DAIRY CATTLE AND THE DAIRY FARM 



133 



distinctly beneficial. It is said that the tannic acid which results from the 

 application of large quantities of oak sawdust has sometimes been injuri- 

 ous to the land. Shavings have all the good qualities of sawdust but being 

 light are scattered by a strong breeze. Both sawdust and shavings are 

 free from dust and nearly so from mould and bacteria; on the whole they 

 probably make the best litters. Tables 38 and 39 show the absorptive 

 powers Doane found different bedding materials to have, and the amount 

 of them required daily. 



TABLE 38. ABSORPTIVE POWERS OF BEDDING MATERIALS (DOANE) 



TABLE 39. AMOUNT OF LITTER REQUIRED DAILY PER Cow FOR 16 HR. STABLING 1 



Cut wheat straw 2.9 



Whole wheat straw 2.3 



Cut corn stover 3.2 



Sawdust 11.0 



Shavings 2.7 



1 Except where bedding is regulated to absorb all the liquid manure, it is doubtful 

 if materially more bedding would be required for 24 hr. stabling. 



Vermin and Flies. The vermin that annoy most in dairy barns are 

 rats, mice, lice, fleas and ticks. 



The fly nuisance is very troublesome to deal with. In the United 

 States three varieties of flies, the stable fly, the horn fly and the house fly 

 annoy cattle. In some States the stable fly inflicts severe losses but 

 though it is conceivable that it might spread anthrax it is not believed 

 that either it or the horn fly spread diseases that commonly afflict man 

 but the house fly is known to be a disseminator of typhoid fever, probably 

 of infantile diarrhea and other intestinal infections and of tuberculosis. 

 The stable fly deposits its eggs in various kinds of straw, the horn fly in 

 cow manure and the house fly in horse manure and other ordure. As these 

 materials are abundant around dairy barns there are bound to be flies. 

 It is the common belief that the falling off of the milk flow in the latter 

 part of summer is largely due to the pestering of the cows by flies but the 

 prime reasons for the decrease are disinclination of the cows to eat and 

 shortness of pasturage and water, the flies being only a minor contributing 



