A
barn is an agricultural building primarily located on
farms and used for various purposes. In the
North American area, a barn refers to structures that house
livestock, including
cattle and
horses, as well as equipment and fodder, and often grain. As a result, the term barn is often qualified e.g. tobacco barn, dairy barn, sheep barn, potato barn. In the
British Isles and
Continental Europe, the term barn is restricted mainly to storage structures for unthreshed cereals and
fodder, the terms
byre or
shippon being applied to
cow shelters, whereas horses are kept in buildings known as
stables. On the Continent, however, barns were often part of integrated structures known as
byre-dwellings (or
housebarns in US literature). In addition, barns may be used for equipment storage, as a covered workplace, and for activities such as
threshing.
