A barn is an agricultural building used for storage and as a
covered workplace. It may sometimes be used to house livestock or to store
farming vehicles and equipment. Barns are most commonly found on a farm or
former farm. A barn meant for keeping cattle may be known as a byre.
In the U.S., older barns were built from timbers hewn from
trees on the farm and built as a log crib barn or timber frame, although stone
barns were sometimes built in areas where stone was a cheaper building
material. In the mid to late 19th century in the U.S. barn framing methods
began to shift away from traditional timber framing to "truss framed"
or "plank framed" buildings. Truss or plank framed barns reduced the
number of timbers instead using dimensional lumber for the rafters, joists, and
sometimes the trusses. The joints began to become bolted or nailed instead
of being mortised and tenoned. The inventor and patentee of the Jennings Barn
claimed his design used less lumber, less work, less time, and less cost to
build and were durable and provided more room for hay storage.
Mechanization
on the farm, better transportation infrastructure, and new technology like a
hay fork mounted on a track contributed to a need for larger, more open barns,
sawmills using steam power could produce smaller pieces of lumber affordably,
and machine cut nails were much less expensive than hand-made (wrought) nails.
Concrete block began to be used for barns in the early 20th century in the U.S.
Modern barns are more typically steel buildings. From about
1900 to 1940, many large dairy barns were built in northern USA. These commonly
have gambrel or hip roofs to maximize the size of the hay loft above the dairy
roof, and have become associated in the popular image of a dairy farm. The
barns that were common to the wheatbelt held large numbers of pulling horses
such as Clydesdales or Percherons. These large wooden barns, especially when
filled with hay, could make spectacular fires that were usually total losses
for the farmers. With the advent of balers it became possible to store hay and
straw outdoors in stacks surrounded by a plowed fireguard. Many barns in the
northern United States are painted barn red with a white trim. One possible
reason for this is that ferric oxide, which is used to create red paint, was
the cheapest and most readily available chemical for farmers in New England and
nearby areas. Another possible reason is that ferric oxide acts a preservative
and so painting a barn with it would help to protect the structure.
With the popularity of tractors following World War II many
barns were taken down or replaced with modern Quonset huts made of plywood or
galvanized steel. Beef ranches and dairies began building smaller loftless
barns often of Quonset huts or of steel walls on a treated wood frame (old
telephone or power poles). By the 1960s it was found that cattle receive
sufficient shelter from trees or wind fences (usually wooden slabs 20% open).
