NEW FITTINGS OF THE COW STABLE. 

 G. M. Gowell. 



In the construction of the first cattle barn at the college, sep- 

 arate mangers were provided for each animal, but all stood upon 

 one common platform which was raised four inches above the 

 bottom of the manure trench. The cattle were fastened around 

 the necks with common tie-chains. In fifty feet of the tie-up 

 this platform was four feet and four inches wide, and in the other 

 fifty feet, it was four feet and ten inches wide, the better to 

 accommodate long and short cows. 



The difficulty of keeping the animals clean caused us to raise 

 the platform to ten inches above the trench. Xo other changes 

 were made. With the low platform, one hour had been required 

 for the man to card, brush and properly clean the twenty-nine 

 cows. After the platform was raised it required sixteen min- 

 utes of the same man's time to keep them as clean as before. 

 This record extended over several days, and represented fairly 

 the time required with each floor. The advantage with the 

 high platform was, that the cattle would not back down into 

 the trench very frequently and track their voidings upon to the 

 platform to soil themselves when they lay down, as they did 

 when the low platform was used. 



This high platform was not dangerous, causing animals to 

 slip or fall, as is shown by our twelve years experience with it. 

 We never had a case of lameness resulting from its use, and 

 never a case of abortion in our herds, which, had it occurred, 

 might perhaps have been ascribed to this as its cause. We 

 encountered one difficulty in its use. When a cow lay down, the 

 one standing next to her would sometimes step on her teats and 

 bruise or cut them. This was not of frequent occurrence, but 

 yet sufficiently so as to cause considerable trouble and anxiety. 

 If we constructed partitions between the animals to prevent this 

 difficulty they would be compelled to back out of their stalls 

 down over the ten-inch drop into the trench, when we turned 

 them out. This was not convenient for them to do. They had 



