crib, in agriculture, bin or large container for storing ear corn or other grain or a barred or slatted manger for the feeding of hay or other bulky fodder. Old-style cribs for unshelled corn, usually made of wood, have open or slat construction to ensure ventilation by the wind. Sometimes perforated clay or concrete block walls are used.
Modern cribs, usually larger and constructed of metal, are short and cylindrical with temporary wall coverings and ducts through which air, either cold or heated, may be forced.
Temporary cribs of snow fencing, wire mesh, or cribbed poles may be either circular or rectangular in shape. In warm regions in which it is necessary to fumigate to control insects, cribs must be built so that they can be tightly closed.