The five-barred gate, which gave onto the main road, served as the physical and symbolic boundary of the farm. In the days following the Rebellion, Snowball and Napoleon led the animals to this gate. Snowball, gripping a brush between the knuckles of his trotter, painted out 'Manor Farm' from the top bar and replaced it with 'Animal Farm.' This act of renaming transformed the gate into a declaration of the new order, embodying the revolutionary principles that Old Major had laid down—the enmity toward Man and the equality of all animals. The gate now bore the name of the farm that was to be owned and operated by animals alone.

The gate became the point of entry for the first human attempt to recapture the farm. In early October, Mr. Jones, accompanied by his men and half a dozen others from Foxwood and Pinchfield, entered through the five-barred gate and advanced up the cart-track. The animals, forewarned by pigeons, were prepared. Snowball, who had studied Julius Caesar's campaigns, orchestrated the defense. The Battle of the Cowshed was fought, and the humans were driven out. The gate, which had admitted the enemy, now stood as the boundary that the animals had successfully defended.

Years later, the gate marked the final departure of Boxer, the loyal cart-horse whose strength had been the backbone of the farm. When Boxer collapsed from overwork, the pigs arranged for a van to take him to the hospital in Willingdon. As the van drew away, an animal thought of racing ahead to shut the five-barred gate, but it was too late; the van passed through and disappeared down the road. Boxer was never seen again. The gate, which had once been a symbol of liberation, became a passage to death.