This is an imaginary non-industrial farm, the type you might think of when picturing rural Europe around 1900. The smells are of warm animals, manure, fecundity. Thatched or tiled roofs, wooden fences with a rickety gate, and slaughter by knife instead of by gun. It is a metaphorical Garden of Eden. It's a sheltered place where animals are guaranteed consistency, but at a price: the farmer, of course feeds on the animals.
On the farm are horses for plowing, cows for milk and beef, chickens for eggs, cats for keeping vermin in check, dogs as guards, and pigs for meat. In autumn, the fields have been harvested and hay dries in steep racks in the fields. Birds migrate to warmer climes in huge flocks. Near the farmhouse is a sheltered garden containing the farmer's prized vegetables. Juxtaposed against the golds and browns of autumn, this is an oasis of greenery. The dogs have an evil appearance because they serve the farmer willingly and are known to eat the flesh of the other animals. In the opening scene, a pig is butchered.
One of the philosophical ideas the farm serves to illustrate is the concept of a fence or a barrier. Is it protecting or imprisoning? A bomb shelter and a prison are built with nearly identical blue-prints. Some of the animals view the farm as a sanctuary, while others (namely Floyd the Rooster and Vivian the Cow) view it as a Nazi-style prison. Max the Pig has mixed feelings of the place. He likes its assurance of food, but inside he knows to stay there will end in his death.
