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A barnyard or farmyard is an enclosed or open
A barnyard or farmyard is an enclosed or open yard
The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly 0.914 ...
adjoining a barn
A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.Allen G. ...
,Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) © Oxford University Press 2009. Barn. n. and, typically, related farm buildings, including a farmhouse
FarmHouse (FH) is a social Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity founded at the University of Missouri on April 15, 1905. It became a national organization in 1921. Today FarmHouse has 33 active chapters and four associate ch ...
. Enclosed barnyards are usually formed by a combination of fences and farm structures.
Description
A barnyard of the 19th century was fenced-in an area of about or more; modern barnyards ''per se'' may not be as large, but agricultural properties still may use a perimeter fence around areas of concentrated animal management to help contain any that may get loose. The barnyard is the domain of themule
The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two pos ...
s, horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...
s, and other working animal
A working animal is an animal, usually domesticated, that is kept by humans and trained to perform tasks instead of being slaughtered to harvest animal products. Some are used for their physical strength (e.g. oxen and draft horses) or for t ...
s, as well as fowl and working pets, such as barn cats. On small farms, pasture animals such milk goats or a dairy cow may stay in the barnyard when not in the fields.
Depending on climate, barnyards may contain trees for shade. A water source is also common; the watering trough
A watering trough (or artificial watering point) is a man-made or natural receptacle intended to provide drinking water to animals, livestock on farms or ranches or wild animals.
History
In Australia, the watering trough is established so ...
in past times was supplied by water from a hand driven well, with the water kept in wooden or metal containers. The water trough was filled daily, perhaps by a pitcher pump, or by windmill
A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called windmill sail, sails or blades, specifically to mill (grinding), mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and ...
power. Pumping the trough full, by hand, was often the chore of farm children. In modern times, a trough may be hand-filled with a hose, or an automatic water fountain designed for livestock may be installed in one or more locations.
A large barn is often central to the barnyard, storing farm equipment
Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the countless kinds of farm implements that the ...
, and providing stalls for the farm animals. In traditional designs, a hayloft often occupies the second floor, and a barn cupola
In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome.
The word derives, via Italian, from ...
caps off the hayloft. In some barns, the loft has a series of openings in the floor just above the stalls to send hay into the manger
__NOTOC__
A manger or trough is a rack for fodder, or a structure or feeder used to hold food for animals. The word comes from the Old French ''mangier'' (meaning "to eat"), from Latin ''mandere'' (meaning "to chew").
Mangers are mostly used in ...
s below. In some places, the barn houses a corn crib and a corn sheller. Feed storage, however, is also a boon to mice and rats, so farmers often keep barn cats to control vermin
Vermin (colloquially varmint(s) or varmit(s)) are pests or nuisance animals that spread diseases or destroy crops or livestock. Since the term is defined in relation to human activities, which species are included vary by region and enterpr ...
.
See also
*Courtyard
A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky.
Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary ...
*Feedlot
A feedlot or feed yard is a type of animal feeding operation (AFO) which is used in intensive animal farming, notably beef cattle, but also swine, horses, sheep, turkeys, chickens or ducks, prior to slaughter. Large beef feedlots are called conc ...
References
{{reflistYard
The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly 0.914 ...
Farms