annual event for cervids – the family of animals that include deer, caribou, elk and moose.
Genz says owning reindeer has helped fill the void left by the passing of her mom.
“Along with spreading Christmas cheer, and educating the public about reindeer, we have recently developed a program for farm visits year around,” she said.
Families who want to see little Juniper this summer should visit the website HilltopReindeerRanch.com. Visits are by reservations and cost $15 per person. Those who can patiently wait for Christmas should look for an updated list of events the reindeer will attend on Hilltop Reindeer Ranch’s Facebook page beginning mid-November.
