Cross country move for barn, underway near Pickrell

BEATRICE – It was not your typical moving day, for Justin and Emily Haxby. No moving from house to house….or packing belongings in the moving truck.

Hauling a huge barn from one location to another over two days, takes some advance planning.  "We're moving it back home. This is my Grandma Roy's family property. I've worked in this barn, we've thrown thousands and thousands of bales by hand and then taken them all back out by bale elevator. It's just one of those things...I've loved the barn since I was a kid and it's been in the family...so we're gonna move it back home and save it....and use it for hay storage back home."

Emily Haxby, who is a member of the Gage County Supervisors and serves as Vice-Chairperson…says the entire trip to move the barn from one field, down part of southwest 58th Road, to a new field location….is a little more than three miles.  It takes the services of a special moving company using a system of large beams and hydraulics to lift the structure…and then the help of a couple of electric utility providers.

"Picking the route was a little bit fun, because we have so many power lines and every time we lift one of those power lines there's a little bit extra cost. We looked at a road route, but it's hard because this barn is so wide, to take roads and make those corners. So, I started looking across the fields.....can we get here, can we use this low water crossing and there's a huge ditch....all that stuff. We finally settled on it....it's little over three miles to get home across country, and we're just weaving around all the ditches."

The area of the move is between Cedar and Buckeye Roads, northwest of Pickrell. Haxby says there were three sets of utility lines to go under…..two owned by Norris Public Power District and one transmission line owned by Nebraska Public Power District.

The barn is a magnificent structure that is many decades old. "I asked my family about that, and they're thinking probably early 1900s. Because, I know my great-grandpa rebuilt it, and he passed away in 1952...and so, that's their best guess."

The new location for the barn is ready to go, with the pad and foundation in place.  "We're going to put a new roof on it right away, and then kind of work on it as we can afford it. I think we're going to put two lean-to's off the sides, for just sitting out or putting hay underneath, or wood."

 
The barn’s trip for the first three-quarters of a mile started on Tuesday….which got it from its original field location next to Southwest 58th Road…..with the rest of the move, down a short stretch of road, across a field and to its new home…..taking place on Wednesday.