Pasture
Pasture refers to land that is usually kept in permanent grasses and other plants for the purpose of livestock grazing. It is usually fenced. Overall, as of 2002, most counties in Pennsylvania had relatively little pasture land, while close to half of the US land in farms was in pasture. In Pennsylvania, this figure is well under thirty percent. While historical comparisons are difficult, it is reasonably certain that pasture lands may have declined as the proportion of total Pennsylvania farm acreage; at the least they have not increased. Likely, this is because livestock raising has shifted to feeding animals grain and silage, and relying less on pasture. Also, the dairying industry experienced serious economic downturns, resulting in less dairy activity overall in the state. On the other hand, interest in organic livestock raising and rotational grazing is on the rise.
This photo shows a pasture fenced with woven wire fencing in Washington County.
Note
This is a static, archived version of the PHMC Pennsylvania Agricultural History Project website which will not be updated. It is a snapshot of the website with minor modifications as it appeared on August 26, 2015.
Pages in this Section
- Overview
- House Types
- Barn Types
- Barn Features
- Outbuilding Types
- Overview
- Bake Oven
- Butcher House
- Carriage House
- Cider House
- Combination Structure
- Cook House
- Corn Crib
- Dryhouse
- Fruit Cold Storage
- Garage
- Grain Bin
- Granary
- Greenhouse
- Hay Drying Shed
- Hog House
- Horse Barn
- Ice House
- Machine Shed
- Maple Sugar House
- Milk House
- Packing House
- Potato Storage Cellar
- Poultry Housing
- Privy
- Roadside Stand
- Root Cellar
- Scale House
- Shed
- Silo
- Smokehouse
- Spray Shed
- Springhouse
- Summer Kitchen
- Wagon Shed
- Wash House
- Wood Shed
- Worker Housing
- Workshop
- Landscape Elements
- Archaeological Features