BUILDING CONSTRUCTION 173 



or one-fifteenth of the total number of cubic feet of air- 

 space. 



Food-Troughs. There are many opinions as to the most suit- 

 able fittings for the feeding of dairy cows. The food-troughs used 

 range from the simple concrete or glazed fireclay trough without 

 separate divisions for each cow, or pair of cows, to individual 

 troughs fitted with a water pot at the side and a hay rack above. 

 The single trough possesses one great advantage over divided ones 

 inasmuch as it is very easily cleaned by flushing it out with 

 water from one end to the other without the expenditure of much 

 labour, an important consideration in a dairy byre. The disadvan- 

 tages of the single trough are, however, very marked. It is difficult, 

 in fact almost impossible, to see that each cow gets her proper share 

 of food, and this, where feeding is done according to milk yield, 

 is of some importance. To some extent this difficulty may be over- 

 come by placing one or two iron rods across the manger between 

 each cow. With undivided troughs cows are inclined to eat their 

 food too rapidly, and on this account individual troughs are to be 

 preferred to a continuous single one. On the other hand, cows' 

 troughs soon become very dirty, especially when sloppy fermentable 

 food or wet brewers' grains are used, they therefore require to be 

 cleaned frequently. This is a laborious and difficult matter with 

 divided troughs and is seldom effectually done. Whatever type of 

 trough is used it should be placed on the ground level, or even with 

 the bottom of it a little below the ground. The depth should not 

 be greater than 8 to 10 inches, and, with advantage, the side next 

 the cows may be as low as 5 or 6 inches. The reason for having 

 the front of the manger low is that if it be high the cow cannot 

 lie down without stretching back the full length of the chain to 

 get her head clear of the obstacle. The length of the stall would 

 then have to be greater, in fact measured from the manger instead of 

 from the wall. With such an arrangement the cow on rising would 

 step forward in order to get her head over the manger to feed and 

 would in consequence drop her faeces on the standing instead of 

 into the channel. When she wishes to lie down again she would 

 perforce step back and consequently lie down on her droppings. 

 With a manger low in front the animal can lie down where she 

 stood when feeding and with her head resting comfortably over the 

 manger. The breadth of the manger need not be greater than 

 18 inches and, if each cow has her own portion divided off, 20 

 inches in length is sufficient. With double stalls the space between 

 the troughs should be filled in as shown in the figure. 



If there is no feeding passage in front of the cows the troughs 



