With the temperature below zero this evening, livestock would appreciate a warm barn, even if it is in the shape of an octagon. This barn was built in 1893 in Sauk County of southwestern Wisconsin and the red color stands out against the summer greens as well as winter white but I prefer the green over the cold white.
Octagon Red Barn
I took this old barn and silo photo about nine years ago and I wonder if they are still standing today. Many of the old wooden barns that I had photographed in the past have fallen or have been taken down, so soon it will be hard to find any remaining old barns on my wanderings on back roads.
Disappearing Structures
For many, the weekend means a day off from work, but for farmers there is no day off if there is hay to bale. The watchful yellow smiley face is waiting for the raked field in front of it to be baled up.
Waiting to be Baled
Although outside the barn has changed scenes with snow covering the grass, but the inside the old barn would provide some protection against the strong gusty winds. This gray barn does have a new metal roof so maybe the snow will slide off of it.
Old Gray Barn
This old silo looks cold and other than providing some wind protection, the cement blocks probably didn’t warm up too much in the frigid sunshine today.
Cold Old Silo
As the harvest season continues, barns start reappearing which had been hidden from the road by fields of crops. I love this matching silo next to the barn.
Red Silo
The sun came out today and while the ground is still white, at least the sun brightens what color there is and it is nice to see blue sky again. But that did mean a nippy night as there was no clouds to hold the heat in but that is the price you have to pay for a clear sky in the winter.
Red Cow Barn
The snow is piling higher with each snowfall but I don’t think any one has to worry about the cows walking over this fence when the snow gets too high – not since the rest of the fence appears to be missing!
Missing Fence
The year is nearing the end and it soon will be 2013 so I figured I would start an ‘old’ week to finish out the old year. And since I rarely post pictures of people, I won’t post a picture of myself for the old week.
An article in the December 1924 edition of The Wisconsin Magazine of History stated “Little notice, however, was given to the silo, which has played an important role in the dairy industry. The fact that one-fifth of the entire silo-using population of the United States is in Wisconsin testifies to the economic importance of the silo. At the time of the advent of the silo in this state, land was increasing in value and feed was becoming high-priced. Under these conditions many of out farmers were unwilling to carry a herd of cows through the winter, finding it was not profitable to do so. Many would sell in the fall and buy again in the spring, this being able to pasture the herd and throwing the wintering losses on others. The silo greatly reduced the cost of wintering cows and thereby introduced a fundamental improvement in the business of dairying.”
The first trench type silo built in Wisconsin was in Fort Atkinson in 1877 by Levi Gilbert and the first above ground silo built in the state was erected in Oconomowoc during the summer of 1880. The next years brought experimenting with foliage rates the cows would eat and silo designs. Professor F. H. King, of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station, introduced the round silo in 1891 which reduced the spoiling that was found in the corners of square silos. In 1904, there were a reported 716 silos in Wisconsin and by 1923, there were 100,060.
Driving on the back roads, one can see various designs of the older silos but this is the only one I have spotted so far which looks it has a spool on the top.
Spool Top Silo
It looks like this silo has stood the test of time, even though now neglected and empty. I wonder how many critters the silo had fed over the years from the feed that was once stored in the circle of cement staves under the metal and wooden roof.
Standing Proud
