The word barn refers to the cat s breed

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The farm cat, also known as a barn cat, is a domestic cat, usually of mixed breed, that lives primarily outdoors, in a feral or semi-feral condition on agricultural properties, usually sheltering in outbuildings. They eat assorted vermin such as rodents and other small animals that live in or around outbuildings and farm fields. The need for the farm cat may have been the original reason cats were domesticated, to keep rodents from consuming or contaminating grain crops stored for later human consumption. They are still commonly kept for their effectiveness at controlling undesired vermin^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]} found on farms, ranches, greenhouses, and even drug farms, which would otherwise eat or contaminate crops, especially grain or feed stocks. Farm cats hunt the initial rodent population, and their pheromones keep further rodents from filling the void.^[7][8]

History[edit]

Archeological evidence suggests that the earliest domestication of cats occurred about 7500 BC and was motivated by the human need to safeguard grain stores from rodents.^[9]

Modern status[edit]

Farm cats live in a variety of conditions. Some are feral with minimal human contact, and no veterinary care, and derive sustenance solely from their job of lowering the mouse and rat populations. Lack of a guaranteed food supply, internal parasites, and greater physical exertion tends to make these cats thinner than their house cat counterparts, with a shorter lifespan. Others are kept as part-time pets, living both indoors and out, roaming freely, yet allowed inside to be fed supplemental cat food on a regular basis, and given routine veterinary care. Yet others live outdoors or in outbuildings full-time in semi-feral conditions, but are still tamed to be friendly toward humans and may be given basic veterinary care. All are subject to some risks inherent to outdoor life. Their prey may transmit parasites and disease, they may be injured by various means, and they can be struck by vehicles. Also, farm cats often die from poisoning by eating the corpses of poisoned rodents. Predation is also possible: cats are eaten by raccoons, owls, coyotes, and other animals that prey on creatures of their size.

Some full-time outdoor cats are given cat food by property owners, either to encourage them to stay or due to humane motivations of not wanting thin, hungry, or sick animals on the property. Other property owners deliberately do not feed outside farm cats, in the incorrect belief^[10] that they will not hunt rodents if they have supplemental food. Without supplementary food, cats will exterminate much of the local rodent population and move on, leaving only a temporary void. However, one concern with providing supplemental outdoor feed is that it can attract skunks, raccoons and other vermin.

Farm cats originate from a variety of sources. Sometimes, farm cat populations are spontaneously established when abandoned or stray animals, uninvited by humans, move into areas where prey is available, such as haystacks or farm outbuildings that contain stored crops or livestock fodder. In other cases, property owners obtain and release a few cats specifically for rodent control. Some animal shelters have Working Cat or «Barn Buddy»^[11][12][13] programs that re-home sterilized feral and semi-feral cats at barns, warehouses, stores, and more.^[14] These programs have been growing in popularity in cities like Chicago, where rat problems are common.^[15]

If a population of feral adult female farm cats is high enough, a farm cat population can be self-sustaining. The females establish permanent homes in barns or other structures and raise repeated litters. Males may stay around if food is plentiful, though they tend to roam over a wider territory. Farm cat colonies can be subject to inbreeding, as a closed population may mate with one another’s siblings, parents, or offspring. Spaying and neutering prevent unwanted litters, overpopulation, and inbreeding. In some cases, feral animals are trapped, spayed or neutered, then re-released to keep their territory claimed and to prevent new, fertile strays from taking up residence.

If given supplemental food or where rodents are plentiful, losses from predation or disease may be made up by new stray animals moving into the territory. If given no supplemental food, particularly in areas with many predators, farm cat populations may occasionally become extirpated if there are few nearby strays and a low breeding population. Predators, accidents, disease, parasites and hunger will all take a toll. More often, especially when supplemental food is provided, overpopulation is common, and losses then occur primarily due to disease or accidents, with predation playing a minor role—all insufficient to make a substantial dent in the population. Where numbers become an issue, some farm cat populations are controlled by shooting, poisoning, or trapping excess numbers.

See also[edit]

• Ship’s cat
• Bodega cat
• Library cat

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Country Side Daily: How to Raise a Barn Cat Right
• How To Create A Successful Barn Cat Program
• Timber Creek Farm: The Care and Feeding of Barn Cats

«Farm building» redirects here. For farm living quarters, see farmhouse.

A barn is an agricultural building usually on farms and used for various purposes. In North America, a barn refers to structures that house livestock, including cattle and horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain.^[2] As a result, the term barn is often qualified e.g. tobacco barn, dairy barn, cow house, sheep barn, potato barn. In the British Isles, the term barn is restricted mainly to storage structures for unthreshed cereals and fodder, the terms byre or shippon being applied to cow shelters, whereas horses are kept in buildings known as stables.^[2][3] In mainland Europe, however, barns were often part of integrated structures known as byre-dwellings (or housebarns in US literature). In addition, barns may be used for equipment storage, as a covered workplace, and for activities such as threshing.

Timber framed with siding of vertical boards was typical in early New England. The traditional color is the result of iron oxide stain applied to protect the wood from UV damage.

Russian women using a hand powered winnowing machine in a threshing barn. Note the board across the doorway to prevent grain from spilling out of the barn, this is the origin of the term threshold.^[1] Painting from 1894 by Klavdy Lebedev titled the floor or the threshing floor (Гумно).

Grange Barn, Coggeshall, England, originally part of the Cistercian monastery of Coggeshall. Dendrochronologically dated from 1237 to 1269, it was restored in the 1980s by the Coggeshall Grange Barn Trust, Braintree District Council and Essex County Council.

A bridge barn in Switzerland. The bridge (rather than a ramp) in this case also shelters animals.

EtymologyEdit

The word barn comes from the Old English bere, for barley (or grain in general), and aern, for a storage place—thus, a storehouse for barley.^[4] The word bere-ern, also spelled bern and bearn, is attested to at least sixty times in homilies and other Old English prose.^[5] The related words bere-tun and bere-flor both meant threshing floor. Bere-tun also meant granary; the literal translation of bere-tun is «grain enclosure». While the only literary attestation of bere-hus (also granary) comes from the Dialogi of Gregory the Great, there are four known mentions of bere-tun and two of bere-flor. A Thesaurus of Old English lists bere-ærn and melu-hudern («meal-store house») as synonyms for barn.^[5][6][7]

HistoryEdit

The modern barn largely developed from the three aisled medieval barn, commonly known as tithe barn or monastic barn. This, in turn, originated in a 12th-century building tradition, also applied in halls and ecclesiastical buildings. In the 15th century several thousands of these huge barns were to be found in Western Europe. In the course of time, its construction method was adopted by normal farms and it gradually spread to simpler buildings and other rural areas. As a rule, the aisled barn had large entrance doors and a passage corridor for loaded wagons. The storage floors between the central posts or in the aisles were known as bays or mows (from Middle French moye).^[8]

The main types were large barns with sideway passages, compact barns with a central entrance and smaller barns with a transverse passage. The latter also spread to Eastern Europe. Whenever stone walls were applied, the aisled timber frame often gave way to single-naved buildings. A special type were byre-dwellings, which included living quarters, byres and stables, such as the Frisian farmhouse or Gulf house and the Black Forest house. Not all, however, evolved from the medieval barn. Other types descended from the prehistoric longhouse or other building traditions. One of the latter was the Low German (hall) house, in which the harvest was stored in the attic.^[9] In many cases, the New World colonial barn evolved from the Low German house, which was transformed to a real barn by first generation colonists from the Netherlands and Germany.^[10]

ConstructionEdit

The skeleton of a post and beam horse barn just after raising

In the Yorkshire Dales, England, barns, known locally as cowhouses were built from double stone walls with truffs or throughstones acting as wall ties. ^[11]
In the U.S., older barns were built from timbers hewn from trees on the farm and built as a log crib barn or 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.^[12] 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.^[13] 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.^[14]

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 wheatbelt held large numbers of pulling horses such as Clydesdales or Percherons. 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 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^[15] 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 huts made of plywood or 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).

Gallery of barns with different wall building materialsEdit

• Half-timbered with wattle-work walls for ventilation. Stryd Lydan Barn, originally at Llannerch Banna, Flintshire, North Wales. Re-erected at the St Fagans National History Museum, Cardiff, Wales in 1951.

• Wattle work walls in a sheep barn in Ruurlo, Netherlands.

• Half-timbered barn walls with stone infill. Rödinghausen, Germany.

• A barn (ovin) in the museum-estate of Surikov. Krasnoyarsk, Russia.

• A rare half-timbered barn with board infill in Syke, Lower Saxony, Germany.

• Grange barn, Coggeshall, England. This is a studded barn so the wall sheathing must be applied horizontally and covered with a siding material, in this case clapboards (weatherboards).

• A type of barn in Metylovice, Czech Republic with stone piers and an infill of horizontal timbers.

• Board-on-board siding and half timber-framed barn in Olsztynek, north Poland

• Timber framed with the sheathing covered in clapboards. New Hampshire, U.S.A.

• Rare walls of boards and thatch. Drenthe, Netherlands

• Gable end of a brick barn with ventilation holes built into the brickwork.

• 19th-century fieldstone barn near Rockwood, Ontario, Canada.

• Stone barns are common in parts of the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, France, and some Mediterranean countries. The projecting stones (which are a type of wall tie) are a style in the Yorkshire Dales, England.

• Abidiah Taylor Barn Chester County, Pennsylvania. Part of the Taylor-Cope Historic District. Built in either 1724 (date stone) or 1744 (wooden beam investigation), it is one of the oldest extant barns in the United States. Field stone walls.

• The combination of brick quoins with flint walls is common in (mostly older) buildings in this area of the Chilterns, Oxfordshire, England.

• A rare wall material is Cob which is similar to adobe. Devon, England.

• Round log barn in the skansen (open-air museum) in Sanok, Poland

• Hewn log barn painted red in Hedemora, Sweden.

• No walls are a characteristic of what in the United Kingdom is called a Dutch barn.

UsesEdit

The hay track developed in the early 19th century, here showing how the hay hood (roof extension) covers the track. The gable wall of this barn is missing.

In older style North American barns, the upper area was used to store hay and sometimes grain. This is called the mow (rhymes with cow) or the hayloft. A large door at the top of the ends of the barn could be opened up so that hay could be put in the loft. The hay was hoisted into the barn by a system containing pulleys and a trolley that ran along a track attached to the top ridge of the barn. Trap doors in the floor allowed animal feed to be dropped into the mangers for the animals.

In New England it is common to find barns attached to the main farmhouse (connected farm architecture), allowing for chores to be done while sheltering the worker from the weather.

In the middle of the twentieth century the large broad roof of barns were sometimes painted with slogans in the United States. Most common of these were the 900 barns painted with ads for Rock City.

In the past barns were often used for communal gatherings, such as barn dances.

FeaturesEdit

This barn in Thuringia, Germany has two outshots forming the recess to the middle barn doors.

A farm may have buildings of varying shapes and sizes used to shelter large and small animals and other uses. The enclosed pens used to shelter large animals are called stalls and may be located in the cellar or on the main level depending in the type of barn. Other common areas, or features, of an American barn include:

• a tack room (where bridles, saddles, etc. are kept), often set up as a breakroom
• a feed room, where animal feed is stored – not typically part of a modern barn where feed bales are piled in a stackyard
• a drive bay, a wide corridor for animals or machinery
• a silo where fermented grain or hay (called ensilage or haylage) is stored.
• a milkhouse for dairy barns; an attached structure where the milk is collected and stored prior to shipment
• a grain (soy, corn, etc.) bin for dairy barns, found in the mow and usually made of wood with a chute to the ground floor providing access to the grain, making it easier to feed the cows.
• modern barns often contain an indoor corral with a squeeze chute for providing veterinary treatment to sick animals.
• In North Yorkshire cowhouses would have a muck hole (muck’ole in the local dialect) to allow manure to be deposited outside the barn without the cowhand leaving the building.^[11]
• In North Yorkshire a cowhouse would have a small door or forking hole (forking’ole in the local dialect) high up on the wall to enable fodder to be ‘forked’ into the baux or baulks (hayloft).^[11]
• Some English barns would have a gin gang, a semi-circular extension added to house a horse engine.

DerivativesEdit

The physics term «barn», which is a subatomic unit of area, 10⁻²⁸ m², came from experiments with uranium nuclei during World War II, wherein they were described colloquially as «big as a barn», with the measurement officially adopted to maintain security around nuclear weapons research.

Barn idiomsEdit

• «He couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn» is a popular expression for a person having poor aim when throwing an object or when shooting at something.
• To «lock the barn door after the horse has bolted» implies that one has solved a problem too late to prevent it.
• «Were you born/raised in a barn?» is an accusation used differently in various parts of the English-speaking world, but most commonly as a reprimand when someone exhibits poor manners by either using ill-mannered language (particularly if related to manure), or leaving doors open.
• «Your barn door is open» is used as a euphemism to remind someone to zip the fly of their trousers.
• To «barnstorm» is to travel quickly around a large area making frequent public appearances.

TypesEdit

Barns have been classified by their function, structure, location, or other features. Sometimes the same building falls into multiple categories.

• Apple barn or fruit barn – for the storage of fruit crops
• Bank barn – A multilevel building built into a banking so the upper floor is accessible to a wagon, sometimes accessed by a bridge or ramp.
• Bastle house — a defensive structure to guard against border reivers with accommodation on the lower floor for livestock.
• Bridge barn or covered bridge barn – general terms for barns accessed by a bridge rather than a ramp.
• Boô – A sheep-barn and dwelling in the Netherlands, seasonal or sometimes year round.
• Pennsylvania barn (U.S.) of which there are sub-categories such as standard and sweitzer types. Also known as forebay or porch barns.
• Cantilever barn – a type of log crib barn with cantilevered upper floors which developed in Appalachia (U.S.A.)
• Combination barn — found throughout England, especially in areas of pastoral farming and the standard barn type in America. This general term means the barns were used for both crop storage and as a byre to house animals.^[16]
• Crib barn – Horizontal log structures with up to four cribs (assemblies of crossing timbers) found primarily in the southern U.S.A.
• Drying barns for drying crops in Finland and Sweden are called riihi and ria, respectively.
• New World Dutch Barn – A barn type in the U.S. Also see Dutch barn (U.K.) in Other farm buildings section below.
• New England barn — a common style of barn found in rural New England and in the U.S.
• English barn (U.S.), also called a Yankee or Connecticut barn – A widespread barn type in the U.S.
• Granary — to store grain after it is threshed, some barns contain a room called a granary, some barns like a rice barn blur the line between a barn and granary.
• Gothic arch barn, has profile shaped as a Gothic arch, which became feasible to be formed by laminated members
• Ground stable barn, a barn with space for livestock at ground level
• Housebarn, also called a byre-dwelling – A combined living space and barn, relatively common in old Europe but rare in North America. Also, longhouses were housebarns.
• Pole barn — a simple structure that consists of poles embedded in the ground to support a roof, with or without exterior walls. The pole barn lacks a conventional foundation, thus greatly reducing construction costs. Traditionally used to house livestock, hay or equipment.
• Potato barn or potato house– A semi-subterranean or two story building for storage of potatoes or sweet potatoes.
• Prairie barn – A general term for barns in the Western U.S.
• Rice barn and the related winnowing barn
• Round barn, built in a round shape the term often is generalized to the include polygonal barn and octagonal barn
• Swing beam barn – A rare barn type in part of the U.S. designed for threshing with animals walking around a pole held by a swing beam inside the barn.
• Tobacco barn – for drying of tobacco leaves
• Tithe barn — a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing the tithes — a tenth of the farm’s produce which had to be given to the church
• Threshing barn — built with a threshing floor for the processing and storage of cereals, to keep them in dry conditions. Characterised by large double doors in the centre of one side, a smaller one on the other, and storage for cereal harvest or unprocessed on either side. In England the grain was beaten from the crop by flails and then separated from the husks by winnowing between these doors. The design of these typically remained unchanged between the 12th and 19th centuries. The large doors allow for a horse wagon to be driven through; the smaller ones allow for the sorting of sheep and other stock in the spring and summer.^[17]

Other farm buildings often associated with barnsEdit

• Carriage house — cart shed
• Dutch barn (U.K.) — an open sided structure for hay storage. The type with a movable roof is called a hay barrack in the U.S or a hooiberg (kapberg) in the Netherlands.
• A corn crib —a well ventilated storage space for dried ears of maize (corn).
• A granary or hórreo — a storage space for threshed grains, sometimes within a barn or as a separate building.
• Linhay (linny, linney, linnies) — A shed, often with a lean-to roof but may be a circular linhay to store hay on the first floor with either cattle on the ground floor (cattle linhay), or farm machinery (cart linhay). Characterised by an open front with regularly spaced posts or pillars.
• Milk room or milk house — to store milk.
• Oast houses — an outbuilding used for drying hops as part of the brewing process.
• Shelter sheds — open-fronted structures for stock
• Shippon — a shed which houses oxen and cattle. Has fodder storage above, regularly spaced doors on the yard side, a pitching door or window on the first floor.
• Stable — Usually for housing horses.

Historic farm buildingsEdit

Barns and silo in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. These structures were torn down in March 2009.

Traditional Sasak rice barn in village of Sade, Lombok, Indonesia.

In Germany, due to the risk of fire, some hay barns were located in areas apart from houses in the inner town or village. These areas were called a Scheunenviertel, which translates as «barn quarter», from «Scheune», the German word for barn.^[18] This barn quarter is in Steinhude, Germany

Old farm buildings of the countryside contribute to the landscape, and help define the history of the location, i.e. how farming took place in the past, and how the area has been settled throughout the ages. They also can show the agricultural methods, building materials, and skills that were used. Most were built with materials reflecting the local geology of the area. Building methods include earth walling and thatching.

Buildings in stone and brick, roofed with tile or slate, increasingly replaced buildings in clay, timber and thatch from the later 18th century. Metal roofs started to be used from the 1850s. The arrival of canals and railways brought about transportation of building materials over greater distances.

Clues determining their age and historical use can be found from old maps, sale documents, estate plans, and from a visual inspection of the building itself, noting (for example) reused timbers, former floors, partitions, doors and windows.

The arrangement of the buildings within the farmstead can also yield valuable information on the historical farm usage and landscape value. Linear farmsteads were typical of small farms, where there was an advantage to having cattle and fodder within one building, due to the colder climate. Dispersed clusters of unplanned groups were more widespread. Loose courtyard plans built around a yard were associated with bigger farms, whereas carefully laid out courtyard plans designed to minimize waste and labour were built in the latter part of the 18th century.^[19][20]

The barns are typically the oldest and biggest buildings to be found on the farm. Many barns were converted into cow houses and fodder processing and storage buildings after the 1880s. Many barns had owl holes to allow for access by barn owls, encouraged to aid vermin control.

The stable is typically the second-oldest building type on the farm. They were well built and placed near the house due to the value that the horses had as draught animals

Modern granaries were built from the 18th century. Complete granary interiors, with plastered walls and wooden partitioning to grain bins, are very rare.

Longhouses are an ancient building where people and animals used the same entrance. These can still be seen, for example, in North Germany, where the Low Saxon house occurs.

Few interiors of the 19th century cow houses have survived unaltered due to dairy-hygiene regulations in many countries.

Old farm buildings may show the following signs of deterioration: rotting in timber-framed constructions due to damp, cracks in the masonry from movement of the walls, e.g. ground movement, roofing problems (e.g. outward thrust of it, deterioration of purlins and gable ends), foundation problems, penetration of tree roots; lime mortar being washed away due to inadequate weather-protection. Walls made of cob, earth mortars or walls with rubble cores are all highly vulnerable to water penetration, and replacement or covering of breathable materials with cement or damp-proofing materials may trap moisture within the walls.^[21][22]

In England and Wales some of these historical buildings have been given «listed building» status, which provides them some degree of archaeological protection.

Some grant schemes are available to restore Historic Farmland buildings, for example Natural England’s Environmental Stewardship, Countryside Stewardship and Environmentally Sensitive Areas Schemes.

See alsoEdit

• Barn Church, Kew
• Barn conversion
• Barn dance
• Barndominium
• National Barn Dance
• Barn raising
• Barnstar
• Barnyard
• Car barn
• Dairy
• Dovecote — built to house pigeons, which provided variety to the diets of high-status households and a rich source of manure. Examples survive from the medieval period.
• Farmhouse
• Functionally classified barn
• Gambrel roof
• Gin gang or round house — an extension to a threshing barn. It contained a horse driven engine, used to power a threshing machine. Sometimes called a wheel house. Water power and wind power were also used to drive the machine, and by the 1850s portable steam engine machines were used. Horse-engines, original threshing or winnowing machines are exceptionally rare.
• Goat tower
• Hayrack
• Historic Barns of Connecticut
• Ovinnik
• Scaffold (barn)
• Shed
• Treppenspeicher
• The Wonderful Barn

ReferencesEdit

External linksEdit

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Barns.

• Dairy Barn History
• www.thebarnjournal.org
• National Barn Alliance
• Books about barns
• Barn Again! program
• Timber Framers Guild
• Paper on barns in Hungry
• The Spanish borda (borde) is a type of barn or housebarn
• Excellent paper on historic barns, focus on Ohio, USA
• Barn types and information from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission Archived 2015-09-10 at the Wayback Machine

Having a few cats on the farm likely brings you a lot more benefits than drawbacks. These felines tend to take certain matters into their own paws, keeping order where the order is due. If you’re worried about the vermin population around your home and in your barn, cats are a hassle-free way to snuff this problem out.

If you’re looking to hire a feline farmhand to take on some responsibility, here are six of the best cats you can bring on board.

1. Maine Coon

Maine Coons were practically built for a life in the wild. They have gorgeous, long double-coats that protect them in the elements—so they’re perfect for outdoor venturing.

Female Maine Coons stay about the same size as ordinary house cats—maybe slightly bigger. However, males can get massive, weighing up to 20 pounds or more. These cats are built with heavy muscle, making them powerful and precise.

These cats make excellent hunters, dominating the mouse population in your barn to bare bones. If you could use a cat around the place for a little extra protection, the Maine Coon has you covered.

On top of being incredibly useful, these cats are also highly chill cats with relaxed and friendly personalities.

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2. Domestic Longhair & Shorthair

Saying “domestic longhair” or “domestic shorthair” is just a fancy way of calling an average cat with no particular bloodline or breed. You can find one of these variations just about anywhere—so it’s a great opportunity to find a cat that needs a home from a rescue shelter.

Because this isn’t a breed but rather a mixtape of genetics, they are inexpensive and easy to come by. People sell, give away, and rehome these cats all the time. You’d have no issue popping on sites like Craigslist, Hoobly, or social media groups to find people getting rid of kittens.

Both domestic long and shorthairs can be born in the same litter and have virtually any pattern or color. These cats can also drastically vary in personality. You never know just what you’ll get.

However, if they are survivalist-minded, they will be able to take care of the mouse population in your barn or just give you some company while you’re doing your duties.

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3. Japanese Bobtail

Japanese Bobtails are generally light, agile cats with very active personalities. Because of their sharpness and keen attention to detail, there isn’t any unwanted guest in your yard or barn that won’t be in danger. These kitties will take care of ground moles, mice, and even perching birds.

These short-tailed cuties are typically very social, getting along with every barnyard buddy around. But since they are so rare and potentially expensive, you might want to have an outdoor/indoor living situation to protect your cat from potential predators at night.

These cats are highly communicative and vocal, so you won’t wonder if they’ve eaten for the day. They have no trouble sharing their feelings or demanding attention.

Japanese Bobtail cats have very playful, fun-loving personalities. So, if you come out to entertain these cats, you will be met with enthusiasm and willingness to interact. If you have kids, this is really a terrific option, as they are loving and peppy.

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4. Siamese Cats

Siamese cats are one of the oldest cat breeds—and arguably one of the most recognizable. Luckily, even though they’re pretty expensive when you buy from a breeder, they can be relatively inexpensive otherwise. There are tons of Siamese and Siamese mixes at rescues and shelters everywhere.

Siamese cats are notorious for being highly vocal animals. So, it wouldn’t be unusual to get a greeting on your way to your car or when you’re out feeding your barnyard buddies. Even though they aren’t shy, they are sometimes rather particular about affection—which is ideal since they will spend a lot of their time without human contact.

On top of their quirks, Siamese cats are phenomenal hunters. They are highly alert, active, and agile. You won’t have much of a rodent problem with one of these guys around. Self-sufficient and born to thrive, the Siamese is hardy and useful on the farm.

You could buy a Siamese from a breeder. But since they’re barn cats, it’s way better to adopt from a local shelter.

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5. Feral Cats

Feral cats have been around the block a time or two, and they know exactly what is up. If you have no desire to start a relationship with this cat other than feeding, we highly suggest feral cats. They can come in any color, size, pattern, and weight within cat parameters, essentially.

If you or someone you know traps a feral cat, they might run off before they acclimate to the farm—there is always that risk. However, they usually stay where the food is. So, if you make a food source readily available, they will most likely stay for room and board.

They don’t mind an all-business relationship. Even if your feral cats travel nomadically, which is completely common (especially if they aren’t fixed), they will usually stop by every few days. It’s completely normal not even to see them for a week or two.

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6. Pixie Bob

Pixie Bobs actually got their start on a farm, having a barn cat mother. So, they already have feral roots. These kitties resemble their wild cousins, the bobcat. Even though it isn’t scientifically feasible that they are part bobcat, it’s still fun to imagine.

These cats are typically sensational hunters. They blend in well with the outdoors, too. They don’t stick out like a sore thumb because of their very neutral coloring. Even more exotic colored Pixie-bobs maintain a modest tone.

You will have a buddy around the barnyard, too. These kitties are very gentle and agreeable with people and animals alike. Even though they might like the chickens and dogs, they don’t share the same sentiment with intruding vermin.

Benefits of Cats on Farms

The obvious primary reason that people welcome cats to their farm is to control vermin. Even though rats and mice can be pesky and cause damage, there is a bigger reason they need to be controlled. These rodents can actually carry diseases that can subsequently affect their livestock.

Vermin can carry illnesses, such as:

A barn cat or two can definitely help you thin out the population and protect your assets.

Plus, you give these felines who might otherwise be completely homeless and provide them with a place to call home. Even though you aren’t looking for the close companionship cats offer, they still have food, safety, and all necessities met.

Conclusion

So, which one of these fantastic felines will be welcomed to the homestead? Any cat you get will surely be grateful for the new place to bunk, but there are a few things to consider. Will the cat be indoors and outdoors—or strictly outside?

If you have a strictly outdoor barn cat, you’d be better off finding free kittens or adopting rescues. Some cats can cost thousands of dollars, making life outside a real gamble. In any case, the cat or cats can really help you keep vermin away so you can protect your livestock organically.

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Featured Image Credit by: rihaij, Pixabay

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

• enPR: bärn, IPA^(key): /bɑrn/
  • (General American, Ireland) IPA^(key): [bɑɹn], [bɑɻn]
  • (Scotland) IPA^(key): [baɾn]
  • (NYC) IPA^(key): [bɒən]
  • (Received Pronunciation, General South African) IPA^(key): [bɑːn]
  • (New Zealand, parts of England) IPA^(key): [bɐːn]
  • (General Australian, Wales, Boston) IPA^(key): [baːn]
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)n

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English bern, from Old English bearn, bern, contracted forms of Old English berern, bereærn (“barn, granary”), compound of bere (“barley”) and ærn, ræn (“dwelling, barn”), from Proto-West Germanic *raʀn, from Proto-Germanic *razną (compare Old Norse rann), from pre-Germanic *h₁rh̥₁-s-nó-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁erh₁- (“to rest”).

More at rest and barley.

For the use as a unit of surface area, see w:Barn (unit) § Etymology.

Noun[edit]

barn (plural barns)

1. (agriculture) A building, often found on a farm, used for storage or keeping animals such as cattle.

   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 11, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients:

     One day I was out in the barn and he drifted in. I was currying the horse and he set down on the wheelbarrow and begun to ask questions.

2. (nuclear physics) A unit of surface area equal to 10⁻²⁸ square metres.
3. (informal, basketball, ice hockey) An arena.

   Maple Leaf Gardens was a grand old barn.

4. (slang) A warm and cozy place, especially a bedroom; a roost.

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

• Besses o’ th’ Barn

Verb[edit]

barn (third-person singular simple present barns, present participle barning, simple past and past participle barned)

1. (transitive) To lay up in a barn.

   • 1594, Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece, line 859:

     But like still-pining Tantalus he sits / And useless barns the harvest of his wits

   • 1645, Thomas Fuller, Good Thoughts in Bad Times; Good Thoughts in Worse Times; Mixt Contemplations in Better Times, page 165:

     Hypocrites, in like manner, so act holiness that they pass for saints before men, whose censures often barn up the chaff, and burn up the grain.

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English barn, bern, from Old English bearn (“child, son, offspring, progeny”) and Old Norse barn (“child”). Doublet of bairn. Cognate to Frisian bern («child/children»), Middle Dutch baren (“child”).

Noun[edit]

barn (plural barns)

1. (dialect, parts of Northern England) A child.

Synonyms[edit]

• (child): bairn

Translations[edit]

References[edit]

• barn at OneLook Dictionary Search
• “barn”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams[edit]

• Bran, NRAB, bran

Breton[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Celtic *barnati (“proclaim”). Cognate with Cornish barna.

Verb[edit]

barn

1. (transitive) To judge.

Inflection[edit]

Conjugation[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Danish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Danish barn, from Old Norse barn, from Proto-Germanic *barną. Compare English bairn.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /barn/, /b̥ɑːˀn/, [pɑ̈ˀn]

Noun[edit]

barn n (singular definite barnet, plural indefinite børn)

1. child (immature human)

   Dette er ikke et passende sted for børn.

   This is not a fitting place for children.

2. child (human offspring)

   Mine børn er alle flyttet hjemmefra.

   My children have all moved out.

Usage notes[edit]

In compounds: barn-, barne-, barns- or børne-.

Declension[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

• “barn” in Den Danske Ordbog

Faroese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse barn, from Proto-Germanic *barną, the passive participle of *beraną; cognate with Latvian bērns (“child”), Lithuanian bérnas (“servant”); from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): [ˈpatn]
• Rhymes: -atn

Noun[edit]

barn n (genitive singular barns, plural børn)

1. child

Declension[edit]

Declension of barn
n5	singular	plural
indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	barn	barnið	børn	børnini
accusative	barn	barnið	børn	børnini
dative	barni	barninum	børnum	børnunum
genitive	barns	barnsins	barna	barnanna

French[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

barn m (plural barns)

1. (physics) barn (unit)

Gothic[edit]

Romanization[edit]

barn

1. Romanization of 𐌱𐌰𐍂𐌽

Icelandic[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse barn, from Proto-Germanic *barną.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): [ˈpartn̥], (colloquial) [ˈpatn̥], (southeastern) [ˈparn]
• Rhymes: -artn, -atn

Noun[edit]

barn n (genitive singular barns, nominative plural börn)

1. child

Declension[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Italian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Unadapted borrowing from English barn.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /ˈbarn/
• Rhymes: -arn
• Hyphenation: bàrn

Noun[edit]

barn m (invariable)

1. (nuclear physics) barn (a unit of surface area)

Further reading[edit]

• barn in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell’Enciclopedia Italiana

Middle English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Inherited from Old English bearn, from Proto-West Germanic *barn, from Proto-Germanic *barną.

Alternative forms[edit]

• bern, bearn, bærn, barne, berne, baren

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /barn/, /baːrn/, /bɛrn/

Noun[edit]

barn (plural barnes or barnen)

2. A member of one’s immediate offspring or progeny.
3. A child, youth, or baby.

   • c. 1335-1361, William of Palerne (MS. King’s College 13), folio 6, recto, lines 198-199; republished as W. W. Skeat, editor, The Romance of William of Palerne‎^[1], London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1867, →OCLC, page 12:

     Hit tidde after on a time · as tellus our bokes / as þis bold barn his beſtes · blybeliche keped […]

     Afterwards, as our books record, it happened one day that / while this brave child was peacefully looking after his animals […]

4. A person; a member of humanity.
5. A younger soldier or fighter.

[edit]

Descendants[edit]

• English: barn (obsolete, dialectal)
  • Northumbrian: bairn
• Scots: bairn
  • → English: bairn
• Yola: barrn

References[edit]

• “bā̆rn, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-25.

Etymology 2[edit]

Noun[edit]

barn

2. Alternative form of bern (“barn”)

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse barn (“child”), from Proto-Germanic *barną (“child”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear, carry”).

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /bɑːɳ/

Noun[edit]

barn n (definite singular barnet, indefinite plural barn, definite plural barna or barnene)

1. child

Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

• “barn” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

• badn, bonn, bån

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse barn, from Proto-Germanic *barną (“child”), ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰer- (“to bear, carry”). The plural form born is from the Old Norse u-umlauted form bǫrn. This umlaut can also be seen in Icelandic börn and Danish and Faroese børn.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /baːrn/, /baːn/
• (palatal N) IPA^(key): /baːɲ/

Noun[edit]

barn n (plural barnet)

1. child

Inflection[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

[edit]

• bera (“to bear, carry”, verb)

References[edit]

• “barn” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Danish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse barn, from Proto-Germanic *barną.

Noun[edit]

barn n (genitive barns, plural børn)

1. child

Descendants[edit]

• Danish: barn

Old High German[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-West Germanic *barn, from Proto-Germanic *barną, whence also Old Saxon barn, Old English bearn, Old Norse barn.

Noun[edit]

barn n

1. child

Declension[edit]

Old Norse[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Germanic *barną, the passive participle of *beraną; cognate with Latvian bērns (“child”), Lithuanian bérnas (“servant”); from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-.

Noun[edit]

barn n (genitive barns, plural bǫrn)

1. child

Declension[edit]

Descendants[edit]

References[edit]

• “barn”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Old Saxon[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-West Germanic *barn, from Proto-Germanic *barną, whence also Old English bearn, Old High German barn, Old Norse barn.

Noun[edit]

barn n

1. child

Declension[edit]

Old Swedish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Norse barn, from Proto-Germanic *barną.

Noun[edit]

barn n

1. child

Declension[edit]

Descendants[edit]

• Swedish: barn

Polish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English barn.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /barn/
• Rhymes: -arn
• Syllabification: barn

Noun[edit]

barn m inan

1. (nuclear physics) barn (a unit of surface area equal to 10⁻²⁸ square metres)

Declension[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• barn in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• barn in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Spanish[edit]

Noun[edit]

barn m (plural barns)

1. (physics) barn

Further reading[edit]

• “barn”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Swedish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Swedish barn (“child”), from Old Norse barn (“child”), from Proto-Germanic *barną, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-. Cognate with Danish barn, Icelandic barn, Old Saxon barn, Old High German barn, Latvian bērns (“child”), Lithuanian bérnas (“worker”) and bernẽlis (“lad”), a kind of participle to bära (“to bear, to carry, as in childbirth”).

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /bɑːrn/, [bɑːɳ]

Noun[edit]

barn n

1. child (a young person)
2. (someone’s) child, offspring (a son or daughter)
3. descendant (e.g. children of Abraham)
4. a follower (e.g., God’s children)
5. (someone’s) creation, invention
6. (uncountable) barn (a unit of area in nuclear physics)

Declension[edit]

Declension of barn
	Singular	Plural
Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	barn	barnet	barn	barnen
Genitive	barns	barnets	barns	barnens

Synonyms[edit]

• unge

[edit]

See also[edit]

• pojke
• flicka

References[edit]

• barn in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• barn in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

Welsh[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Celtic *barnati from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerH-.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /barn/

Noun[edit]

barn f (plural barnau)

1. opinion, view
2. judgement, sentence

Derived terms[edit]

• barnu (“to adjudge; to pass sentence”)

Mutation[edit]

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
barn	farn	marn	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

How to Prepare

Safe Home Base

The more feral the cat, the more you should avoid locating their home-base shelter location near busy roads or high foot-traffic areas.

Supplies

Prep your holding/shelter area and collect your supplies prior to bringing the cats home. RCHS will provide you with some food to transition them onto your preferred food brand. This helps ensure they don’t develop gastrointestinal issues related to changes in diet, which can lead to diarrhea. Supplies List: wet cat food, dry cat food, cat treats, litter, large litterbox (ideally 1 box for each cat plus 1 extra), litter scoop, water and food bowls, washable beds, cardboard boxes for them to feel safe when hiding inside, catnip, cat toys, straw for extra insulation and bedding if appropriate.

Enclosed Space

If set free upon arrival, all cats will attempt to return to their former home and will likely become lost. So it’s vital that cats be confined in pre-installed large crates or completely contained enclosures or buildings for 3-4 weeks. Confinement allows the cats to adjust to the environment in safety and to accept it as their new home with you as their new caretaker.

Climate Control

They do need help with staying warm enough in the winter. If you don’t have a heated structure for them, you can check out many different kinds of small cat shelters here: alleycat.org/resources/feral-cat-shelter-options-gallery. Additionally, loose straw changed out seasonally is a wonderful insulator that cats will often burrow in because it does not retain moisture, but does retain heat well. This is particularly important if the shelter is exposed to the elements in any way. Pillows/towels/blankets can freeze when wet, creating an unintended cooling effect.

Cat Proofing

Remove any existing pest-control products that could poison or harm your new cats. That includes poisons, glue traps (flies/rodents), snap traps, etc. Ingesting poisoned rodents is also a danger. Be aware of any other chemicals on your property that might need more secure storage like antifreeze. Walk around your property to see if any other dangers might need removal like sharp objects near where they might be jumping, etc. If you want the cats to eventually eliminate away from the property, create a natural and attractive “litter box” option filled with sand or peat moss somewhere acceptable. If you want them to avoid certain areas like gardens, check out this resource for solutions and humane deterrents: alleycat.org/community-cat-care/humane-deterrents.

Upon Arrival

Settling In

During the first few days, the cats will expeditiously try to find a way out. Most cats settle down when they realize that no harm will befall them. While they are confined, they must have clean water, fresh food, and clean (or scooped) litter at least once each day. The larger the litterbox, the better, and models with high sides can keep litter better contained.

Routine

Feeding canned wet food during the confinement period appears to help them accept their new home. We also suggest creating a routine by feeding the wet food every day at approximately the same time that’s convenient for you, although it is very common for feral cats to only feel comfortable eating what you leave for them after dark while not in your presence. Cats love structure and dislike change, so creating a daily feeding schedule will help them adjust and thrive and you will find them anxiously waiting for you at meal times as your relationship progresses. Continue to do this after the cats are released and this will encourage the cats to come back for food every day at the same time so that you can check on them. Feeding frequency of wet food can be done 1-3 times a day according to your preference and schedule. Cats burn more calories in winter, so scale up your food portions to accommodate their nutritional needs. Cats will hunt rodents whether they are hungry or not, so there’s no need to withhold food for that purpose and if they are not fed, they will likely leave your property. If insects become a problem, you can purchase ant-proof bowls and/or sprinkle food-grade diatomaceous earth on the ground intermittently. If flies are present, only put down food portions that can be consumed within 20 minutes. Do not put up adhesive fly tape strips that have any chance of being reachable by the cats as you can imagine how enticing a dangling item with flies on it would appear to a cat.

Hydration

Fresh water is extremely important for cats and their health. They are typically poor drinkers and often need their water to be very clean to encourage drinking. Cats are particular and you may find that a pet water fountain with moving water will encourage them to drink more, although they will rarely do so in your presence. All bowls should be cleaned out with low-fragrance soap regularly (water bowls at least 1-2 times a week) as biofilms that develop can be harmful. Additionally, water bowls should be kept a distance (ideally 4+ feet) away from their food bowls, as they instinctually assume a water source near food could be contaminated and will avoid drinking as a result. If freezing water becomes a problem, you can purchase solar or heated bowls. And if you have concerns regarding dehydration, you can also add small amounts of water to their wet food.

Bonding with Treats

Cat treats also assist in forming a bond between you and your new cats. They can be used to show that delicious rewards happen when you enter a room or are cleaning their spaces. They will likely be too nervous to take them from your hands, but gently tossing them within their reach will be just as advantageous.

Cat “Whistle”

Caretakers are encouraged to make some kind of audio cue when they feed at each meal. That can be you whistling certain notes or any other (non-scary) noise or tone that will travel over a distance if you need it to. The goal of this is to create a mental association for the cats that when they hear that audio cue that a meal follows. If a cat is missing, you can use that audio cue to call and have them return to you.

Cat Whisperer

Try not to co-mingle other animal scents when handling items that will be in their home-base space. That can be as simple as washing your hands to washing/drying bedding in their own load of laundry without other pet items. Speak softly and avoid jarring loud noises in their space. Avoid sustained eye contact so they don’t misinterpret your interest as aggression or predatory behavior. Blinking very slowly at them gives them a nonverbal cue that you are not an aggressor of any kind. And sometimes, they will blink back to show their trust! Try not get frustrated if they continue to run from your approach – some cats will be capable of forming relationships that allow touching and some never will. Their fear of the unknown was a honed survival skill that kept them alive before you came into their life and is part and parcel of loving a feral soul. They appreciate you even when they cannot show it in a traditional domesticated manner.

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