116 CITY MILK SUPPLY 



Construction should be undertaken in a conservative spirit and only 

 after careful planning for the present needs of the herd and with some 

 foresight as to its probable growth and the demands of the future. At 

 the outset it is most important to realize that the outlay called for, consti- 

 tutes a fixed charge on the business, yet many dairyman fail to grasp the 

 fact. Money invested in a dairy barn should pay 10 per cent, a year. 

 So on a barn costing $1,000 and housing 20 cows there is a fixed charge 

 of $5 a head, a sum that at 3.8 cts. a quart will take the sale of 131.5 qt. of 

 milk from every cow to raise, which in most instances is excessive. The 

 inevitable consequence of erecting too costly a barn is to lay a tax on the 

 business, that the cows cannot pay off. Were they asked, the health 

 officers of our large towns could point out many dairymen who have seri- 

 ously curtailed their profits by investing too heavily in barn buildings. 

 On the other hand, a good barn pays because the herd is made more 

 comfortable and therefore more productive, the help better satisfied and, 

 consequently, more efficient, and labor is expedited and made less costly 

 because of careful planning and the introduction of devices that save toil. 

 Dairymen owe it to themselves and to their trade to exercise good judg- 

 ment in deciding how much capital they will invest in the barn and what 

 sort of building it shall be. 



Types of Barns. Rarely is much consideration given as to what type 

 of building is best adapted to the business for there is a strong tendency 

 to build in the style of the district. While it is true that this style may 

 have been settled on as the result of some experimenting with other types, 

 more often it has become the fashion, simply as the result of thoughtless 

 copying. 



Broadly speaking, there are but two types of barns, rectangular and 

 round barns for under these two all sorts of barns may be grouped thus : 



1. Rectangular barns: 

 Three-story or basement barns. 

 Two-story or loft barns. 

 One-story or shed barns. 

 Double stabling barns. 



2. Round barns. 



Basement Barns. In this country, in some places, particularly in the 

 older dairy sections that are hilly, barns with basement stables are com- 

 mon. The objections to them are serious. The basements are often 

 poorly drained, and they are generally built into the bank of the knoll 

 on which the barn stands, in such a way as to entirely cut off the light and 

 air from the cattle on two or three sides. So these stables are dark, damp, 

 malodorous and of ten very hot in summer. The second floor is commonly 

 used for horses and implements while on the third are the hay mows. 



Loft Barns. The loft barn is a good style for general farming. The 

 walls are all above ground. The animals are kept on the ground floor 



