La Era (Threshing-floor): this occupied a very important place in farm work; it was a piece of land, usually paved, on which the grain was threshed with harrows, having been collected from the fields and brought in by mules, horses or donkeys.

Usually they were big enough for a mule or horse to be able to pull the harrow without the need for extra effort or hours and hours of intense work.  Arranging the grain in circular form and being able to thresh it in the same way separated the grain and ears.  People tried to put these ‘threshing-floors’ in places where there were gentle breezes so that after threshing with the roller, the straw could be winnowed to separate the grain, storing it in the ‘Atroes’ and the straw in the ‘pajares’.

Throughout the twentieth century we have seen the emergence of mechanical winnowing machines, causing the disappearance of traditional threshing methods and the move to combine harvesters.  These collect the grain from the field, instantaneously separating the grain from the chaff, the grain being put into lorries which take it to warehouses for storage, the straw being taken elsewhere.