Hay Barn:
The main section of this barn was on the farm when Dad bought the farm in the 40's. The back section, with the lower sloping roof, is not in pictures from the 50's. The first picture shows our truck we called "Old Pete", because Dad bought it from Pete, the welder. That truck had the best engine, it outlasted the rest of the truck. We put a wood flatbed on it many yrs ago, and hauled a lot of hay with it. Note the hay elevator on the bed. Yep, all the hay got put in by hand.
Before we had the square baler, we put hay in loose. There are doors at the top north end gable. There is a metal rail down the top of the barn, that hold the hay forks. See the last picture for a better view. Hay would be raked with a trip rake,, then the piles of hay were picked up with a buck rake on the front of the tractor, that was hooked up with a cable to the 3pt at the back, that raised the rack. Hay would be piled on the ground on the north end, and the hay fork would be lowered, would grab a pile of hay, and pulled up to the rail, then it would be pulled down the rail into the barn, and then tripped where we would want it. As a boy, my job was to pitch the hay from the center of the barn to the sides after it was dropped. It was a hot job, and I still remember snakes falling with the hay sometimes. We would walk across the beams of the barn, and jump down into the loose hay, doing flips in the air. My uncle had video of us jumping from the upper window into the large hay pile outside, but don't know what ever happened to the video.
Hay stacked inside
Picture of the barn taken from the "big hill". We had various farm roads, and cow lanes to move equipment and animals around the farm. The steeper areas are pasture, the flatter areas are hay fields. In the fall, cows would be pastured in the hay fields.
Cows in the hay field. In the winter, dad would feed in the morning before he went to work. We feed in the evenings. It was always fun going over to the barn on a dark snowy night, when the snow was knee deep.
Hay forks used to pull loose hay into the barn.
The Hay barn is on the west 40. This used to be a separate farm from where our house is, therefore why the barn is a good ways away from the house. There used to be an old house next to the barn, but only the basement hole is all I remember. We filled it in eventually. behind the barn is two dug wells. One has a well house built over it, and it feeds water to the house. Water from the backside barn roof is caught and feeds into the well.
Glad people are enjoying the pictures. I have many many stories I could tell. I have a nice picture of a niece sitting in the barn window, but don't want to post without her permission. She is now 19, and basically learned to drive by driving the truck picking up hay. She could back a load of hay up to the barn by herself way before she ever got a license. My niece just went thru a round of Chemo for her 2nd round of cancer, she first had it when in high school. My youngest son was driving the hay truck some this summer. my nephews are also well experienced in the hay fields.
