126 MISCELLANEOUS FARM SUBJECTS 



Stalls. The market offers large numbers of patented stalls and 

 mangers and devices for tying cows and other classes of cattle. There 

 are strong arguments favoring metal stall fittings, and doing away 

 with as much of the wood used as possible, in order to secure good 

 sanitary conditions. At the same time, however, there are many 

 people unable to purchase expensive fittings who are able them- 

 selves to build those made of wood. In general it should be borne 

 in mind that the width and length of any stall is largely dependent 

 on the size of the animal and the kind of manger and tie used. It 

 is a common error to give a stall too much fall. In general two 

 inches in ten feet should be the maximum fall for a stall of any 

 kind. The distance from manger to drop for a 1,300 pound cow 

 should be about five feet eight inches and for a 700 pound cow about 

 four feet six inches. The width of the stall for the larger cow 

 should not be less than three and a half feet, and for the smaller, 

 two and three-quarters to three feet will answer. 



Form of Barn. There is a difference of opinion as to the best 

 shape for a dairy barn, some preferring the rectangular and others 

 the circular. Considering that the barn on a dairy farm is used 

 twice every day in the year, and that for six months each year the 

 cows occupy it almost continuously, and that during this time a 

 large amount of the labor of the firm is done inside the barn, it is 

 evident that the question of its convenience is a vital one. The 

 amount of time and strength wasted in useless labor in poorly ar- 

 ranged buildings is very great. People do not stop to consider the 

 saving in a year or a lifetime by having the barn so conveniently 

 arranged that there is a saving of only a few seconds on each task 

 that has to be done two or three times every day. 



The round barn has a special advantage in the work of dis- 

 tributing silage to the cows. The feeding commences at the chute 

 where it is thrown down, and is continued around the circle, end- 

 ing with the silage cart at the chute again, ready for the next feed- 

 ing. The same thing is true in feeding hay and grain. 



The disadvantages of the round dairy barn are, that it cannot 

 be enlarged by building on as readily as can the rectangular form, 

 but as the round barn may be built higher to the eaves than a rec- 

 tangular barn 36 feet wide, provision can be made for the growth 

 of the herd by building so as to put cows in the second story and still 

 leave sufficient mow room for hay. 



The objection is frequently raised that a round barn is diffi- 

 cult to light. This difficulty is entirely overcome in a barn 90 feet 

 or less in diameter, if a sufficient number of properly spaced win- 

 dows are used. With the same number of windows, the light is 

 more evenly distributed in a round barn and the sun can shine di- 

 rectly into some portion at all hours of the day during the winter. 



The Dairy House.* With the dairy barn necessarily is con- 

 nected the dairy house for the care and handling of the milk. 

 (Uni. of 111. B. 143; Bu. An, Ind. B. 131; Of. Ex. Sta. Lee. 8; 

 F. B. 126; Cornell Reading Course 23.) 



For illustrations, see pages 303, 411. 



