2 BULLETIN 736, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The closed barn consists of a barn entirely inclosed with stall 

 room, enough to accommodate the entire herd. The animals are 

 kept in the barn during most of the late fall and winter, and in some 

 dairies the entire year. 



It is almost the universal practice of dairymen to keep their cows 

 in a closed barn of some type, although in recent years some have 

 used the open shed. Advocates of the latter have maintained that 

 the manure is handled more easily and is better preserved and that 

 the cows yield more milk and buttcrfat and are healthier, cleaner 

 and more comfortable than when confined in a closed barn. Dairy- 

 men who have had experience in stabling cows both in closed barns 

 and in open sheds disagree as to the merits of the two. In order to 

 obtain definite and reliable information on the problem the experi- 

 mental work hereinafter described was carried on at the Dairy Di- 

 vision Experiment Farm, Beltsville, Md., near Washington, D. C. 

 The results should be applicable to other parts of the country in a sim- 

 ilar latitude. 



REVIEW OF PREVIOUS WORK. 



Fraser 1 of the University of Illinois Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion, investigated the open-^shed system of housing dairy cattle by 

 sending out a list of 21 questions to dairymen in Illinois who used 

 the open shed. The answers of the 18 dairymen who replied indi- 

 cated that the milking barn was kept cleaner when the open shed 

 was used, and that the cows and the milk were cleaner. In almost 

 every case more bedding was required, and the cows showed no 

 tendency to injure one another. In the latter connection it must be 

 remembered that in the opinion of the Illinois dairymen mentioned 

 above dehorning was believed to be necessary to the success of the 

 open shed. All who replied to Prof. Fraser's inquiry had either 

 dehorned or polled cattle. In answer to the question "What do you 

 consider the chief advantage of keeping cows in this way over ordi- 

 nary stabling ? " no one fact was so generally emphasized as the labor- 

 saving feature of the open shed. 



In an investigation at the Maryland Agricultural Experiment 

 Station conducted by Buckley and Lamson 2 the open stable was 

 compared with the closed stable. The following is a brief summary 

 of the conclusions drawn from the experiment: 



The cost of construction for the open shed is smaller than for the closed barn. The 

 cost of labor and the cost of milk, based on quality of feed consumed, is slightly less 

 in the open Bhed than in the closed barn. In the open shed, manure is better pre- 

 served and cows are kept cleaner. The supply of fresh air and light is also better. 



i Fraser, W. J. "Should Dairy Cows be Confined to Stalls? " Illinois Circular 93, 1904. 

 2 Buckley, S. S., and Lamson, R. W. Open Shed Versus Closed Stable for Dairy Cows. Maryland 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin 177. 



