The Evolution of Haying: Hay barn styles, Mows and Hay Fork Carriers

Image Gallery Sketch of a typical hay fork operation.

In the old days, barns were built long, wide and relatively low. Hay mows were kept low since the hay had to be pitched into them by a man on a wagon. The older of the two barns on the farm where I grew up was built around 1840, and was supported by two hay mows, one on either side of a center driveway. Each mow was built of logs in a large square, very much like a log cabin, except the spaces between the logs weren't chinked. On the side toward the center of the barn floor, logs were cut out to provide opening, which allowed hay to be thrown into (or out of) the mow. These three openings were one above the other and each was about three feet high and six feet long. The lowest was probably about four feet above the barn floor, while the highest was no more than 14. These mows were filled by a man pitching the hay into one of the openings and one or two others moving it back - hot, hard work.

About the middle of the 19th century, tools for placing hay in barns such as forks, slings and mechanical hay carriers, began to be developed. This allowed barns to be built higher and narrower than before, and cheaper as well, since the roof was the most expensive part of a building. It was necessary to keep the area beneath the ridge pole free from cross beams as much as possible since these interfered with the movement of the hay handling equipment along the length of the barn.

Barns were generally constructed in one of four styles, each of which required a different layout of the hay carrier track. A single-end hoist barn allowed hay to be taken into the mow at only one end of the barn, usually through a large door high in the peak of the gable end. The double-end hoist barn was similar, but had a door in each gable end. The hay carrier track ran three or four feet outside the end of the barn, where it was supported by extensions on the ridge pole. A center drive barn had a driveway running through the middle, between mows, and hay was lifted and carried to either the right or left mow as destined. Some barns were round or octagonal (legend has it that this prevented the devil from cornering a person inside). These barns required special equipment.