Inside the Majestic Red Barn
Inside the Majestic Red Barn is a project created around a farm barn built in the early 1900s. This project takes the viewer inside to the remnants of the cow milking part of the barn.
Our majestic red barn is a landmark for those traveling north of Richardton on Highway 8. It was built in 1939 after the original barn was destroyed the year before by a tornado. My dad told me that before they got their first tractor, the barn was the most important building on the farm. The barn came first; the house came second, because the barn housed his father’s draft horses that ploughed the fields. The horses’ well-being was more important than anything.
My grandfather homesteaded the Hueske farm in 1900. When my dad took over in the late 40s, he used the barn to milk cows to earn a living and feed his family. Cream, eggs, and wheat were a farmer’s economy. Before electricity, the milk herd was 10 to 15 cows, but after electricity the herd increased to 21.
The milk cows were sold in 1970, just after my two older sisters graduated from high school and before I entered grade school. My sisters never let me forget that I was spared milking cows. It is probably no surprise that their memories of the barn don’t match my romanticized memories.
Galvanized Metal Milking Pail
Every morning. Every night. The chore of carrying a pail of ground feed to each cow, as it stood in the stanchion to be milked was a big task. Calves had to be individually fed, sometimes with a pail with a nipple on the side until they learned to drink out of the pail.
Every morning. Every night. The chore of carrying a pail of ground feed to each cow, as it stood in the stanchion to be milked was a big task. Calves had to be individually fed, sometimes with a pail with a nipple on the side until they learned to drink out of the pail.
Water Spigot in Milk Separator Room
Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Cleanliness in handling milk was priority. The milk separator room was cleaner than any kitchen. It was equipped with a water spigot and a good concrete floor, which slanted toward a drain.
Surge Bucket Milker stainless steel canister
After milking each cow, the person in charge of milking that cow would carry the stainless steel container to the milk room. The fresh raw milk was poured from the milking bucket into a large square stainless steel holding tank before it was run through a cream separator.
Nier Feuerhand Firehand Barn Lantern
During the winter season, most of the barn chores were done with the aid of a kerosene lantern. Keep in mind that a lit lantern in a barn of highly flammable materials could be a very dangerous. Lest we forget Mrs. O’ Leary’s and her cow!
Light Switch
From lanterns to electricity. When electricity was extended to the rural areas at the end of the 1930s, farmers' daily life changed. With electricity in the barn, farmers no longer milked cows by dim, flammable kerosene or gas lanterns. You could go to the barn, turn a switch and have light all over.
Electric Outlet
With electricity in the farmer's workplace, there was a surge of farm equipment powered by electricity. Electricity powered big things like yard lights that lit up the barnyard in the dark morning hours and small things like the machine that separated cream from milk making a big job a little easier.