ECONOMY OF THE ROUND DAIRY BARN 13 



hold 66 tons of hay, or as much as the entire mow of a barn 32x36 

 feet with 2ofoot posts. 



The square feet of floor space in the round barn 90 feet in di- 

 ameter and rectangular barn 36x176^ feet are the same, but the 

 cubical content of the former is more than that of the latter. The 

 increase in the lumber bill is 23 percent in the plank frame and 53 

 percent in the mortise frame barn. The round barn 90 feet in 

 diameter contains 283 and the rectangular barn 426 lineal feet of 

 wall. The rectangular barn has, therefore, 50 percent more lineal 

 feet of outside barn wall, requiring a proportional increase in both 

 paint and foundation. 



The smaller surface on the outside wall "of the round barn re- 

 quires less paint and makes a proportional saving in keeping the 

 round barn painted in after years. 



ROUND AND RECTANGULAR BARNS, Including Silos, COMPARED 



Owing to the fact that a silo is a necessity for the most eco- 

 nomical production of milk, a barn is not complete for a dairyman's 

 purpose unless it includes a silo with capacity to store sufficient 

 silage for the herd. In the case of the round barn, the silo is most 

 economically built inside, but in the rectangular form would cause 

 a waste of space, and for that reason is best erected outside. There- 

 fore, in comparing a round dairy barn with a rectangular dairy 

 barn, silos should be included. 



In figuring the cost of materials in the silos for the round and 

 rectangular barns, the capacity needed in each case was determined 

 in the following manner : Allowing 40 pounds of silage per cow 

 per day for 7 winter months and 25 pounds per cow per day for 

 3 months during the summer, would require for 40 cows 

 220 tons; then allowing one-eighth for waste would make the sil- 

 age requirement 248 tons. As the silo in the round barn 60 feet 

 in diameter is 53 feet deep, it would need to be only 16 feet in di- 

 ameter to hold 250 tons. This diameter is sufficiently small to al- 

 low summer feeding without waste. To erect a silo outside of a 

 barn, with sufficient, stability to stand well, the height above ground 

 should not be much more than twice the diameter, and in order to 

 avoid waste for summer feeding, the diameter should not be 

 greater than 16 feet for a herd of 40 cows. In order that a deep 

 enough layer of silage can be fed off each day during the summer 

 to avoid waste, it is evident that to store 250 tons of silage outside 

 the barn, two silos would be required. One of these should be 16 

 feet in diameter and 36 feet deep, holding 154 tons, and the other 

 13 feet in diameter and 36 feet deep, holding 102 tons, making a 

 total silo capacity of 256 tons. 



