Farms Near Meaford

I finally got a chance to go exploring some of the backroads south-west of Meaford today, following the course of the Bighead River.  Along the way I picked up a few shots of barns, and got an impression of the farmland here.  The impression was not good!

This is a barn I've driven by before, and just like the colour and how it appears well-cared for.  But you don't get a very good view of it.

The six barns I've posted pictures of tonight are on farms that look to me relatively prosperous, at least for this part of Ontario.  But in between was a lot of very scrubby farmland, with a lot of intervening wetlands and forest.

It looks to me that 90% of the farms are pasture and hay, typical small beef operations.  And the landscape is very rolling, making cash crops difficult.

At least some of them do look well cared for, and active.

 This is the only barn I saw that actually looked new, and it may be a small dairy herd, judging from the barn and silo.

And this is definitely the largest operation and most prosperous on my route, likely a dairy farm.  The old barn actually looks quite interesting architecturally, with that narrow raised roof down the centre that forms a clerestory.  Unusual to see on the older barns around here.

Overall though, the farmland I saw today does not look as good as the area further south where we used to live, and it certainly doesn't look anything like the rich flat farmland and big farm operations we see further south when we drive to London to visit those hospitals!

Linking to the Barn Collective 

for the first time in a long while.