Windbreaks for Rural Living

A well-designed windbreak around the home, acreage, ranch, or farmstead slows the wind and improves the overall environment. Windbreaks around homes conserve energy, provide snow control, improve working and recreational conditions, enhance wildlife populations, provide visual screening and dust control, protect livestock, and increase the productionof various crop and food products. Windbreaks provide the greatest benefits in areas with high winds, large amounts of snow, extreme temperature fluctuations, or minimal natural forest cover.

This six-page guide describes how to design a windbreak around a home, ranch, or farmstead to slow the wind, conserve energy, provide snow and dust control and improve working and recreation environments. It includes illustrations of sample windbreak layouts on a farmstead and considerations for design.