Buildings on a Farm
The main building on a farm is the barn. Barns are essential because they serve many different purposes. Most barns have a hayloft or other area where hay and other animal feed is stored. Barns also might have a grain bin to store grain that is used as animal feed. It is important to keep hay and grain inside so they do not get damp and rot. Barns also have a wide corridor connected to a huge door called a drive bay. This is so that animals and farming equipment like tractors can easily get into the barn. Farming equipment is usually stored inside the barn to protect it from bad weather. On some farms with large barns and few animals, the animals live in the barn. On other farms, sick and hurt animals are brought into the barn to be given veterinary care. Sometimes a farm's dairy, where cows are milked, will be inside a barn as well.
Many of the buildings on a farm are places for animals to live. Some examples are a stable, where horses and other animals are kept. Some stables have tack rooms where saddles, bridles, and other equipment needed to ride horses is kept. Pigs are kept in a pig sty or piggery, sometimes with other animals. Chickens live in a chicken coop where they are provided with nesting boxes where they can lay eggs. On farms that keep birds, there is usually a building called an aviary where the birds life.
However not all the buildings on a farm are for animals. Often farms have silos where grain, corn, or other animal feed is stored after it has been harvested. Silos are important because they keep the grain dry and fresh so it does not rot and prevents mice and other pests from eating it. Barns also have milking sheds or dairies where cows and sometimes goats or sheep are taken to be milked. The milking shed has to be kept very clean so that the milk does not get contaminated and is still good to drink.
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The Red Barn, built in 1955 by Berkeley High School carpentry students and the Kiwanis Club of Berkeley, has become a classic farm icon. Additional structures have been built over the years, and the farm continues to change and evolve.
