Barn Makeover

[artesianspringsfarm]

I'm only 40 and growing up, I could name 20 farmers within a bike ride of my house and milked cows at one for my teenage years since my Grandpa had already dispersed by that point. Every one of those dairies milked between 20 and 120 cows. Now, there is exactly one of those farms still milking. They have otherwise been bought out by 3-4 farms that are milking 1-4000 cows or they've been bought by Amish that have been moving into the area for the last decade. Times change but one of the byproducts of this change that makes me the saddest is watching the old barns go empty and then fall apart. That said, our own barn was getting close to that over the last ten years but I've been planning for the last 3 years how to change that. This was the year I tackled the project. Here are some before pictures:

Now, here are some in-progress and after pics:




We also put a shop in the pole barn this year and totally redid our pens and handling system but I will save that for another post. Hope you enjoy the pics and maybe it will make some of you think about saving an old dairy barn. I'm replacing the haymow floor during the winter now.

 

[EasTex]

Very nice remodel!

 

[gman4691]

Very nice

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

Nice!!

 

[kenny thomas]

Great job. Love the old barns

 

[wbvs58]

Well done, there are a lot of good videos on youtube on how to demolish those old silos, most don't go well. The silo does look good there, do you use it? I assume they were used for silage??? How were they filled?
Some photos of the inside would be interesting.

Ken

 

[artesianspringsfarm]

Well done, there are a lot of good videos on youtube on how to demolish those old silos, most don't go well. The silo does look good there, do you use it? I assume they were used for silage??? How were they filled?
Some photos of the inside would be interesting.

Ken

Ken, I did a lot of hemming and hawing about what to do with the silo. It held silage and haylage for years but has been empty for at least 30 years. It wont ever be used again, but the concrete is also still in good shape. Given how much I had into the project already, I decided 20 gallons of paint and a few hours of my time with the sprayer and lift was the way to go. I can also admit some of it is just nostalgia and thinking of the barn with the silo there. We already buried the house that my mom grew up in because it was too far gone and I just like the look of the silo with the barn.

Hopefully by the spring I will have pictures of the inside with some light shed on the situation. :-D

 

[Mrcopier]

Looks great and those projects are fun. Especially when they are completed and you can see before and after

 

[kenny thomas]

Only seen one in pictures but the silo had a spiral staircase around the inside leading to multiple rooms as it went up.

 

[farmerjan]

Congratulations on the barn save. I give you alot of credit for the job. So many just tear them down. It is a labor of love, and alot of money to save them.
Thank you for saving it.

 

[artesianspringsfarm]

Only seen one in pictures but the silo had a spiral staircase around the inside leading to multiple rooms as it went up.

Good family friends of ours converted this into a house more than 30 years ago. They now rent out part of it as an airbnb for fishermen and travelers.

 

[WFfarm]

Glad you are saving the barn. Too many in our area are being torn down just for the tax savings.