Busy at the barns

Larry Nash demonstrates one of the Louden hay carriers at Maasdam Barns in Fairfield. The barns hosted a Fairfield Area Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours event Thursday, where Nash and other Friends of Maasdam Barns gave tours of the property. This particular hay carrier Nash is holding is for gripping loose hay. Volunteers demonstrated the use of another style of hay carrier, one for gripping hay bales, later that evening. Nash is standing in the mare barn, built in 1910 for large draft horses. That's why it's made of concrete and steel instead of the typical wood, like the milk barn was built of when it was constructed four years earlier. The milk barn was built from wood recycled from other barns.