Norwegian farm buildings | Summer livestock shelter

How Norwegian farms kept summer livestock close to pasture and safe at night.

In the foreground, we see a summer livestock shelter at the Ryen mountain farms in Os, Hedmark, Norway. The image was taken in 1935. | Rachel Haarseth. Knut Ryen. Amund Spangen. Anno Musea i Nord-Østerdalen. digitaltmuseum.no. Public Domain.

The building closest to the camera in the image above may be a good example of one form of what the Norwegians historically referred to as a sommerfjøs — a summer livestock shelter. During the summer, the animals were milked here in the morning and early evening, and sheltered from predators at night.

From the summer shelter, the animals had easy access to the surrounding landscape, where they grazed throughout the day. While grazing, they were usually watched over by one or two of the older children on the farm.

The cultivated meadows close to the farm were fenced off to keep livestock and wild animals out. The meadow grass was needed to make hay for winter fodder, so it had to be protected.

In some places, summer livestock shelters may still be in use today.