Wright Co. barn beloved since 1948
-Messenger photo by Clayton Rye <br> Clark and Doris Trager have used the barn for many different kinds of animals since moving onto the acreage in 1997.
-Messenger photo by Clayton Rye <br> The main floor of the barn remains much like how it was originally built, with the stanchions still in place.
-Messenger photo by Clayton Rye <br> Clark and Doris Trager have used the barn for many different kinds of animals since moving onto the acreage in 1997.
-Messenger photo by Clayton Rye <br> The main floor of the barn remains much like how it was originally built, with the stanchions still in place.
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ROWAN -- "I put a lot of hay in that barn." That was Jim Avery's first response when talking about the barn that was owned by his grandparents, Dillard and Luelda Tudor.
Avery believes that after World War II, farmers had a lot of money because during the war, buying anything would not be patriotic.
In 1948, Dillard Tudor had this 40-by-36-foot barn built as a dairy barn, and Avery believes it came with an unusual feature -- a premade roof.
The Tudors, who were married in 1929, had a daughter, Annie, who married Robert Avery, and they are Jim's parents.
When Robert Avery returned from the Korean War, he was asked if he wanted to farm.
He did, buying a piece of ground just one mile northwest of the Tudors, which is where Jim Avery grew up.
The Tudors milked six to eight cows and raised Angus beef cattle. Their Angus cattle became popular with 4-H kids. Jim Avery recalls there were always a lot of geese and other fowl around the barn.
Putting up hay was a family event. Avery's mother Annie drove the baler, with his dad, Robert, on the hay rack. Avery said his grandmother Luelda drove a pickup that was attached to the rope used to lift the hay into the haymow.
Because his parents were out in the hay field, Luelda would take care of Jim and his brother by giving them coloring books and crayons as they rode with their grandmother back and forth in the pickup. Avery said there were 12 dumps of hay on a flat rack.
At the end of the day, the haying crew would enjoy cold meat sandwiches and soft drinks.
The acreage was sold off from the farm in 1996 to area residents Clark and Doris Trager, who were looking to move to an acreage. In 1997, the Tragers moved in and kept a wide variety of animals in the barn.
Clark Trager said there were seven head of sheep for a couple years, four-horned goats, Angora goats, chickens, a horse, mules, donkeys and three pigs, which presumably fell from a truck and that their daughter found on the road.
The donkeys have been in the barn for the last 10 years, including both standard and miniature-sized donkeys. Currently, three donkeys are kept in the barn.
"We've never had a cow in the barn," said Clark Trager.
The Tragers have left the barn in the same condition as when they arrived, with new shingles put on in 2019. Trager said his wife Doris keeps the barn weather tight.
"She's out there with a caulk gun when she sees a leak," said Trager.