Jill, I agree that the film is pretty neat. Was it just me or did some of the cattle shown in the old footage look like some of the Angus cattle being promoted today? Also I agree with your comment on the barn. I have a big barn ( it would be close to twice the size of the one in the film) that was built by my grandfather in 1918. It is as straight as the day it was build, however, it need the roof replaced. After three years of trying to get some quotes on covering this big barn with steel,siding I finally got one contractor to come.( it is hard to get construction, plumbers, electricians etc here as they have more work than they can handle) His quote was $55,000 for this job, so my big barn is now a big problem. I could build a nice new calving barn/ show barn for less than what it will cost to repair my old barn. I hate to see the old barn fall apart, which is what will happen if it is not repaired, but I am not certain if the repair costs could be recouped in the selling price of the farm.
My grandfather travelled to British Columbia by train, to select the lumber for the barn. Some of it is quite amazing. The rafters are 3X12 ( or 14) and you cannot find a knot in any of them. These planks are at least 50 ft long.. maybe even longer. I was told the were a few feet longer than the rail car that delivered them.
When I was younger, we used to put over 10,000 square bales in the loft. I think of that now and shutter at the thought of that much weight overhead. Now the loft is hardly used, except for a few bales for stormy days.
