What is a Shop?

While rotary mowing roadsides this week, I was listening to the Rise Together podcast with Rachel and Dave Hollis. They were talking about building their garage gym, but had a huge discussion about how it wasn’t actually a garage, but a shop. They talked about how everyone had a shop in Texas and what were they actually used for? I have compiled the top three reasons we have shops and sheds on our farm and what the difference is. To me, I sat in stunned silence while they discussed this. It has never in my entire life crossed my mind that people don’t know what shops are. Hence, this blog. I have compiled the top three reasons we have shops and sheds on our farm and what the difference is.

What is the difference between shop and shed?

Shop

On our operation, the shop is where all the tools are stored. It’s where broken things go to get fixed. It’s where equipment goes to get ready to go to the fields. It’s where Matt makes and improve so many things on our operation. He can make anything! Combines, tractors, trucks, etc require tall doors to get in and out of. The newer fancier ones have air condition and heat. We don’t, but man to do I wish for heat in the winter. We have a space heater that we use when working on the equipment in the winter. The shop is where Matt gets to get creative and make new things and improvements to others. It’s where the little things are done that make the busy times less stressful. We have one shop and it is fully enclosed and has ability to be locked.

Shed

Sheds have three main purposes on our operation. Sheds on our operation are not fully enclosed. They are protected on two to three sides, but have sides left open depending on it’s purpose.

#1: Protection of Equipment

We have hundreds of thousands, actually probably millions of dollars of equipments we use for farming. We live in Kansas. It hails, it storms, it tornadoes. We want to protect that huge investment by having it inside, just like your cars.

#2: Protection of Hay/Feed

We also store small squares in a shed. Square bales can’t sit out in the weather like big round bales. If squares get rained on, they are ruined. Round bales are wrapped up so the weather is rolled off the hay and not soaked into it. We also have food that we feed our livestock that we want protected and covered until we’re ready to feed it.

#3: Protection of cattle

One group of cattle of ours, have their babies in February. Depending on the year we’re having, it could be beautiful weather or it could be like this last year and incredibly nasty and cold. Sheds provide the shelter from the wind and snow and rain for the cattle. We can put straw out on the ground, but also able to clean it out. When putting cattle in a shed, we don’t want to have a fully enclosed building like the shop. Cattle are made to withstand incredibly cold temperatures as long as they can get out of the wind. If we enclosed them in a shop like building, they would get WAY too hot. The open side to the south allows the cold wind to be blocked from the north, which is what they need.

All of our buildings are multi-purpose, when the cattle aren’t in them, they are storing equipment. When the squares are fed up, we have room to put other things in. Was this a helpful summary to understand the different uses of the buildings on our farm? What did you learn?

If you enjoyed reading this, we would love it if you would hit the share button and introduce us to your friends. You all are the reason we get to do this and we’re so appreciative of that! Please help us continue serving people by sharing us with your family and friends! Leave us a comment and let us know how this has impacted your life. It’s the little things that make me so happy to continue doing this, such as a like, comment or share! Have you subscribed to the page so new blogs will arrive in your email automatically? Go to our homepage to do so! Please and thank you!