"SIXTY CATS KEPT OUR FIVE BARNS CLEAR OF RATS!"

Guest post

********************************
BY WYLIE DOUGHERTY
********************************

***************
BARNS #2
***************

At our ranch north of Clovis, we had several barns, each with a different function. When we moved back from Yeso to that ranch after WWII, the barns were over-run with rats, so Daddy solved the problem with a handful (eight) of cats; they in turn multiplied to about sixty cats, so no more rats. This made the barns useful again.

                                THE MILK BARN and the SADDLE HOUSE

On the north side of the corrals we had a Milk Barn where we milked our cows and suckled our feeder calves. Attached to this was our Saddle House where we kept our saddles, harnesses, and other tack. Also in there we had a DeLaval cream separator to separate the cream from the milk. The cream was a money crop, sold to Campbell Lockers in Clovis, except for the cream that Momma kept for cooking, and of course churning our butter! The skim milk was fed to the pigs, since we drank only whole milk. Milking by hand took place morning and night, before breakfast and before supper.

                                   THE CAKE HOUSE and the FEED BARN

On the other side of the corrals was the Cake House, where we stored cubed cake from El Rancho Milling. This we fed to the cows, calves, and horses. This cake supply was used especially in the winter to feed the cattle in the pastures, as well as the animals which we fed in the corrals and barns.

Near to the Milk Barn was a long Feed Barn where we stored bundles of feed and bales of hay, which was used to feed the stock when the grasses weren't adequate. One of my chores on Saturday night after "tom-catting" around in Clovis was to go out to El Rancho and pick up a load of cake---20 sacks (2000 pounds) to bring home. It had to be unloaded and stacked before I went to bed.

                                                THE GRANARY

The other barn, located a hundred yards from the Cake House was the Granary. It had six bins for grain storage, with a drive-through so trucks could go in and unload/load grains. We stored wheat or sorghum grains as needed. Some were for feed and some were seed for planting.

Each of our barns was substantially different in architecture. The  Milk Barn and Saddle House had a roof that sloped to the rear, while the cake House and Feed Barn each had a peaked roof which drained off both sides; the Granary was also peaked and shingled. All the other barns had corrugated metal roofs, which played music when it hailed!

                                       FAVORITE COZY BARN!

My favorite barn was the Saddle House, where I could sleep if I needed to, and did many times, like when we had a big rain and I couldn't get to the main house, 200 yards away. Rain and hail storms were not so noisy there, due to the shingled roof. I also slept in the Cake House all night several times; bed was sacks of El Rancho cattle cubes.

  Momma and Daddy raised nine children, counting me, out there on that ranch, so they needed those five barns!

                                      ****************************************
(Mil's Note: We appreciate Wylie's well-written account of barns (and life) on a Clovis-area ranch in the 40's and 50's. He is a member of Clovis High School, Class of '53.

His older brother, Noel, was a member of my Class of '51. We don't often remember when we first met people, but I well remember meeting Noel in Ms. Evan's Junior High Geometry class, first day of school, 1946. He had his lunch in a bucket or pail, and I learned he was a "farm kid." We were desk-mates in that geometry class. He was a nice, friendly, congenial, non-pretentious, kid.  We were friends all the way through to graduation, and then our paths parted. I remember Noel fondly.

Thank you, Wylie for writing about your experiences.

*********30*********
By MIL and WYLIE  DOUGHERTY
8/23/12





Sent from my iPad