Living on a Farm

There are different degrees of farming. There is the farm that only produces enough to meet the family’s needs. This could be a farm with a vegetable garden, a few chickens for eggs and meat and a cow or a couple of goats for milk. Intensive agriculture is a farm that is labor intensive including the use of equipment to grow enough crops for future sale.

You can have an agricultural farm where you grow crops. Most crops that are grown are foods such as grain, vegetables and fruits, or ornamental plants such as flowers or nursery plants. Some even grow fibers such as cotton, hemp, or flax. When growing crops you have to be aware of weather conditions as well as potential plant infestations and disease.
On a livestock farm, you would raise animals.

The requirements would vary depending on the animals you decide to raise. Animals can be raised for food, breeding, fertilizer or other reasons. Food is the most frequent use of livestock farming. These animals will need to be kept in some type of enclosure even if it is just a fenced in grazing area. If you have livestock you have to be aware of predatory animals such as wolves, bears and coyotes when deciding on your enclosure.

Obviously smaller animals, like chickens, goats or rabbits need enclosures built not only for containment but also for protection from predators. Farm animals get their main source of food from the farmer, although grazing can be used as supplement in some species. Raising animals requires daily feeding and cleaning of pens. It requires hands on work on a daily basis.