Editing Barn (section)

==Construction==
[[Image:Beautiful Post and Beam Horse Barn.JPG|thumb|The skeleton of a post and beam horse barn just after raising]]
[[Image:Round barn Indiana.jpg|thumb|right|[[Thomas Ranck Round Barn]] in [[Fayette County, Indiana]], U.S.]]
In the [[Yorkshire Dales]], England, barns, known locally as cowhouses were built from double stone walls with truffs or throughstones acting as wall ties.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=bawp|date=2017-08-16|title=Naming the parts of the cowhouse|url=https://everybarn.yorkshiredales.org.uk/naming-the-parts-of-the-cowhouse/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930032636/https://everybarn.yorkshiredales.org.uk/naming-the-parts-of-the-cowhouse/ |archive-date=2020-09-30 |access-date=2021-02-09|website=Every Barn Tells a Story: Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority|language=en-US}}</ref>
In the U.S., older barns were built from [[timbers]] hewn from trees on the farm and built as a [[Crib barn|log crib barn]] or [[Timber framing|timber frame]], although stone barns were sometimes built in areas where stone was a cheaper building material. In the mid to late 19th century in the U.S. barn framing methods began to shift away from traditional timber framing to "truss framed" or "plank framed" buildings. Truss or plank framed barns reduced the number of timbers instead using dimensional lumber for the rafters, joists, and sometimes the trusses.<ref>{{cite book |author = Shawver, John L.. |title=Plank frame barn construction.|year=1904|publisher= New York: D. Williams, 1904.|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=M7swAQAAMAAJ}}</ref> The joints began to become bolted or nailed instead of being mortised and tenoned. The inventor and patentee of the Jennings Barn claimed his design used less lumber, less work, less time, and less cost to build and were durable and provided more room for hay storage.<ref>Fink, Daniel. Barns of the Genesee country, 1790–1915: including an account of settlement and changes in agricultural practices. Geneseo, N.Y.: J. Brunner, 1987. Print. 416.</ref> Mechanization on the farm, better transportation infrastructure, and new technology like a hay fork mounted on a track contributed to a need for larger, more open barns, sawmills using steam power could produce smaller pieces of lumber affordably, and machine cut nails were much less expensive than hand-made (wrought) nails. Concrete block began to be used for barns in the early 20th century in the U.S.<ref>Fink, Daniel. Barns of the Genesee country, 1790–1915: including an account of settlement and changes in agricultural practices. Geneseo, N.Y.: J. Brunner, 1987. Print.</ref>

Modern barns are more typically steel buildings. From about 1900 to 1940, many large [[dairy]] barns were built in northern USA. These commonly have [[gambrel]] or hip roofs to maximize the size of the hay [[loft]] above the dairy roof, and have become associated in the popular image of a [[dairy farm]]. The barns that were common to the [[Wheat belt (United States)|wheatbelt]] held large numbers of pulling horses such as [[Clydesdale (breed)|Clydesdales]] or [[Percheron]]s. These large wooden barns, especially when filled with [[hay]], could make spectacular fires that were usually total losses for the farmers. With the advent of balers it became possible to store hay and [[straw]] outdoors in stacks surrounded by a plowed fireguard. Many barns in the northern United States are painted [[Variations of red#Barn red|barn red]] with a white trim. One possible reason for this is that [[ferric oxide]], which is used to create red paint, was the cheapest and most readily available chemical for farmers in [[New England]] and nearby areas. Another possible reason is that ferric oxide acts a preservative<ref name="ferric oxide">{{cite web|url=http://www.cbstructuresinc.com/snippets/glossary/#F|title=Definition of ferric oxide|website=cbstructuresinc.com|access-date=5 May 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327085755/http://www.cbstructuresinc.com/snippets/glossary/#F|archive-date=27 March 2010}}</ref> and so painting a barn with it would help to protect the structure. The custom of painting barns in red with white trim is widely spread in [[Scandinavia]]. Especially in [[Sweden]] the  [[Falu red]] with white trims is the traditional colouring of most wooden buildings.

With the popularity of tractors following [[World War II]] many barns were taken down or replaced with modern [[Quonset hut]]s made of plywood or [[Galvanization|galvanized]] steel. Beef ranches and dairies began building smaller loftless barns often of Quonset huts or of steel walls on a treated wood frame (old telephone or power poles). By the 1960s it was found that cattle receive sufficient shelter from trees or wind fences (usually wooden slabs 20% open).