I finally buried my barn that was not being used. Five figures to replace the roof is correct.I knocked down three silos as well. I'm sure alot of memories were buried along with them, but they weren't mine. I had grand expectations when I bought the farm, but they didn't pan out.It IS a shame to lose such buildings, but the place looks cleaner now than it has in years past.

Steve, here is an idea if you really want to belabor the search for the answer for, “Why are all the barns wrecked?” Remind your kid and yourself to hang on to the question until next Labor Day. Make an effort to get yourself and your kid or kids out to the Rock River Thresheree. There, over a three or four day event, you should find a host of folks and gonzo historians that can offer some clues that start to answer your question.

I do not know if you have ever been there, but there is a bunch of people that keep that thing going every year. One of the themes, among several themes of the event, is how people farmed and lived on farms over the last 150 years.

One thing I always take away from the Thresheree’s presentation of all the old farm and industrial equipment is all the back breaking labor and time it took to operate a farm.

Also, one thing I just noticed from your reader postings is the absence of mention of milk pricing. Remember, most dairy farmers since World War II only relied on the, “The milk check,” for their income. If milk pricing took a dump, well…, you put two and two together.

And, because kids were not too keen on taking over a job that requires a 14 hour per day, seven days per week, 365 day per year operation with no benefits, the old folks often sold the farm to survive in their old age. Like my own folks, they sold the farm and moved to a decent and more manageable property and house in town. Selling farm land became a retirement fund of sorts.

I did not make these unwritten rules I just watched people deal with it.

There are many reasons why family farms have been vanishing for the last 50 years. As you seem to already realize, there is not just one simple answer.

Bob Keith – always hard to stay out of a “farm’n” discussion

If they could get the taxpayers to pay for the repairs and maintenance the farmers would have some one maintain them.

Small family farms are becoming a thing of the past, unless one or both parents work outside also.
It is sad to see these old barns and buildings going down like they are, but the cost to keep them up, if not in use, is just too cost prohibitive for the average family to do.
And yes the taxes would go up if remodeled, or repaired...Common sense.
One other point...it is not cheap to have them torn down either....
This economy over the last several years has had a lot of sad effects, and this is one example of it.

These barns you speak of are what is left of a farming culture ranging from the Civil War to around 1970. A family could make a go of it on a 160 acre dairy farm during this era…, if lucky. They raised horses (that often did the work load), pigs, dairy cows, chickens, goats, beef cows, and maybe sheep. Some time after World War II, farmers around these parts cut back on all the animals except dairy cows. It has to do with time, physical beating, cultural chance (the industrial boom after the war lured people off the farm with 40 hours per week work hours with benefits), and…, kids. Lots of kids to do lots of work. Some neighbors of mine had 15 kids. But by 2000, the average family size was, say, 1.5 kid per family. Good luck farming for 45 years with no time off and with one and a half kid to help out.

Also, if dad died, one of the kids in the old big family could take over. Remember these barns were built before our miracle medication options of today. Remember also, that farming rubric required a 14 hour per day, seven day per week, 356 day per year drudgery of blue-collar hell. Usually with no health insurance, no benefits, no vacation, and no days off.

The whole operation usually hinged on “Dad” surviving for 45 years with no time off.

Hey, the recent “New Norm” economy apologists should love those good old days, but I digress. Try that old work template for 45 years all you “new norm” Yuppies; but even more condescending on my part…, you “new norm” anonymous blog posting mooks that live in mom’s basement; but I digress again.

The University of Wisconsin has sold a Degree for years called Rural Sociology which studies your very rural observations Steve. Not sure what job you can get with said degree, but I digress yet a third time.

The barns, or what is left of them, are just symbols of a once robust agricultural economic niche in Wisconsin. The “Wisconsin gambrel-roofed barn” is just a distant falling down sign, a bit of anthropological evidence if you please, of a mysterious past. It is quandary for the aforementioned, Mom’s-basement-living-day-care-video-game-playing-unemployed-new-norm-clueless-generation; the dilapidated barns are just a deck chair left floating after the dairy farm Titanic long ago sank.

The next time a kid asks you, “What is the deal with the falling down Wisconsin barns?” try a simple answer deferring them to their smart phone culture. Just say, “Well Dear, it is hard for you to understand if you have only lived a dozen years on earth, but you could scratch the surface to your query by doing a Google on your phone for, "buggy whip," "Eight Track player," "silent movies," "black and white television," "rear wheel drive cars," "ice boxes," cheap cigarettes," "military daft," "Cold War," "Soviet Union," and, "obsolescence."

Bob Keith – way too long ago tired of apologizing for life’s increasingly rapid changes

The barns are relics of the past.
There used to a farm every mile or so with a family milking cows and raising crops and cattle.
One by one they fell away.
I grew up in a family of farmers.
Aunts, uncles, cousins.
Now only one cousin farms.

Steve, the answer is simple, money. I own two barns, both are listed on the state and national historic registries. We do the best we can to maintain them. The older they get the more repair and maintenance they need. Everything you do on one of these great old buildings costs 5 figures.

Steve: You and your daughter might enjoy the 30-minute PBS documentary, "Wisconsin Barns - Touchstones to the Past", produced by local videographer Tom Laughlin.

"It profiles a number of barns around Wisconsin and visits with historians, academics, farmers, a family rehabbing their barn and more." http://www.koviaonline.com/index.html

Who is this Sigma40 character? That boy is as goofy as an outhouse rat!

Corner grocery store, independent gas station where the guy cleaned your windshield, doctor who made house calls, milkman delivered to your door, and yes...the red barn family farm.
It's all just nostalgia, fond memories.
Times change, things become more efficient and we learn to do things better.
Better equipment, bigger tractors, and pipeline milking doomed the "little red barn".
If stayed the old way, we would be paying $27.99 for a gallon for milk.

Where there any Kias parked in those barns?

Farmers have gotten lazy that is why...not really farmers, but all of america. Also what was once passed down from generation to generation... MAINTENANCE knowledge is long gone. No one takes care of their homes, cars...etc. like they used to.

Reload500: I have a hard time blaming the tax man. I have a family relative that has a 400 acre farm and a huge shed for all 7 of his tractors, combine, et. al., as well as a three family home; both his sons and their families live in other sections of the home. His taxes are LESS than mine. He constantly is complaining unions, teachers, etc. I see it as outright hypocrisy.

Its so easy to answer. Blame the tax man. Well maintained buildings are taxed at a much higher rate. No need to maintain a structure that holds baled hay or cannot house today's larger farm equipment.

crunch_munch, we don't need you gunking up every single discussion with your cranky concern, okay?
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The traditional red barn is not just a cute backdrop for a rustic painting. It's a technology adapted to a particular time and mode of farming. The upper story, often a gambrel roof with two angles, is designed to hold as much hay as possible. The lower story is where the animals are kept. The haymow is above so as to make the manual labor of feeding as easy as possible.
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Since modern farms, whether or not they are "family" or not, use modern equipment, they're more likely to want modern buildings to install it in. Concrete pads allow tractors or milking machines to move through multiple times daily and get washed off into drains that lead away from the building's foundation. Steel walls won't turn the entire barn into a conflagration so easily if there's a small fire. Electrical and other utilities can be easily installed and maintained.
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The old red barn is also difficult to maintain as a secondary building. Many remain as dead storage, but what even many owners don't know is that the stone foundation's stability depends on having the warmth of animals in the lower level. Without them generating heat all winter, the foundations will freeze and crack. Once the foundation begins to fail, the vertical supports subside, and then the roof fails, allowing moisture into the wood structure. Soon dry rot attacks the entire barn, the roof falls in, and you have a rustic wreck. This can be prevented, and there are barn restoration experts who know how, but they cost money and most farmers won't do that for dead storage.

The main reason is that the "family farm", where farmers used to milk 50-80 cows, has nearly disappeared. When farmers decide to expand to bigger production herds, those barns go by the wayside in favor of new, single story buildings with parlors. Those older buildings then deteriorate due to lack of use. This bothers me as I grew up on one of those previously mentioned "family farms" and wouldn't trade it for the world. I also hate to see these "wrecked barns" when I drive down the road. Sad.
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PS - Intuitive daughter. :)