Barns are structures built for storing items outside of the house. Agriculture shelters animals, stores feed and supplies, keeps hay, grain and produce, and provides a covered area for machinery and other farm products.
Often they are built with two stores to house animals and machinery at the bottom and feed at the top. Traditionally they are constructed of wood, but metal is also a sturdy, popular choice. More recently, they have adopted other uses like workshops, retail space, studios, and even converted into homes.
Are you thinking of building a barn and wondering how it should look? There are several choices to pick from, and if you have driven around the countryside, you have seen a variety to consider.
Still confused? Here are the types of barns you can build.
Type #1: Dutch Barns
Dutch barns are from the late 18th century and came from the master carpenters of Holland. They resemble an early type of church construction with steep, high gable roofs which sometimes extended very low to the ground, and tall, wide main doors. They are constructed with heavy beams and have a square style rather than a rectangle.
Type #2: Shed Row Barns
This barn is a simple style for horses where the stalls are lined up in a row but not enclosed in a full barn structure. They are one story and the cheapest to build, so it is ideal for a hobby farm or someone with a horse or two.
Type #3: Tobacco Barns
Tobacco barns are named for their use as tobacco farmers would harvest their crop and store it inside. Tobacco needed to be dried, so there must be adequate barn ventilation.
In addition, these types of barns are built in different styles, depending on the type of tobacco farmed. Some barns were more vertical, with long doors on the side to give good airflow, and many were wide, with sloped roofs and hinges to open the cladding board.
Type #4: English Barns
English barns were smaller in construction and were oriented as an A-frame with a steep roof. They were practical for smaller farmers to provide adequate storage and usually had a double door to fit in a wagon along with three bays to allow for livestock, threshing and hay.
Type #5: Bank Barns
These two-story barns are built into the hillside or a structured embankment and can be accessed at ground level on different sides to allow for second-story ground access from the higher side.
Sometimes called basement barns, these are built rectangular and widely used in Europe and North America. Animals lived on the main level, with hay and fed stored on the second level. It was ideal for taking advantage of the ground temperature of the earth to provide insulation and natural cooling.
Type #6: Pole Barns
Pole barns are a popular style of structure that some people use for building houses, and their inexpensive post-frame construction made them popular in the 1930s. They were stable with strong, structural support from posts, typically telephone poles, beams and minimal framing.
Pole barns were also wide open with tall ceilings, which gave maximum storage and the ability to build a loft inside easily.
Type #7: Gambrel Roof Barns
Think of the classic Fisher Price Little People farm set and picture the barn. This classic red structure is the gambrel roof barn, and it is impressive when you see one. It has two different slopes on each side to maximize the inside loft area, and it is great for storing hay and other feed. They are also inexpensive to build, and with the shape angles, snow doesn’t pile up very much on the roof.
Type #8: Prairie Barns
A prairie barn is like a Dutch barn but bigger. These are larger structures with extended peak roofing above the hayloft to allow for coverage, added storage on the second level, and lots of room for animals below. This extra storage was needed for farmers with larger herds.
Type #9: Livestock Barns
Commercial livestock barns are huge structures, typically clear-span buildings made of steel and wood. They are constructed with large trusses that span the width and allow for open areas where pigs, cattle, chickens and horses live. Livestock barns are built with the farmer in mind, so they have ample access to bring their animal in and out, and they are designed with the following:
- Ventilation with panel systems, curtains and chimneys
- Fans for circulation and exhaust
- Heat lamps
- Watering systems
You can customize these builds based on your immediate and future needs and maximize space, no matter what kind of livestock you work with.
If you like the look of a classic barn or are wondering how to store livestock, equipment, and feed, these barn styles will work. The type of barn you choose is based on your personal preferences and the needs you have, so it’s important to choose wisely.