My New Barn

[ThinkingChickens]

Okay, so don't laugh, but I didn't know reindeers were actually a breed of animal until two years ago when we had one visit out small town for Christmas. This is what happens when you grow up in Los Angeles.

 

[AK Michelle]

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WOW!!! That is some barn

 

[AK Michelle]

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Reindeer (no "S") are just domesticated caribou. They are very docile and learn simple commands very easily. I drive past them every day and still have to pull over and just watch them sometimes. I never get tired of looking at them.

 

[schmism]

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so they are raised for meat?

 

[AK Michelle]

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so they are raised for meat?

Good question. If you ask the farm they say no. but you can buy reindeer sausage at the store, so some are for meet, just not from this farm. Although this farm does have dozens of babies every year and the herd stays roughly the same size. I know on the "Dirty Jobs" episode he was shipping a small herd out to Montana, and I'm assuming he has sold animals to other farms across the country as well.

They are like goats with funny horns. they can pack, pull and provide meat. It just depends on what you want to do with them.

 

[chickchicks]

i wish i had a view likethat andcould see thingslike that so jelous !

 

[Miss Lydia]

Looking forward to seeing finished barn and more pics.

 

[ryan820]

Fun post to follow. And good luck on the barn! I live in Colorado and I get what you mean about the mountains. The funny thing about living in or next to mountains is, people don't realize how the land l Ives and dies by the mountains.

How much snow do you guys get? What kind of temps? Elevation? We are just above 6500 feet and Nature is dramatic to say the least here. Generally very pretty and sunny but man can we get some seriously foul weather too...all depends on how the wind moves about the mountains.

My chickens enjoy a small coop, too... It's a mini replica of our own house which reminds me of a barn or ski chalet.

Following your post!

 

[AK Michelle]

Ryan, we are very nearly sea level, our home is in a glacial bed, carved through the mountains long ago by the receding ice so the mountains come right out of nowhere and go nearly straight up, 6000 - 8000 feet! they are gorgeous!

but being in a glacial bed, we are also in a wind tunnel, we get 70 - 100 mph winds on a fairly regular basis, so all our buildings have to be hurricane rated.

We get up to 24" - 30" of snow at any one time, but it generally melts before the next big one so even if it doesn't all get blown away it will not accumulate that deep.

My barn is nestled into the trees so it has a natural wind buffer and the roof will be a single pitch, sloped to the back, so I won't have piles of snow coming off the roof and blocking the doors. My pop-doors will be elevated to accomodate snow and ice berms, but I'm trying to minimize the impacts by building smart

 

[AK Michelle]

DD just called, apparently there is someone working on the barn today. And it's 5 more housrs till I can go home and check...

Anyone know how to speed up the passage of time?