Story: Farm buildings

Page 6. Modern buildings

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Implement sheds

Modern implement sheds house tractors, motorbikes, trucks and other machinery. They are long buildings, usually closed in on three sides, consisting of a series of bays.

Sometimes the last bay is closed in completely, and has a raised floor and an external ramp, the height of a truck deck. This bay is used to store chemicals, bags of seed and fertiliser, and other items that need to be locked away or kept out of the weather.

Often one bay is used as a workshop. It usually has a concrete floor and a wide doorway, and is used to store the farmer’s tools, including welding equipment, drill presses and electric saws for engineering and carpentry jobs.

Killing shed

Modern regulations demand that killing stock on farms must be done in dog-proof facilities to prevent the spread of hydatids and other diseases. Modern killing sheds are often round concrete tanks, with a concrete floor sloping towards a drain that leads to a covered sump. They have small gauze-covered windows in the wall and door to allow air to flow through.

Fertiliser bin

Some hill-country farms have their own airstrip for topdressing aircraft, often with a bin at the strip to hold superphosphate fertiliser. This is a large low-set concrete bunker, with a corrugated-iron cover set on railway irons so it can slide back to allow access to the concrete pad for loading and unloading fertiliser.

Wintering pads

On dairy farms in wet regions, cows increasingly spend the winter on concrete or shingled wintering pads, feeding on silage and hay in troughs. In the 2000s, it has become common to have a roof over the pad, and sometimes to close in the side facing the prevailing wind. Wintering pads save waterlogged pasture from being trampled, and prevent the cows getting foot problems from wet ground.

How to cite this page:

Robert Peden, 'Farm buildings - Modern buildings', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, (accessed 25 January 2020)

Story by Robert Peden, published 24 Nov 2008