and looked better. The general ap- 

 pearance of the stable was more fav- 

 orable. 



In fluid milk areas whei'e dairies 

 are inspected by health officials and 

 visited by consumers, clean cows are 

 an important public relations item. 

 Cows that receive this extra attention 

 may give slightly more milk, but the 

 value of the extra milk may not be 

 sufficient to cover the extra labor. The 

 amount of currying will depend on 

 the situation with respect to other in- 

 come opportunities for the available 

 labor. 



Several operators spent approxi- 

 mately one man minute per cow daily 

 in currying. Vigorous hand curry- 

 ing for forty minutes is a fairly 

 strenuous task, and operators were 

 interested in trying out mechanical 

 aids.* 



Turning Cows Out 



Turning the cows out once a day, 

 except in very severe weather, also 

 has merit. The cows have an op- 

 portunity for limited exercise and the 

 operator can better note the cows in 

 heat. 



On one farm cows were turned out 

 by one worker at the rate of 5 man 

 minutes for 40 cows. He started at 

 one end of one line of stanchions, 

 walked along the feed alley, and re- 

 leased one cow at a time. He had 

 trained his dog to keep the cows mov- 

 ing along. The first cows were thus 

 prevented from blocking the doorway 

 and dirtying up the alleyway with 

 droppings. On this occasion the op- 

 erator took odd moments between 

 chores to observe cows. He noted 

 cows in heat. Two men got the cows 

 back in their proper stalls and tied 

 up in 5 minutes or a total of 10 man 

 minutes. Silage had been distributed 

 and the cows were prompt in getting 



* Several mechanical devices are on the 

 market. One type is a vacuum cleaner and 

 another type uses revolving brushes. 



to their stalls, although some atten- 

 tion had to be given to a half dozen 

 cows who entered the wrong stalls. 

 Thus on this farm 15 man minutes 

 were taken for the total operation of 

 cows "out and in." 



On another farm the cows faced out 

 and the doorway at the end was eight 

 feet wide. The cows went out and 

 came in without difficulty. The time 

 was approximately the same as in the 

 case of the other farm. 



Observations indicate a difference 

 in the way cows go to their proper 

 stall when entering the barn. On a 

 few farms most of the cows went di- 

 rectly to their places. On some farms 

 there was considerable confusion and 

 extra time and patience was required 

 to straighten this out. In several in- 

 stances there had been no change in 

 location of cows for three or four 

 months and there seemed no particu- 

 lar reason for so many of them go- 

 ing into the wrong stalls. This may 

 be a matter of habit which might be 

 changed over a period of time if the 

 operator made a special effort to keep 

 them moving to their right stalls. 

 Perhaps he could, at first, let only a 

 few in the barn at one time and fol- 

 low up with an attempt to get them 

 rather quickly into their proper 

 places. 



The practice of turning cows out 

 each day affects the time and the 

 order of doing other chores. Bed- 

 ding can be done to better advantage 

 when the cows are out. The alley- 

 way back of the cows may need extra 

 attention. 



On some farms animals on one side 

 have to move across the feed alley. 

 The operator has to give special at- 

 tention to cleaning this area and even 

 then the sanitary and disease control 

 is not ideal. 



Several men who do not turn out 

 their cows indicated they had trouble 

 with cows slipping on concrete stable 

 floors when entering the barn due to 



50 



