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Minecraft is so exciting when you gather resources to build something epic. However, building can also be a little frustrating, especially when you need the structure you are building to survive, but a Minecraft barn is just for storing cattle and various farming tools and items. So, for the sake of survival, the barn is not really something to stress over.
In this tutorial, we will just focus on making a basic Minecraft barn. If you are new to Minecraft or just refreshing your memory, making a barn for your cattle and various animals is fairly simple. However, before we jump into the steps, let us briefly overview some basic information about a Minecraft barn and why it is significant in the game.
Why You Need a Minecraft Barn
Minecraft offers worlds upon worlds of pure adventure, along with complete control over the things within each created world. However, survival in the game is entirely dependent on resources found within the world.
With these resources, the player will be able to craft and build a shelter, as well as other various buildings. Players can also add crops and collect harvest by planting seeds. Ideally, the barn would be in proximity of where crops are planted and harvested.
The Importance of a Minecraft Barn
A Minecraft barn is a self-made structure where you can keep various animals that produce some kind of resource. This structure protects cattle from zombies, skeletons and spiders, as well as the occasional witch or enderman. It also keeps the animals from spawning and despawning and keeps them in the chosen pens.
Barns keep the player stocked with resources like beef, milk, pork, eggs and wool. What is great about having resources nearby is that the less distance you travel, the slower your stamina depletes. There would also be less enemies to fight if you have to travel at night.
All the way around, the barn is a necessary structure for survival in the game.
How to Build a Minecraft Barn
Brief Overview
Before the building starts, all the necessary resources must be gathered and crafted into building materials for the planned structure. If you want to build freely with all the items in Minecraft already in your inventory, just change the gamemode from “survival” to “creator” and build away!
However, we are sticking to the former for this build to keep things casual and fair.
Prep Materials
Venture out into the wilderness to gather materials of your choice, and put them in a large chest near the area you will build on. You will need some space in your inventory for later. Be sure that you have enough of the right resources.
To prepare for building a Minecraft barn, gather as many as desired of the following materials below:
- Logs to craft into wooden planks
- Fencing Torches
- Wooden doors
- Signs
- Pickaxes
- Axes
- Shovels
- Hay
- Glass/windows
Digging the Floor
Dig one block down and remove blocks in the shape of a large rectangle or square. Fill in the hole with blocks of your choice for the floor. Make this barn as big as you would like in length, width or height. However, do try to keep the base and walls of the barn at an even number of blocks.
An odd number of blocks will make your building a bit funky, but if you do not mind it, go for it. It will still be a barn and hardly noticeable once the barn is finished.
Putting Up Some Walls
Now that you have the layout of the floor of the barn, it is time to build walls. Make the walls as tall as you would like the barn to be by adding layers of blocks around the floor. Build the outside walls up at least to where you would like to place the second floor.
However, do not add the floor, yet. It will be easier to build the stables inside.
Stables will keep the cattle from leaving your farm and protect against the beasts of the night.
Inside the Barn
Make a doorway in the wall by removing two blocks in any wall. This will give you the ability to enter the structure and start on stables for the animals. Each pen should be at least two blocks wide and three blocks long. If the barn is large enough, feel free to make the stables bigger. Make sure that you have a hallway through the middle of the barn for easy access to the stables.
If it helps to see exactly how much space is desired for, as well as in between the stables for the animals, set up a stall outside of the structure and place any large animal within it using a lead. Find the perfect stable layout for the barn and the animals.
Time for the Stables
Building stables will be the most intensive part of the barn. Section off each stable by adding wooden fencing between and around each stall and insert a wooden gate in the front. Place hay in the stalls for food, use it to make the floor and in or around each stall, if desired. The layout of the stables is up to the player and can be done in a number of ways.
Besides, it is not a complete barn if does not hold a ridiculous amount of hay, which is not only for eating, but for covering the barn floor, and feeding cows and other animals.
Upward onto the Attic
After the stables are done, you can now apply a layer of wooden planks over the top of your fist floor. The attic can be accessible by adding a ladder and making a hole in the floor. It is a normal trait for a basic barn of this style, and it could be used for storage or serve as a second floor of stables.
Put a bed up there if you would like to stay close to something you may be working on or establish a spawning point.
Put a Roof over Their Heads
The roof is a little tricky. To achieve an A-frame style roof, place an extra layer of blocks on the surrounding walls. Then, place another layer on the outside of that addition and on top of the blocks for the walls. Delete the first layer you added, as this will provide a somewhat stair-like result. Repeat until the blocks meet in the middle of the roof.
Fill in various open spaces in the front and back of the barn with blocks, stairs or slabs. This gives the roof a more realistic trim and shingles. Another option is creating a roof all your own.
A flatter roof can be achieved in the same fashion, as you can simply add a smaller amount of layers. The roof could also feature small side windows or patios, so get as fancy as your heart desires.
Rein in the Cattle
Add additional blocks to finish the details of the barn like the doors and windows, chests for storage, and torches for light inside and out to keep the monsters away at night. Add anything that achieves the desired look of your barn.
The last thing to do is to move your cattle inside and let them provide you with sustenance. Cows, sheep, chicken, eggs, pigs, fish and rabbits are all sources of energy that you can cook to perfection in the brick oven.
Catch fish nearby, or make a source of water and craft a fishing pole to catch a variety of fish from source water.
Conclusion
Once you have finished the barn and brought in all the animals, you can get back to fighting for your survival. Hopefully, this tutorial was helpful for new players, parents, and even all the devout Minecraft players. While building can get confusing at times, the more you build, the more you learn.
Dozens of reliable Minecraft video tutorials are available via YouTube for just about everything you can think of and every problem that you could run into.
However, not only is it just really cool to build a barn, but it is very important for the players’ chances of survival. The barn is meant to provide resources like milk, eggs and various meats. Having the barn makes finding food much less stressful, and a lot less time and stamina can be spent on wandering to find animals to kill for meat, eggs and milk.
Tame wolves and horses to venture onward and upward, and you can have them carry items and wear armor. The wolves, when tamed, will attack hostile mobs to protect the player. However, they can only sustain so much damage before they inevitably die and you are out a furry friend.
When building and exploring in the endless possibilities of Minecraft worlds, it can be very inspiring and helpful to see what others have created. This provides a sense of motivation to create and share your creations. It also helps to practice some building before starting on a large project.
Get to know the materials and all of their possibilities for crafting, cooking and mining. Journey deep into the darkness of caves to mine gemstones. Building a Minecraft barn will become second nature, and soon, all of your builds will be epic!