218 ILLINOIS STATE. DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



to one-third as much as box stalls require. However, cows 

 so confined are more liable to have their teats injured by 

 being stepped on, either by themselves or by other cows. In 

 experiments at the Beltsville station in which 12 cows were 

 kept in box stalls and stanchions in alternate periods, it 

 was found that the cows in boxi stalls produced less than 4 

 per cent more milk than those kept in stanchions. The in- 

 crease was not enough to pay for the extra labor and bed- 

 ding required. 



Dirt floors should not be used in a dairy stable. They 

 are insanitary, they can not be flushed, and holes soon ap- 

 pear. A stable floor should be durable and easy to keep 

 clean. Concrete should be neither so smooth as to be slip- 

 pery nor so rough as to make thorough cleaning difficult. 



Paint and Whitewash 



If the inside of the cow stable is to be painted, the 

 woodwork or plastering should be as smooth as possible 

 to avoid the use of excessive quantities of paint. If it is to 

 be whitewashed a rough surface is preferable, as white- 

 wash will not adhere so well to smooth surfaces. White 

 paint made of white lead and linseed oil when used in the 

 cow stable will turn yellow. If the cow stable is to be 

 painted white, therefore, it is better to use some kind of 

 paint which does not contain linseed oil. If the stable is 

 painted gray or some color other than white, the change in 

 color will not be so noticeable. In such cases linseed-oil 

 paint can be used more advantageously. 



Cow stables are usually whitewashed once or twice a 

 year. There are many whitewash formulas which call for 

 the addition to the lime and water of other substances, such 

 as salt or skim milk. Just how much advantage there is in 

 adding such materials is a matter of conjecture. Satisfac- 

 tory whitewash can be made by the use of only lime and 

 water. The ordinary hydrated lime when mixed with water 

 makes a good whitewash; or the quicklime ordinarly called 

 lump lime may be slacked with a minimum quantity of 

 water and this used in place of the commercially prepared 

 hydrate of lime. Only freshly burned lump lime should be 



