Basement calf pens... yuk! What's hanging from the ceiling?

W.T. died in 1943 and his widow had a huge 3-day auction sale of the farm and all its contents. This was such an important local event that the schools were dismissed. The new owner became Harry Goeringer.

Mr. Goeringer rented the barn to Adolph Steinberger, a grocery store owner from the nearby town of Parsons. He was apparently quite successful with a 75-cow dairy herd and a daily milk production of 2000 pounds that earned a monthly milk check of $3800. During the 1940s and 50s Mr. Steinberger each year filled the huge hay loft with 10,000 bales of hay, and grain was purchased 12-tons at a time. Apparently this operation lasted until the early 1960s when Adolph Steinberger retired.

The next operator was Merle Thomas who ran a beef cow-calf operation until the Friedmans purchased the property in 2003. It was only recently that Mr. Thomas died at the age of 87.

The barn had been neglected for many years. The Friedman's found the lower level packed with 18" of accumulated manure, the cow stanchions and calf pens were broken and rusted, the roof leaked, plywood had been substituted for doors, siding was rotted and peeling paint was everywhere. The barn's electrical and water service was almost non-existent.

Fencing! No wonder the cows were always on the road.

Fencing had been repaired with baling twine, barbed wire and even mattress springs. Once beautiful dry fieldstone walls lay in heaps and weeds, snakes and snapping turtles were in profusion. In short, W.T.'s showplace barn and farm was no more.

Immediately after their purchase Allison and Rob undertook the daunting task of rescuing the magnificent barn. The lower level was gutted, power washed and painted. Feed bunks installed for the dairy were removed by jack hammers and eight new box horse stalls were built. A bathroom and heated tack room were located on the lower level and all 62 basement window replaced. Likewise the four doors on the basement level were replaced by custom built ones.