8 Feb., 1907.] 



Dairy barm Buildings. 



121 



!^ided drain is provided, and they very quickly become accustomed to step- 

 ping over the upright-sided gutter. During a veterinary and dairying 

 experience, extending over twenty years, I have never known of a case 

 in which the grips described were responsible, directly or indirectly, for 

 injury to a cow." 



The square-bottomed and upright-sided gutter, however, has 

 the disadvantage that when dung has been deposited in it, the urine 

 is prevented from flowing along it. In the floor now advocated> and showan 

 in the photograph in which the gangway is at a six-inch lower level than 

 the kerb of the stalls, the urine drops hack into the small gutter, and 

 flows away past the dung deposited in the dung space. The gutter, in 

 fact the whole floor, has a fall lengthways of i inch in 9 feet, giving a 

 total fall of 6 inches throughout the length of the building (54 feet). 



INTERIOR VIEW', SHOWING AVERAGED-SIZED COWS STANDING ON THE 

 PLATFORM STALL IN A SPACE 5 FEET FROM TYING POST TO KERB. 



An essential feature of the platform stalls is that they should not be 

 too long. Five feet, or at the very outside, 5 ft. 6 in. from the bail 

 or chain post is ample for the biggest shorthorn likely to be milked, 

 while not more than 4 ft. 6 in. should be allowed for the smaller cows 

 and heifers. If longer stall space is given the cows will drop their 

 dung on the platform floor instead of over the edge of the kerb into the 

 dung space. The measurements given will seem all too small to most 

 people until they are told, or find out by actual measurement, that it is 

 a very big cow indeed which will measure more than 5 ft. 6 in. from 

 behind the ears to the root of the tail. 



Reference to the plate showing the interior with cows standing in the 

 stalls, which, in this instance, are 5 feet from chain post to kerb, will 

 show that ample standing room is given. All three cows shown are 

 big-framed Jer.sevs, certainly up to the average in size of the dairy_ cows 

 in this State. The hind feet of the first one are seen to be 9 or 12 inches 

 forward from the kerb. She is standing somewhat forward thmiigh 

 cringing from the camera, but when standing comfortably hi milking 

 position she has ample room. The second cow is standing slightly 



