Raising livestock at very high altitude? | Animals | Forums

Hi there.

First post... there is a good chance that I might be asking dumb questions.

So.. we tried the city thing we really did.  Two years of just...feeling out of place and out of the times while we rented our house out. We have a wonderful little home on top of several acres in the colorado mountains and I'm trying to figure out a plan so that in a year we can get into homesteading. There are some difficulties. Our weather can be harsh in the winter,  as the wind that comes down the mountain can drop the temperatures to 20 below on a rare occassion. Our summers however are mild, with our hottest days being 80 or less. I think our biggest issue is our altitude. We sit at roughly 9000 feet.

So a few questions!

I want to start chickens so that we can get away from store bough meat. My understanding is that the industry standard cornish X chickens just can't hack it at high altitude. Is there a breed that would be both productive as a meat bird and an egg layer, but tough enough to survive our winters? With reasonable shelter of course! I have seen some discussion that bantam hens are very hardy?

How do you deal with predators? We do have the odd bear or cougar. I'm concerned particularly when in comes to harvesting our birds. 

Fiber bearing Animals. I am a spinner and weaver starting a fiber studio so I wanted to have a mohair goat along with two or three different breeds of sheep so that I have my own wool to spin. What were your space requirements? Preferred shelter- lean to versus barn shed etc?  I have a pasture that spans 2 acres  on one side of my preperty if that helps.

Angora rabbits? I'm curious about it all. I have worked with live stock my whole life so I'm not afraid to dig in and get my hands dirty!

TIA!