History of California barns

Compiled by Managing Editor Stevie Ipsen

For the vast majority of Americans, agriculture and history are not the first topics that come to mind when thinking of California. But no matter what area of California you consider, the agricultural roots in our nation’s 31st state far precede it as a vacation destination, celebrity mecca or political powerhouse.

Shown here are what are recognized by the National Registry of Historical Places (NRHP) as California’s oldest agricultural barns. As with all history, detailed records have not been kept on each of these structures, but what is documented enforces the fact that as one of our countries largest states, the agricutural significance of California’s history extends to all of it’s borders. Though it very well may be likely that older barns have existed, these are the ones that still stand today and have been researched and accepted by NRHP.

Old Adobe Barn, also known as Adobe Post Office, is a historic barn in La Grange. It is the oldest building in the town being built prior to 1850 by the first French settlers in the area. It was used as a post office. The barn is made of adobe bricks on the side walls, and of wooden planks on the southern facade.

Constructed of adobe bricks, the barn is a representative example of a distinctive architectural technology practiced by the Spanish pre-1850 and by some of the first Californians. The slightly raised slate foundation is also typical of building practices of this period.

The De Turk Round Barn in Santa Rosa, was a round barn that was built in 1891 by Santa Rosa Winery owner De Turk. It was used for his champion trotter horses until his death in 1896. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

It was significant as one of very few round or polygonal barns surviving in Northern California.

Nestled in the charming historic West End neighborhood, the stunning DeTurk Round Barn is among California’s oldest truly round buildings. Isaac DeTurk, one of the county’s first winery owners, built the barn in 1891 as a horse stable for his prize-winning stallion. A renovation in 2011 has brought this historic building into the current century. The building serves as a popular wedding venue in the Santa Rosa area.

The McCauley and Meyer Barns in Yosemite National Park are the last barns in the park that retain their original characteristics as structures built by homesteaders. The McCauley barn and the two Meyer barns represent different construction techniques and styles of design.

The McCauley Barn was built about 1883 by Irishborn James McCauley, who operated hotels in the Yosemite Valley. McCauley’s ranch was to be his winter home, since Glacier Point, where he operated the Glacier Point Mountain House, was not suitable for winter living. McCauley purchased the land in 1883 and began to live full-time at the ranch in 1897. McCauley’s son Fred inherited the ranch after James’ death in an automobile accident in 1911. Fred dispersed the property, which became known as “Foresta” and was unoccupied after 1955.

The National Park Service acquired the ranch in 1974. The barn is a wood structure, with a log cribwork core using V-notched joints, measuring 40 feet (12 m) by 80 feet (24 m). A long center bay is flamed by two more open bays along the long axis of the barn. The overhanging gable roof structure is peeled logs, once covered with wood shingles but now covered with sheet metal. The logs were not chinked, and are presently sheathed with vertical boards. The design is unusual. The “Mormon Pole Barn” style dates to the 1850s in the Genesee Valley.

George Meyer operated a homestead established by his brother Henry in the 1870s in Big Meadow. A ship carpenter in Germany, Meyer married James McCauley’s niece Elizabeth in 1900, acquiring the McCauley Ranch in 1923. Meyer Barn No. 1 is a saltbox-shaped timber-framed structure built in the early 1880s. The principal portion of the barn measures 30 feet (9.1 m) by 20 feet (6.1 m), with a lean-to addition 30 feet (9.1 m) by 16 feet (4.9 m). The barn is sheathed in vertical wood siding with a steeplypitched metal roof. The framing is believed to have been built flat and raised into position in five bents.

Meyer Barn No. 2, nearby Barn No. 1 in Big Meadow, is similar in character to the McCauley Barn, measuring about 50 feet (15 m) square, with a hipped roof. It was built in the late 1870s. The center consists of a 25-foot (7.6 m) high saddle-notched log crib that supports the center of the steep roof. The crib was surrounded by stalls for livestock on three sides. The exterior wall is a frame structure covered in vertical board sheathing. The log roof structure was covered with shingles, now by sheet metal.

The barns were listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 15, 1978.

The Bowerman Barn is a historic barn located on Guy Covington Drive southwest of Trinity Center. The barn was built in 1878 by Jacob Bowerman, a local cattle rancher. Bowerman built the barn by hand with whipsawn pine wood and board and batten siding, and the barn is a relatively uncommon example of such a hand-crafted design. The barn served as part of Bowerman’s ranch, which originally included a ranch house, milk house and wagon shed, all of which burned down. Bowerman sold beef and dairy products to wholesalers and businesses in Minersville, and his business played a significant role in the development of the regional economy. Bowerman died in 1917, and the barn was subsequently used for sheep farming and storage until the U.S. Forest Service purchased the property in 1974.

The barn was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 20, 1981

Edgemoor Farm Dairy Farm Barn was built as part of a dairy farm in 1913 in Santee, in San Diego County. Edgemoor was part of a Spanish land grant to Maria Antonio Estudillo who married Miguel de Pedrorena, a native of Madrid. By the 1850s, through a variety of ways, individuals obtained portions of the grant and began to farm. Walter Hamlin Dupee purchased Edgemoor Farm in 1913 and built it into a national award-winning dairy farm, polo pony ranch and early tourist attraction.

Such was his prominence that the Guernsey Breeders Association in 1921 called his place “the foremost authority and breeder in the U.S.”, having given the most grand champions at this ranch founded by John and Walter Dupee. Dupee said, “I am interested in pure breeding stock, modern equipment and scientific methods, which I place at the disposal of all dairymen.” A series of personal setbacks and problems brought Dupee to sell Edgemoor to Godfrey L. Strobeck.

On May 16, 1986, the Santee Barn was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The Pereira Octagon Barn of San Luis Obispo is a historically and culturally important structure located on the southern outskirts of San Luis Obispo, California. It was built in 1906 by Henri LaFranchi (a young ItalianSwiss immigrant and the owner of a small meat market), John Damaso (an Azorean immigrant and a carpenter by trade) and a third, unknown man (identified only as a “milk farmer”). Since there were no other octagonal barns in the area, the builders may have worked from patterns of octagonal construction in farm journals or catalogs.

The first user of the barn was Italian-Swiss immigrant Antonio Stornetta, who leased the barn for his Santa Fe Dairy operation until 1917. Joaquin and Josephine Pereira, with Josephine’s sister Eleanor and Eleanor’s husband Manuel Garcia, purchased the property in 1920 and made it part of an adjoining dairy operation in the Los Osos Valley. They were typical of many first- and second-generation Portuguese Americans, who followed in the footsteps of the Italian-Swiss in the dairy business. The Pereira-Garcia operation was called the Home Dairy. It had a pasteurization and bottling plant at 719 Higuera Street and made daily milk deliveries throughout the city of San Luis Obispo. Dairy operations continued into the 1950s when small-scale dairy operations were no longer economically viable. The barn then supported a small-scale cattle operation and some row-crop farming. The property was purchased in 1994 by John and Howard Hayashi, who three years later entered into a lease agreement with the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County. The Land Conservancy has restored the barn, which will be used as a community gathering place

The Octagon Barn (5000 sq. ft.) is made with redwood timbers and has a new, custom shingled replacement redwood roof. There is a cupola on top reaching over 40 feet above the floor. The barn is accompanied by a 2,000-square-foot milking parlor (1938) and a calf barn.

from Estrotec Breeding Indicator

Breeding productivity with artificial insemination (AI) has come a long way on U.S. cattle ranches. Advancements in technology and research show improvements in breeding results and confidence in AI across the country. Use of AI rose 4 percent in the U.S. from 2007 to 2017, with 11.6 percent of beef operations implementing AI during 2017, according to the USDA National Animal Health Monitoring System’s (NAHMS) Beef survey reports from those years.

“Using AI in your herd requires a long-term approach,” says Clint Sexson, large herd specialist for All West Beef/Select Sires. “The rewards may not be instantaneous, but a view toward the future can lead to gains in your overall herd management program.”

In the western U.S. where Sexson breeds thousands of beef cattle each year, AI has more momentum than the national average; 13.6 percent of western operations use the breeding tactic. Sexson says successful AI takes a willingness to accept advice and adjust management strategies that work for your herd.

Here are three keys to help set your AI breeding program up for success. Breed using visual estrus detection

Prepare year-round for more pregnancies

It takes a year-round focus to get cows and heifers ready for AI. But, it doesn’t require anything out of the ordinary. Just good management principles.

Start by having cattle in good body condition score (BCS).

“As old as the concept of body condition scoring is, a lot of producers underestimate by a full body condition score,” says Sexson. “It’s super costly when a cow’s body condition score is too low because she won’t breed back in a timely manner.”

Ideally, cows and heifers should be in an average BCS 4.5 to 6 year-round. Following calving they may dip below that mark, so plan to provide supplemental nutrition to set them up for breeding success.

Good health also allows females to perform well reproductively. If you can coordinate vaccinations and deworming ahead of breeding, you will provide extra immune support so the body can focus on reproduction.

The reproductive tract plays an integral role. For virgin heifers, taking pelvic scores and rectally palpating the reproductive tract ahead of breeding can save time and money – allowing you to avoid spending resources on females that aren’t ready or won’t breed.

Sexson recommends against AI for cows that have a tough time calving because their reproductive tracts might be damaged. Make sure to take note of any cows needing assistance during the calving season.

Handling cattle using low-stress techniques matters,

too.

“At the chute when breeding cattle, a technician can see and feel an obvious difference between cattle that have been mishandled and those that are handled carefully,” says Sexson. “Stressed or mishandled females won’t be easy to breed, and this can negatively affect breeding rates.”

The traditional method of estrus detection is to watch cattle mount one another and look for hair being rubbed on the backside. But there are existing tools to make this easier. Tools such as breeding indicator patches help visibly show estrus activity so you can save time by not watching cattle all day.

A breeding indicator patch helps identify when cattle are expressing high estrus intensity indicated by more mounting activity. As mounting activity occurs, the patch surface ink rubs off to expose a bright indicator color.

Sexson routinely uses breeding indicator patches when AI breeding, and his preferred protocol is split-time AI. He applies breeding indicator patches after pulling CIDRs (controlled intravaginal drug release) and then observes the results 60 hours later. At this point, Sexson likes to see 55 percent to 65 percent of cattle expressing high estrus intensity by observing at least half of the surface ink rubbed off the patches.

“If I wait another 12 to 18 hours, which would be 72 to 78 hours after applying the patches, estrus expression rises to 75 percent to 85 percent of the herd,” says Sexson. “That high level of estrus intensity across the herd drives up conception.”

High estrus intensity occurs when at least 50 percent of the surface ink is rubbed off breeding indicator patches. Cattle can be bred with more success when estrus intensity is high. High estrus intensity also leads to less embryonic losses after breeding. Should patches have less than 50 percent of surface ink rubbed off, consider using cheaper straws of semen because the likelihood of pregnancy is reduced.

“Using a breeding indicator patch in any breeding protocol is an insurance policy to let me know if anything might have gone wrong during the process and to better time breeding across the herd,” says Sexson.

Set realistic expectations, see economic returns Getting 100 percent of the herd to settle and breed to first service AI is a lofty goal. However, it isn’t necessarily realistic. Having half the herd or more breed to AI is more in line with industry standards and is beneficial to overall herd profitability.

“If you have 100 cows, and you want 50 percent of them calving the first 10 days of the calving season, your bulls are not going to accomplish that,” says Sexson. “It’s not that the bulls can’t breed the cows. The cows just aren’t going to be set up in such a fashion that you’re going to get 50% of the calves in 10 days.”

Sexson says it’s possible to get 60 percent or 70 percent of the herd bred in the first 30 days with natural service if your management is good. With AI, you can get 70 percent of the herd successfully bred on the first service. This puts you in position for most of your herd to calve in the first 10 days. Frontloading the calving season with AI helps raise weaning weights because the average age of calves rises. You can also reap the benefits of uniform calf crops at marketing to help benefit your bottom line.

Woodhill Authentic

SIRE: #+*KM Broken Bow 002

*Spring Cove Liza 021

DAM:

#*Hoover Dam

Woodhill Evergreen R53-U181 Balanced genetic profi le with indexes into the top 2% for $Maternal and 5% $Beef, that elevates his $Combined to a top 1% breed rank Pathfi nder Dam records WR 4@110, YR 4@107 and has IMF 6@112 with REA 6@103 wrapped in a 370-day calving interval

CED BW WW

PRODUCTION YW

RADG DMI YH SC HP CEM

MATERNAL MILK MW MH $EN DOC

MANAGEMENT CLAW ANGLE PAP CW

CARCASS MARB RE FAT $M $W

$VALUES $F $G $B

$C +7 +.3 +83 +147 +.30 +1.83 +.5 +.57 +16.8 +11 +34 +70 +.5 -27 +27 +.44 +.50 +.58 +64 +1.08 +.98 -.032 +92 +88 +103 +82 +184 +331

45% 30% 5% 5% 15% 95% 55% 70% 10% 25% 10% 45% 40% 80% 15% 25% 60% 35% 15% 10% 10% 5% 2% 1% 15% 3% 5% 1%

SIRE: #+*KM Broken Bow 002

#*Casino Annie K48

DAM: #*V A R Discovery 2240

+*Spruce Mtn Blackbird 2318

CED Curve-bending EPD profi le with a double-digit CED and top 5% for YW EPD. Outstanding carcass with top 1% CW, top 25% Marbling, and top 10% Ribeye to put him in the top 1% for $Beef Excellent for management with top 20% Docility EPD and top 15% for PAP EPD as well. As a yearling, he charted a PAP score of 35 at elevation. He is an impressive individual with added muscle shape with impeccable skeletal design.

BW WW

PRODUCTION YW

RADG DMI YH SC HP CEM

MATERNAL MILK MW MH $EN DOC

MANAGEMENT CLAW ANGLE PAP CW

CARCASS MARB RE FAT $M $W

$VALUES $F $G $B

$C +10 +.4 +81 +145 +.29 +1.65 +.6 +1.30 +10.5 +8 +33 +92 +.5 -37 +25 +.55 +.40 -.44 +84 +.84 +.94 -.002 +64 +82 +130 +67 +198 +321

20% 35% 10% 5% 20% 90% 45% 25% 70% 55% 10% 20% 40% 95% 20% 75% 15% 15% 1% 25% 10% 30% 50% 3% 1% 15% 2% 2%

SIRE: Poss Easy Impact 0119

Baldridge Blackbird A030

DAM:

#*K C F Bennett Southside

Jamesland S V F Reba 911J Powerful genetic profi le with top 2% growth and carcass to match, and sits today as the #3 son of Alternative in the breed for $Combined Value A solid 6-frame bull that excels in length and power and moves out with great reach and fl exibility off both ends

CED BW WW

PRODUCTION YW

RADG DMI YH SC HP CEM

MATERNAL MILK MW MH $EN DOC

MANAGEMENT CLAW ANGLE PAP CW

CARCASS MARB RE FAT $M $W

$VALUES $F $G $B

$C +8 +3.4 +89 +159 +.36 +1.31 +.8 +1.52 +13.7 +14 +19 +97 +.9 -32 +25 +.52 +.55 +1.22 +91 +1.04 +1.09 -.040 +72 +68 +147 +82 +229 +369

35% 90% 2% 2% 1% 70% 25% 15% 35% 4% 95% 15% 10% 90% 20% 60% 80% 50% 1% 15% 3% 3% 30% 20% 1% 3% 1% 1%

www.grimmiuscattle.com