Palmer-Musk Ox & Reindeer, June 29-30, 2009

While in Palmer, we stopped to spend the night at a Fred Meyer Store. This store, owned by Kroger, is similar to a Wal-Mart Super Center in that they have clothing, pharmacy, food, etc. While there we went to a Musk Ox Farm and the next day to a Reindeer or Caribou Farm. Reindeer are just domesticated Caribou. There are five kinds of Caribou and are of different sizes. We also spent an afternoon at the library to get our blog a little closer to "up to date".

Musk Ox are a very cow-like, big animals. They defend their young by putting them on the inside of a circle and all the Oxen facing outward to use their horns, if necessary. Isn't that cool? ! Bears and wolves are two preditors of their young.

Here is a young Musk Ox. This farm is in the Mat-Su Valley where it is unusually warm for Alaska. They grow lots of vegetables here in this valley, some very large due to the long hours of sunlight. This is the first large farm we had seen on this whole trip!

Normally these Musk Oxen live way up north in the very cold areas of Alaska & the Yukon. The people here raise them to make the inner fur available to the natives for weaving scarves, hats and other winter wear. It is a non-profit organization to help the natives in remote village locations to make money with their skills. The inner fur, or qiviut, is extremely soft, and warmer than sheeps wool. It also drys faster.

Here is a large bull Musk Ox. Musk Oxen are ice age survivors.

Another view of the Musk Oxen Herd.

This is the farm where the Musk Ox live. They give tours and tell you all about these very interesting animals and why they are breeding them here.

This one is very curious!. We could see them through as fence but were not allowed up to them to pet them. We were allowed to feed them through the fence. By the way, those are horns, not antlers. Do you know the difference between horns and antlers?

This is a phot0 of one of the native women carrying the qivuit to her remote village.

Across from the library in Palmer is their visitor Center, where we spotted this couple driving their 1917 Ford Model T Touring Car, beautifully restored.

This is the Palmer Railroad Station, downtown .

This is King Mountain. Notice how it is in a peak like a pyramid.

This is Pinacle Peak in the Chugach Mountain Range at 6,394 feet. It is across from the Reindeer Farm.

This is the first Bull Moose I have seen on this trip! Isn't he grand! I wonder if his name is Bullwinkle??? (Do you remember?) (Rocky & Bullwinkle?)

This is a Sitka Black Deer. I don't know much about them but assume they live on the Sitka Island which we will not be visiting on this trip :-(

Here I am feeding a Carabou or Reindeer. This is a smaller variety than we expected to see. I thought they would be the size of a horse but they are more the size of a donkey. There are five different breeds of Caribou, and they come in different sizes. Reindeer are really Caribou.

Here is a cute photo of a cow with her calf. She is nuzzling the calf while he eats.

Here is the herd with one of the larger ones, with a funny set of antlers, coming toward me!

Jim is feeding a small calf here. The calves were quite skittish around us. We really enjoyed being on this farm in the Mat-Su valley because it is so green and reminded us of Northeastern Ohio, except for the mountains in the background. :-)

This particular Reindeer couldn't get enough food & kept pestering Jim for more.

See how persistent he is! (Or she is)

Jim is petting the Caribou after feeding it.

Lynda is feeding a really sloppy Caribou, who slobbered all over her hand. Note the winter coat is not off this one yet.

This farm also had a Bison, a Plains Bison. They are nearly extinct & larger than Wood Bison, I think. You can tell a Wood Bison because they have almost a square corner sticking up on their back at the top of their front shoulder. We'll see a Wood Bison a little later in the trip.

These are Rocky Mountain Elk-females, just taking it easy! They remind me of that character in Star Wars with the long neck and long ears. (Can't think of his name!)

This is "Mr. Bull" Rocky Mountain Elk, looking very smug with two of his harem beside him!