Why are Most Dairy Barns in Wisconsin Painted Red?

This month, Catherine and I drove through a great deal of the state of Wisconsin. We drove up to Milwaukee for a Bucks game, and then the subsequent weekend, we celebrated our friend Don Gorske in Fond Du Lac. During those trips, we got to take in a lot of Wisconsin scenery, notably the abundance of dairy barns.

If you've spent any time in Wisconsin, you'll know that seeing a red barn in the middle of a farm field is a common sight. It's easy to take them for granted. However, the commonality of the color red might be something you note. And then maybe wonder: why are so many barns in Wisconsin painted red?

The Wisconsin State Farmer published a wonderful read on the topic just a few days ago. Red barns are so common that they even appear on the Wisconsin state license plates since 1986. Here's a breakdown of why the color red was/remains such a popular choice for dairy barns in the Cheese State.

The Wisconsin State Farmer found many of the answers in Jerry Apps' book Barns of Wisconsin. In Apps' book, he reveals that barns being painted red dates back centuries, and actually originated in European farming practices.

According to Apps, red became the popular color choice in Dutch settlements in Pennsylvania. The structures were erected with red bricks, planted red geranium, and painted barns red, per the Wisconsin State Farmer.

This was during a time when prepackaged paint and commercial sealers weren't available to average consumers. Farmers needed to be knowledgeable and resourceful when it came to making a paint that would protect the wooden structure of their barn, often their largest investment:

Over in Europe, farmers painted farm buildings with linseed oil (an orange-colored oil derived from the seeds of the flax plant) and colored it inexpensively using animal blood and adding ferrous oxide (rust), resulting in a quiet red, not the fire engine red we sometimes see today - Jerry Apps, per the Wisconsin State Farmer

The iron in the rust was believed to prevent fungus and mildew from growing and rotting the wood of the barn. Farmers resourcefully utilized milk and lime, which helped oil stick to the wood better. This concoction resulted in a long-lasting paint that dried and hardened quickly.

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Then, there's also the factor of color symmetry. A red barn with a white trim simultaneously stood out and contrasted nicely with a white farmhouse, Apps also noted. When commercial paint became available in the mid-to-late 1800s, red paint also proved to be the cheapest, which was naturally attractive to farmers, per the Library of Congress.

Apps also noted that back in the day, when some farmers elected to paint their barns a pearly lead white, neighbors with red barns though those farmers were flaunting their wealth since white paint was more expensive than red. With the addition of lead, paint began to become more durable with a larger coverage area. It also enhanced the colors, which too explains why those trademark red dairy barns stick out so strongly against the vast rural plains of Wisconsin.

Read more about the history of red dairy barns in Wisconsin on the Wisconsin State Farmer's website. While you're at it, read about Green and Gold, a recently released movie about a Wisconsin dairy farmer filmed entirely in Wisconsin.