It took a few days to clean out the barn floor that had compacted sheep manure in it that possibly dated back twenty years. The large barn on the farmstead was built in 1860 when the first farmers started to settle in Iowa. They built these huge two story barns with their bare hands and horses, using wood pegs for nails thick beams to hold it steady. Barns are dying and we hope to keep this barn from crumbling. A new metal roof was added to prevent water leakage. Barns back then were almost all painted red, this barn was no different. My grandfather had all his buildings painted white in the seventies and eighties, no one knows why. Maybe because the red paint was peeling off and no longer protected the wood from the elements.

The lean-to was added in the 1960s for my grandfather’s cattle herd. Inside it is a feed bunk and shade for the livestock. Today, the sheep use it.

I asked an insurance agent about the value of old barns like these and in the event it were damaged, would it be built back to what it once was. He told me that these old barns have little value and that they are insured on age, not quality. The newer steel sheds are all the rage I guess, and have a much bigger value. So sad.

Old barns aren’t receiving the TLC they need to be worth restoring. I hope to get this one on the historical barn registry.