THE COW BARN 



CHAPTER III. — IN GENERAL. 



WHEN the farmer, on the approach of 

 winter, puts his herd indoors to af- 

 ford them shelter against the cold 

 and stormy weather, he exposes them, in all 

 too many cases, to dangers hardly less fatal. 

 Even when there is a building which may be 

 truthfully and accurately described as a cow 

 barn, it is seldom designed and constructed 

 to suit the peculiar needs of dairy cattle, 

 while in the vast majority of instances the 

 winter quarters of the herd are in a combin- 

 ation structure used for feed storage, horse 

 stable, wagon barn, and general rubbish dis- 

 posal. Furthermore, in such a building the 

 herd will be allotted the worst place, usually 

 the basement or ground floor, where, beneath 

 u low ceiling and with scant window space, 

 they must live for months, breathing poison- 

 ous air and subjected to the noise and dis- 

 turbance made by the other occupants of the 

 building. For animals whom nature in- 

 tended to wander at will in the peace and 



37 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



