Station: [4] The Barn

M: Here in the barn we'll be showing you everything required for life on a farm. Today, powerful tractors, mighty combine harvesters and fully automated harvesting machines trundle back and forth across the fields. But in the old days, and for a very long time, it was all down to manual labour! Ploughing, harrowing, mowing, threshing – it was all hard work.

F: The first machines made things a lot easier. For example, a two-stroke Diesel engine could be used to power this grinding machine. Next to it, we have a fodder cutting machine, which certainly lives up to its name. The farmer used it to chop up fodder for his animals. Hidden inside the wooden housing is a flywheel with two curved blades, allowing the straw to be chopped into chunks that were just the right size. 

M: The large red box with the inscription "Geiger & Ruede" is a threshing machine. Inside is a drum enclosed in a mesh basket. The straw is filled into the space between the drum and the basket. Then the drum starts to rotate, the ears of grain are ground up against the basket – and the grains fall out. A winnowing mill, like the one further over on the left, could subsequently be used to separate the wheat from the chaff. 

F: Take a moment to look up at our barn's loft. There's a lot more to explore up there. A Statue of Liberty, for example; what's known as "silent witnesses" and all kinds of agricultural equipment. If you'd like to see our machines in action, click on "video" at the top of the audio guide display. 
 
Fotos: © Jürgen Bahnmayer