RACKS, MANGERS, STANCHIONS, ETC. 13 



at c passing through a small block, two inches thick, 

 which assists in moving the upright piece. A similar 

 block, e, is also placed on the movable stanchion, upon 

 which the block at c rests when the stanchion is closed. 

 The fastening/", and the piece c, are so arranged as to 

 fall in place at the same time. It will be seen that the 

 animal not only fastens herself in place, but she is doubly 

 secured by the pieces / and c. (The block at e may 

 be omitted if desired, and the device be used with the 



Fig. 8. SELF-CLOSING CATTLE STANCHION. 



fastening /only). A badly hooked cow is often the re- 

 sult of careless hired men, and such carelessness is obvi- 

 ated by the use of the above arrangement. A cow takes 

 her place in the open stanchion, and in trying to get at 

 the feed below, presses against the lever a, brings c to 

 place, and closes the stanchion. 



The engraving, figure 9, shows how every farmer 

 who uses stanchions can arrange to close all the cows in 

 at the same time. The two-inch strip g, is planed on all 

 sides, and made to move easily in the loops e, d, which 

 are of heavy galvanized iron, bent below so as to allow 

 the strip to slide, and are attached to the immovable 

 stanchions by screws. The hard wood pins a, #, c, ex- 

 tend about two inches through, so as to catch the mova- 

 ble stanchions. A lever is fixed at h, and attached to the 

 movable strip. This device is comparatively inexpensive, 



