Here’s a scene you won’t see today, but back in the 1940s it was a common sight. This is an advertisement for an Allis-Chalmers Model “C” tractor, marketed from 1940 to 1949 and promoted because the spacing in an earlier tractor, a Model “B”, was too narrow to “cultivate” two rows at once. Today corn is not cultivated. Rows are close together, individual plants are close together, herbicides are used, and there are numerous hybrids available.
Many factors influence corn growth: planting time, spring temperatures, amount of rain received, area of the state, and the particular hybrid used. Years ago, it was said that corn should be “knee-high” by the 4th of July. Today, corn could be six feet high or even higher by the 4th of July.
On two Iowa Barn Foundation tours my husband took photos of me standing in front of a field of corn. On June 18, 2018 the corn was over six feet tall, which was impressive. On June 25, 2022 in the same area, it was about a foot tall. Check your local corn fields and make comparisons from year to year.
When pioneers arrived in Iowa in the 1830s they had few roads to guide them. Robert Lucas, the First Iowa Territorial Governor, wanted to connect Iowans with the outside world and with each other.
Lyman Dillon, a Cascade farmer, used a breaking plow with a yoke of five oxen to plow a furrow between Dubuque and Iowa City, the Territorial Capitol, and soon the 100-mile furrow became a major road for westbound pioneers passing through the towns of Martelle, Cascade, Anamosa, and Monticello. The date ”1989” commemorates 150 years after the furrow was plowed.
Today this road is US Highway 151 from Dubuque to Anamosa, and Highway 1 from Anamosa to Iowa City.When pioneers arrived in Iowa in the 1830s they had few roads to guide them. Robert Lucas, the First Iowa Territorial Governor, wanted to connect Iowans with the outside world and with each other.
Lyman Dillon, a Cascade farmer, used a breaking plow with a yoke of five oxen to plow a furrow between Dubuque and Iowa City, the Territorial Capitol, and soon the 100-mile furrow became a major road for westbound pioneers passing through the towns of Martelle, Cascade, Anamosa, and Monticello. The date ”1989” commemorates 150 years after the furrow was plowed.
Today this road is US Highway 151 from Dubuque to Anamosa, and Highway 1 from Anamosa to Iowa City.
A blog about barns will arrive next weekend, but in the meantime, what might rabbits have been doing on farms this Easter holiday?
Anthropomorphism has ancient roots in art and here is one example expressed in the form of a postcard mailed March 1902. I don’t know the translation of this message but the fanciful kitchen scene of mamma rabbit rolling out dough for a dish for an Easter celebration, and her young doe wondering what to do next, is an amusing caricature.
Cribs come in varying sizes, shapes, and features. This unique crib, built in 1947, was developed by the Iowa State University Agricultural Engineering Department for corn and oats. Originally, there was storage of 5,000 bushels of ear corn on the two sides of the drive-through. However, in the 1950s, when harvesting ear corn ended, it was adapted to store 10,500 bushels of shelled corn. Oat bins were on the upper half and there was a walkway above the center to access the oat bins on both sides.
Today corn is stored in steel bins or the excess outside in cone-shaped piles covered with tarp. Maybe (?) there were a number of cribs in earlier days used for both corn and oats. This crib is the only one I have researched extensively because very few of this type still exist, and most that do exist are in very poor condition. This one is in good condition, although not in use.
What happens to oats grown today? In 2024 210,000 acres of oats were planted in Iowa, a small fraction of the total of corn and other crops. When horses were used in farming, draft horses ate oats, with some fed to other animals, but horses and the oats produced dwindled over the years. Interestingly enough, in 2023, Iowa was #2 oats producer in the nation (some years it has been #5), with various companies today buying oats for cereal, granola bars, cookies, and more, as well as providing oats for sows and other livestock. The Quaker Oats plant in Cedar Rapids, the largest cereal production plant in the world, does not buy oats from Iowa farmers, but from Canadian farmers because the test weight of Canadian oats is much higher.
The farm where this crib exists was purchased by Ole Johnson who emigrated from Denmark to Wisconsin, then to this farm via covered wagon to Grundy County in 1857. It is a Heritage Farm (150 years in the same family) now owned by Tricia Johnson, a great-great-granddaughter of Ole. The location is southwest of Cedar Falls and east of Dike at 13725 X Ave., Cedar Falls. A future blog will describe some of the unusual features both inside and outside, as well as the technique used to transfer grain to the upper area for storage.
This limestone barn south of Decorah at 2091 Middle Ossian Road in Winneshiek County is home for Yorkshire hogs on the basement level and storage for straw and hay on the upper level. These hogs can’t appreciate the great barn that is their home but they know it’s a shelter and a place where they can get food any time of day.
Built in the mid-1860s, it was originally a dairy barn but has been used for hogs since Wayne and Roxanne Huinker bought the farm in 1980. There are about 150 sows and around 1000 pigs in this complex. Adjacent buildings, not shown here, are also used for housing.
They have breeding stock, feeder pigs, and more, and sell to buyers in many states. When about 90 pigs weigh 50 pounds each he personally transports them to California each January to a high school Ag chapter where students raise them to show at their county fair in May. The new owners hope for prize-winners.
Many limestone barns still exist in Iowa, many in the northeast quarter. The walls in this barn are three feet thick at the base, narrowing to eighteen inches at the top. Several arched windows and doors are also visible. It’s Iowa’s hog heaven.
Forty-five years ago in January 1980 I took the photo of this barn and trees coated with rime ice located along Highway 34 west of Kent near the Union County-Adams County border. Abandoned for many years, it was torn down several months after this photo was taken. Another view of this scene can be found on page 245 of Iowa Barns Yesterday and Today.
This foursome was found in an Omaha hospital gift shop and took up residence in our house. Modeled after the town musicians of Bremen, Germany, these animals, common on the farm, work for a living. They provide humor, happiness, and honor where they live, and thrive in the world outdoors.
The regal rooster on the top commands the show, crowing loudly, making sure that this quartet on the farm gets royal treatment and care from all who know them. The cow and the pig are dressed alike. Could they be related? They have different ideas of how to spend their day. One grazes in a field while the other roots in the mud, until cleaned up to pose here. The woolly sheep is dressed for winter, and three of the four are wearing a wreath of greenery with red berries in honor of the holiday. May these four, posing here and looking quite noble, wish you a very Merry Christmas.
A round barn was an exciting new idea for Scott County farmer Charles Nebergall. He discovered an architect named Benton Steele, who had built dozens of round barns in Indiana and Kansas, and hired him to design and construct this barn in 1914. It is 56 feet in diameter and features clay tile with square windows on the bottom half, board-and-batten siding with rectangular windows on the upper half, and a two-pitched conical roof with a cupola. It has no silo.
Originally a central drive divided the interior between the horse stalls and cattle stanchions, with grain bins and feed areas for the animals on each side of the central drive, as well as separate hay chutes. It was owned by the Nebergall family until 1992, is now owned by the John Penne family, and is filled with antiques on two levels. The location is 9478 145th St., Davenport.
Let us be thankful for all good things yesterday and today.
I enjoy sharing my adventures and photos with all of you who have an interest in barns and more. This scene was Blog #36 sent November 2021 and I wish to share it again with you in 2024. The photo was taken of an Amish farmer’s field in Clarke County along Highway 34 west of Murray. (2012 photo)
