FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 145 



that temperature as possible. Disease germs have no worse enemy than 

 sunlight. My ideal cow stable, therefore, would have the ridge pole run 

 due north and south, and would provide accommodations for two rows of 

 cows facing each other on the east and west sides of the central feeding 

 alley. The windows would be large and frequent on either side, admit- 

 ting an abundance of morning sunlight from the east and afternoon sun- 

 light from the west. The walls would be thick and packed with sawdust 

 or straw to exclude the cold, and a free access of fresh air would be 

 permitted at such convenient points and in such ways as to admit an 

 abundance without creating too great a draft. The problem of ventila- 

 tion, however, is far from being settled. The importance of this daily 

 sun bath cannot be exaggerated, and it is my firm belief that the presence 

 of tuberculosis in so many closely housed and highly bred herds is to be 

 ascribed very largely to the exclusion of sunlight from the stables. Do 

 not try, therefore, to economize lumber by building your barns round or 

 in any other form which does not permit a daily sun bath when the days 

 are cloudless. 



CLEANLINESS. 



To keep the cows comfortable and at the same time clean is one of the 

 difficult problems which confront the average dairyman. This is a 

 question of stable fixtures. There are two kinds of cow stalls which T 

 desire to commend. The first is called after its inventor, ''The Hoard 

 Stall.^' I describe it briefly and leave it to your ingenuity to construct 

 it with such modifications as your own requirements may suggest. 



Let us assume in the first place that the floor is level. Erect on either 

 side of the feeding alley, and in front of each row of cows, a tight board 

 vertical partition, 4^ feet high. Twenty-two inches from the floor on 

 the side of the partition next the cows nail on a two-inch horizontal 

 plank one foot wide. This is to serve as the bottom of a slanting, slatted 

 rack, into which the corn stalks or hay is to be placed. For the top of 

 this rack fasten a 2x4 on a level with the top of the partition and 2^ feet 

 distant from it. Nail slats four inches wide and six inches apart from the 

 two-inch plank which was placed twenty-two inches from the floor to this 

 2x4. When the cow is now brought in she is tied to a ring in the center 

 of the stall, fastened to the plank which constitutes the bottom of the feed 

 rack. When the cow stands up the slant of the rack forces her to stand 

 well back. When she lies down she can lie under the slanting rack and 

 well up towards the partition in front of her. To compel her to do so a 

 2x2, or perhaps 2x4, three feet long, is spiked to the floor in front of her 

 hind feet. In front of this 2x4 the bedding is placed. The droppings 

 will fall to the rear of it. A box to contain the grain feed or silage is 

 pushed through a hole in this tight partition in front of the cows and is 

 thrust well back into the stall. It may be removed when the cow has 

 finished eating. Partitions extending from the hind feet of the cows up 

 to the 2x4, to which the slanting four-inch strips are nailed, and which 

 makes the top of the slanting rack, should be erected between the stalls, 

 which should be three to three and a half feet wide, according to the size 

 of the cows. 



I have seen this style of stall in successful operation in several places 

 in the State. In each case the cows were perfectly clean. The other 

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