DAIRY CATTLE AND THE DAIRY FARM 123 



1-in. facing. .The grout may be laid by ordinary farm labor but the facing 

 should be done only by a skilled workman. The floors should be rounded 

 up at the walls and in the corners to prevent dust accumulating in the 

 joints and to facilitate cleaning. 



Platforms. The platform should have a pitch toward the gutter of 1 

 in. in 5 ft. It should be built of impervious material; concrete is generally 

 used. It should be finished rough as with a board trowel to prevent the 

 cows slipping. A depression in front of the tie, 14 in. wide and 1J^ in. 

 deep tends to keep the bedding in place, makes the cow stand more nearly 

 level and prevents her slipping when reaching in the manger for feed. 

 An objection to concrete is that it is a good conductor of heat and so tends 

 to chill the cows, producing stiffness and udder inflammation. This may 

 be quite overcome by the use of bedding or by placing a slatted rack 

 over the concrete or by a movable floor about 3 ft. wide that is kept in 

 place by two iron pins set in the concrete near the corners. If such floors 

 are used they should be removed often for cleaning beneath them; in 

 summer they are unnecessary. Vitrified brick, laid on a cement founda- 

 tion and set in cement, is sometimes used for a platform and for floors. 

 The same objections lie against it as against cement. The shortcomings 

 of concrete have led to the use of cork brick and creosoted wood blocks 

 for flooring. They are costly and somewhat expensive to put down, for 

 they are set in cement and laid on a cement base. They are not easily 

 cleaned but they are not cold and are easy on the feet of the animals. 



Alignment of the Animals. Aligning the cows on the platform re- 

 quires some planning. The standard width of the stall is 3 ft. 6 in. The 

 length of a stall for a Jersey should be from 4 ft. 4 in. to 4 ft. 10 in. and for 

 a Holstein from 4 ft. 8 in. to 5 ft. 2 in. ; the stalls for other common breeds 

 fall between these extremes. If the stall is too long the droppings will 

 fall on the platform, while if it is too short the cows will stand in the 

 gutter and in either case soil themselves. There are three ways of meet- 

 ing this difficulty. One is to make the platform on one side of the barn 

 5 ft. wide and on the other 4 ft. 6 in. ; a second is to make the platform 

 4 in. wider at one end than at the other with a gradual slant between 

 them; and the third is to use adjustable stanchions which may be set 

 back 3 or 4 in. from the support for the short cows or ahead a like amount 

 for the long ones. 



Stall Partitions. Stall partitions are not strictly necessary but are 

 considered desirable by most dairymen. Wooden partitions are thor- 

 oughly objectionable because they become foul, are difficult to keep clean 

 and detract from the appearance of the barn. Curved iron piping 1% in. 

 in diameter makes the best partitions and needs be little more expen- 

 sive than wood. 



Gutters. The gutters are probably more often botched in building, 

 than any other part of the dairy barn, the tendency being to make them 



