If you live and farm in a rural area where the wind regularly whips across your exposed land, planting a windbreak, or multiple windbreaks, is essential to mitigating the force of the wind. Windbreaks help reduce winter heating costs and potential damage to your home, outbuildings, cropland, and livestock. Well-designed windbreaks also serve to prevent snow from blowing and drifting on your property, thus allowing uniform distribution to effectively insulate winter crops.

Why Plant a Windbreak

Winter wind and blowing snow can cause discomfort, damage and create additional expenses on the farm. Even in summer, constant drying winds can strip away topsoil and impede or slow plant growth. A windbreak not only provides a buffer from the wind but can add shade, and esthetic appeal to your property, and serve as a haven for wildlife. 

Additional benefits include insulation from noise and unpleasant smells emanating from neighboring properties. And, of course, a windbreak also provides privacy.

How Windbreaks Work

Windbreaks are barriers that serve to reduce or redirect wind, in this case, away from your farm. They can be naturally occurring landscapes or topographical features, or they can be man-made. The most effective man-made windbreaks consist of trees and shrubs densely planted in multiple, carefully spaced rows.

As the wind blows against a properly designed windbreak, the windbreak forces most of the wind up and over its top, dispersing it away from the leeward side where your home and/or fields are located. The height and the length of the windbreak determines the extent of the total protected area.

The effectiveness of the windbreak is also largely determined by the density of the windbreak. Multiple rows of shrubs and trees planted relatively close together provide a solid barrier to the wind. Windbreaks work best when they are a continuous row with no gaps. Property access points, like lanes or roadways, should be located at the end or away from the windbreak.

Best Windbreak Plants

The best windbreak should consist of diverse species of trees and shrubs which will vary by region. And, you can choose plant species for additional, specific purposes, attracting and sheltering wildlife, for example. We recommend contacting your local DNR forester or Cooperative Extension Service for guidance.

A good windbreak should provide protection to a distance of approximately 8-10 times its height. Most evergreen trees, which grow 40 to 80 feet, serve nicely to give the windbreak this necessary height. Hardwood trees such as oak or hackberry also provide desired height in multi-row windbreaks but should have plenty of room to grow, away from roads, utility lines, and building structures.

Conifers such as cedars, pines, and shrubs with multiple stems, provide good year-round density, the other necessary dimension of a windbreak.

Effective Windbreak Design

The windbreak should be positioned optimally, relative to the direction of the most damaging prevailing winds that are often from the northwest. It should be at least 50 feet from roads and buildings.

"Two-legged" windbreaks, on the north and west side of the farm, are the most common types of windbreaks in flat, rural landscapes since they’re the most effective, particularly in northern climates where it snows a lot.

A standard farm windbreak design should include at least a three-row mixture of trees and shrubs to provide protection from the wind and snow. The outside row(s) on the windward side should consist of shade-tolerant conifers or multi-stemmed shrubs to trap the snow. Taller trees should make up the interior row to redirect the wind. The leeward row should contain smaller evergreens or shrubs, chosen for both their density as well as aesthetic value.

Rows should be planted 10-15 feet apart, allowing for room to grow and access for mowing equipment. The distance between plants will depend on the species type but should be at least 14 feet. For quick results, you could plant the trees closer together and remove trees as necessary, and maybe use them as Christmas trees as they fill in. Row plantings should be offset with staggered spacing relative to the row in front and back to fill the gaps.

To be effective, the windbreak must be as long as the area you want to protect plus at least 100’ extra (50’ on each end) to serve as a buffer against wind eddies that tend to form at the ends of the barrier.

Additional Windbreak Design Considerations

Some additional tips for designing and planting a windbreak include:

• Don’t plant Evergreens close to the south side of your house or barn if you want to benefit from passive solar heat from the winter sun
• In addition to the distant windbreak, foundation plantings help insulate building structures. Be sure to leave plenty of room between the plants & the building. How much depends on the mature size of the plant & your roof drip edge; consult your plant supplier or local extension service for additional information
• Take measures to control the growth of invasive weeds and vines that can steal moisture & nutrients from your windbreak plants. Removing weeds before planting and applying several inches of mulch at planting time, taking care not to pile the mulch against the tree trunks will help
• Make sure your windbreak plants have enough water, see below

The Importance of Drip Irrigation Systems

Trees and shrubs need irrigation during dry spells, especially as they’re getting established, just after planting. The most effective and efficient type of irrigation method is a drip system which is most easily installed at planting time. Drip systems not only require less labor, but they also result in significantly less water usage compared to traditional sprinklers or other types of surface irrigation. Drip systems also reduce the likelihood that organisms in the soil will be splashed up on plant foliage which can lead to problems.

Investing in a planted windbreak will not only improve your quality of life, it will pay off in terms of improved crop yields, enhanced animal welfare, and reduced operating costs on the farm.

We would love to hear about your experiences planting and irrigating windbreaks: what has worked best on your farm? Please share your feedback in the comments section.