My friend Bruce had barn cats as he grew up. When his father passed and
Bruce was in charge it stayed the same for quite awhile. They had
always fed the barn cats and his dad had the vet in for OBVIOUS
problems, which amounted to one or two times in a decade. In the worst
weather, the ones that wanted to could shelter in the house. On an
ordinary evening, some of them would visit the family in the livng room
and there was some petting and lap-sitting going on. They had it pretty
good, for barn cats.They even had a big previously-feral d*g, Konrad,
who did not tolerate other dogs around "his' cats and could make it
stick.

Then several things happened in short order. First Konrad passed away
after a twelve-year career of bullying (gently) and protecting the
cats. Almost immediately, the barn cat populaltion went into decline
and coyote tracks became very common around the house. The population
decline reversed itself, probably because the cats learned to use trees
and the barn itself to avoid coyotes but then Bruce started a spay and
neuter program which stabalized the population.

In the next few years, Bruce started allowing the youngest generation
the run of the house. Actually, all the cats had the run of the house
but three older cats would not come in except for the usual visit.
After the older cats passed away, he was left with three young house
cats who had no INTENTION of going to the barn. So the barn would be
full of mice except that nothing that would attract mice is kept there
anymore. That was years ago and sometimes Bruce gets nostalgic for the
old days but there have never been any complaints from any cat.

Will in New Haven

Absolutely. Never underestimate the value of the "working cat."  And
being a barn cat is actually a pretty good gig. Warm shelter, food, and
a plentiful supply of mice is *so* much better than a lot of  cats
have. These old rancher/farmer guys just don't get it though. They are
always coming in the shelter wanting un-neutered cats for barn cats. We
let them have the ferals, but only after they're neutered. It's pretty
hard to convince them that spaying a cat won't affect its mousing
abilities.

Sherry

Is that because the feed for the horses attracts mice?

Joyce

My grandfather was owned by a cat that aged 18 refused to enter the house,
he lived outside until the age of 27.

My grandfather was a farmer.  (I'm going *way* back in time for this,
folks.)  Even though some of his animals were intended to eventually be on a
dinner table, he genuinely loved animals and would not tolerate cruelty in
any form.  His barn cats would line up behind him with their mouths wide
open when he was milking the cows, and he would "squirt" each of them in the
mouth with fresh milk.  Yuk!! But the cats loved it.  He kept draft horses
even after he had tractors, and when he was ready for retirement and moved
to Florida he *gave* his horses away.  His son-in-law asked why he didn't
sell them, and his response was that they had given him good service all
their lives and now he only wanted to make sure that they would go someplace
where they would be well-cared-for.  He was even pretty early in recognizing
the value of birds that his neighbors considered "pests."  He always planted
extra rows of corn "for the birds" and said they were worth their weight in
gold because of all the insects they caught, and he was the first person I
ever saw who placed a bat house on the side of his own house.  That is
common now but seemed to be rare then.

MaryL