Hay hood

A barn may have the ridge beam extended past the wall with a lifting mechanism but no hay hood.

[1] This simplest hay hood includes a tapered roof extension providing some protection from the weather.

This is common in an area of western Oregon in the United States, centered on the town of Monroe in the Willamette Valley, where it is called a hay cupola.

Catsheads originally existed to protect the ropes and pulleys associated with lifting equipment (such as the block and tackle rigs used to shift multi-ton milling equipment and the simple wheel pulleys used to lift fodder into haylofts) from ice and the corrosion caused by rain.

In driest climates, if they had an opening to the building which lacked a door or window, this may have been adequate to prevent the goods from deteriorating.