OPEN SHED COMPARED WITH BARN FOR DAIRY COWS. 13 



MANURE— PRESERVATION, HANDLING, ETC. 



Under the open-shed system the manure was kept in an excellent 

 state of preservation until it was hauled to the land, and it also was 

 handled more economically. These are important considerations to 

 • the farmer who hauls manure direct from the barn to the field. Fre- 

 quently the fields are too soft to be driven over and at certain seasons 

 the growing of the crops prevents hauling the manure to the land. 

 On this particular farm it was altogether impracticable, during most 

 of the winter, to attempt to haul manure to the fields. Manure can 

 be preserved until it is convenient to haul it to the fields by storing it 

 in a manure pit. The walls and bottom of the pit are usually made 

 of concrete and it is covered with a roof, so that it has the appearance 

 of a small shed. When compared with the open-shed system of 

 handling manure the manure pit has two disadvantages : First, it calls 

 for an increased expenditure of money, and second, it necessitates 

 handling the manure twice. 



SUMMARY. 



The cows consumed somewhat more feed and produced slightly 

 more milk when kept in the open shed than when kept in the closed 

 barn. The increase in production was not quite large enough to 

 offset the extra feed cost. 



When kept in the open shed there was a tendency for "boss cows" 

 to deprive weaker individuals of their feed and of the normal ad- 

 vantages of the shed, which resulted in lower milk yields from the 

 weaker and more timid cows. 



All operations considered, milking and feeding excluded, slightly 

 more labor was required to care for the cows when kept in the open 

 shed. 



The manure was apparently well preserved, until it could be hauled 

 to the land, under the open-shed system. It was also handled more 

 economically than in the closed barn. Cornstalks in the manure were 

 sufficiently decomposed to be handled successfully with the manure 

 spreader. 



Under the open-shed system 68 per cent more bedding was required 

 for each cow, but the cows were cleaner and more comfortable. 

 There was little difference in the time required to bed them under the 

 two systems. It is possible to use cornstalks or other coarse material 

 for bedding in the open shed. 



There appeared to be little if any difference in the frequency of 

 injuries to cows under either open-shed or closed-barn conditions. 



