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Did you ever visit a farmyard and the animals living there?
Whatever your answer is, come along and discover that magic place where man raises so many useful animals.
To read about a few of them, click on the images on the right.
What is a farm?
A farm is a piece of land including the farmhouse, where the farmer lives with his family, and other buildings for rearing animals and keeping crops.
What are the main farm animals?
Cows, horses, sheep, pigs, rabbits and fowl are the main farm animals; donkeys are sometimes also kept in the farm.
What is a barn?
Well, a barn is one of the farm buildings used for keeping livestock.
And a silo?
A silo is used for storing goods, such as grains.
What about farming?
Farming is the production of food, which can be vegetables or animals; Farming covers the whole agricultural work.
Did you know that animal farming greatly depends on the natural environment?
So it is! In dry hot areas with poor vegetation, sheep and goats are mainly raised, because these animals can survive under such poor conditions.
In areas where air humidity is high, fields are rich in vegetation and cows and other cattle can be easily raised.
What is a dairy farm?
It is a farm specializing in raising cows, sheep, goats, or other mammals for their milk.
And a poultry farm?
Poultry farms raise chickens, turkeys, ducks, and other fowl, generally for meat or eggs.
And a fish farm?
A fish farm is for raising fish in captivity as a food source.
What is produced in a vineyard?
Wine and/or table grapes.
What is the difference between an orchard and a tree farm?
An orchard grows tree fruits for human consumption. A tree farm grows trees for transplantation, lumbering or decorative use.
What about a plantation?
A plantation is usually a large farm where cotton, tobacco, coffee or sugar cane is produced.
Do you know what the main farm equipments are?
Well, a plough, a combine harvester, a mower, and a tractor.
What is the plough used for?
It is used for preparing the soil before sowing or planting. It is a basic and very old farming tool. Initially, ploughs were pulled by oxen and later by horses.
In industrialized countries, animals have been replaced by tractors or other machines.
What does a combine harvester do?
A combine harvester, or simply combine, is a machine used for harvesting the crops; its name comes from the fact that it combines the tasks of harvesting, threshing, and cleaning grain crops.
What is a mower?
A mower is a machine for cutting crops or plants that grow on the ground.
What is the danger of modern commercial farming?
Due to the high demand on dairy and other food products, farmers use modern techniques and technologies to increase production.
As intensive farming involves large resources of chemical fertilizer and pesticides, it becomes very dangerous to the environment, then also to man.
Is there an environment-friendly alternative to chemicals?
Yes! Nature offers everything man needs. Green and animal manure was used for millennia, is harmless to animals, then also to man, and contributes to the fertility of the soil by adding organic matter and nutrients.
As it decomposes, organic manure also generates a natural gas (biogas), which is an alternative to polluting sources of energy.
Unfortunately some farmers still insist in using chemicals, thereby increasing the contamination of waterways and wetlands.
And what about insecticides?
They may as well be replaced by the natural predators of pests, such as the ladybird.
Did you know that a single ladybug's larva can eat up to 150 aphids per day? Amazing, isn't it?
Would you like to make a live visit to the farm?
Then ask your parents to take you to Chatsworth in the United Kingdom, or
to A maze’n Farmyard in the United States.
In Portugal you may visit the Pomarinho in Évora.
Now that you learned a lot about farming, read about the farm animals by clicking on the respective icon on the right.
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