A Farm from Long Ago

What did a farm look like long ago? At Old World Wisconsin, you can visit old farm buildings and see how people once lived.

One farm has a barn made with heavy wood beams. These beams are called timbers. They help hold up the barn.

A barn gives farm animals a place to get out of the wind and rain. Farmers can also keep hay inside. Hay is dried grass that animals can eat.

Near the barn, wooden rails make a fence. The rails rest between posts. A fence can help keep farm animals from wandering away.

A cow and a sheep are two animals you might see on a farm. A cow eats grass and hay. It can give milk, too.

A sheep eats grass and hay as well. Its thick coat is called wool. People can cut off the wool and use it to make warm cloth.

Long ago, farm families had lots of work to do. They fed their animals and made sure the animals had water. They also grew crops for food.

Farm work changed with the seasons. In warm months, grass grew in the fields. Farmers cut some of it and dried it for hay.

In cold months, animals still needed food. The hay stored in the barn helped feed them when grass was hard to find.

The barn and fence were useful parts of a farm. At Old World Wisconsin, old buildings help show what farm life was like in the past.