A cottager's farm (that is a small farm) in Narjesbergen in 1871 had two oxen, six cows, two sows, forty sheep, and forty bee-hives.

1794 Johann Ludwig Ernst Morgenstern (1738-1819) - Bauernhof (A farm)

An ox is a cattle drained as a draft animal. It is frequently a castrated male.

Faulenzer steh'auf! (Loafers get up!)

German farm houses were generally of the hall variety. One end was the living quarters of the family and the other end was the living quarters of the family's animals. See Interiors of German Farm Houses

Die gepfändete kuh (The Repossessed Cow) from a painting by Anton Seitz (1829-1900)

The title would suggest that the cow was being bought on time payments which were not met. Notice the woven seat, the wooden bucket and the crockery pitcher.

Horses were used to pull carriages and coaches. Horse racing was common in certain sections of Germany like Bavaria. Horses were also used by the military.

Horses were not commonly used or owned by small farmers in the south of Germany. An Encyclopedia of Agriculture: Comprising the Theory and ..., Volume 1 By John Claudius Loudon Agriculture in Germany, 1825 States:"Horses are the most common animals of labor in the north and west of Germany, oxen in the south"

Horses were said to be good for road work and oxen for field work.

These stables were in a large village barn at the Detmold Outdoor Museum.

Sheep were kept for their wool.

Hugo Mühlig - Felderlandschaft mit Hütejunge (Landscap with shepard)

Sheep in a field just outside of the town of Ganderkesee.

The chickens shown above lived in this chicken wagon. I don't know why they should live in a wagon rather than just in the farmyard.

Geese were bred in large numbers in Germany, especially in Westphalia, Franconia and Bavaria.

They were raised for their meat, quills and feathers which were used in upholstery and bedding. Until the introduction of steel pens in the the early 1800s quills were used for writing. Goose down was used in feather beds. Smoked goose breast was a comercial item.

In the late 1880s geese were exported to England Holland and Italy.

A great many of the inhabitants of this, and other towns in Germany, keep geese, which, I suppose by some municipal regulation, are taken out every morning, to feed on the commons. The man who takes charge of them, goes through the town in the morning, blowing a horn, on hearing which the keepers of geese turn them out. When all are collected, they are taken to the common: and at night the man brings them back to the owners. A similar practice prevails in regard to the pigs, which are summoned by the cracking of a whip, and taken in like manner to the common. The abundance of geese enables the people to indulge in the luxury of the finest feather beds, one under, and one over them, with a pair of sheets only between them.

Recollections of Military Service, in 1813, 1814 & 1815, Through Germany ... By Thomas Morris

After the harvest geese were set out in the fields to stubble fields to glean any grain that may remain.

Goose was the traditional meal for Michaelmas day.

The geese being plucked are live.

Tame ducks were kept to be eaten. They were also useful in pest controle. They ate caterpillars, snails and slugs which infested crops.

Hogs and children.

Hogs, Geese, and calfs.

Maggie