why do farmers keep barns that are falling down? (acres, soil, land)

[Mathguy]

My dad took one down on the family farm but was methodical and understands structures pretty well.

However, that's a barn that is still structurally sound.

Once it starts sagging etc.....you are really taking chances if you start cutting as you don't know how that's going to shift.

At that point your best bet would be to cut some small holes....snake a chain around a support beam and pull with a tractor until it's a heap. (Repeat as needed)

[ABQConvict]

Originally Posted by RyanR

Spending $20K to disassemble the barn to recoup $10K of lumber doesn't make financial sense.

For liability reasons and the inherent danger of disassembling an old barn, you can't have amateurs doing it.

Well, true. There is a cost/benefit balance there.

[VJDAY81445]

A 5 gallon can full of gasoline and a box of wooden stick matches

cost.............about $15

[karlsch]

Many of them are trick barns.

They are designed to fall down and crush city-folk trying to steal weathered barn wood.

The farmers then take the city-folks' wallets and other valuables and bury the bodies in their fields - they make good fertilizer.

They then pull the trick barns back up with their tractors to reset them.

[StealthRabbit]

why do farmers keep barns that are falling down?

Built a barn lately?

Impossible to fund a 'nostalgic' structure, and a 'pole barn' is just not the same. Both are crazy expensive.

I keep my old barns as long as possible. I have rebuilt a few.
Labor of love. (one of many on a farm...) Fit it in as time permits (unlikely too much free time available, very unlikely you can afford to pay someone to help preserve your barn)

[Linda_d]

Originally Posted by VJDAY81445

A 5 gallon can full of gasoline and a box of wooden stick matches

cost.............about $15

No, you call your local VFD and donate your barn to them for a training exercise.

[VJDAY81445]

Originally Posted by Linda_d

No, you call your local VFD and donate your barn to them for a training exercise.

Not where I lived.

I called and they said.............." no thanks, not interested. Burn it yourself, but get a permit and be careful "

[duster1979]

Originally Posted by Rivertowntalk

If they let them rot, it can help devalue the property, in general, which may help reduce the property taxes.

Not true at all.

Property and improvements are generally assessed separately. If a piece of land is worth $X, it's worth $X regardless of the condition of any improvements. Any standing structure is going to be assessed at a higher value than no structure at all, so you're going to pay more in taxes on a piece of property with a dilapidated barn than a piece of property with no barn at all.

That being said, an old building with an assessed value of $500 only costs the property owner a few bucks in taxes a year so the cost of tearing it down usually isn't justified in terms of tax savings.

I agree that most barns are left because of the hassle and expense of tearing them down and the lack of motivation to do so. But many, especially on farms that have been in the same family for generations, are left for sentimental reasons as the owners often see them as a link to their ancestors.

[openmike]

Their slobs?

[duster1979]

Originally Posted by openmike

Their slobs?

Whose slobs?