1922.] Planning and Construction of Cow-Sheds. 419 



While the improved system has not been long in operation, 

 and it is perhaps early days to talk definitely of the economic 

 advantages which have accrued, it may be stated that for I 

 quarter ending 30th September, 1921, the gas consumed in 

 running the engine amounted only to 1,100 cubic feet at a c ist 

 of 8s. 7d., and that while the labour bill in attending to th^ cows 

 amounted in January, 1921, to 6s. 5d. per cow [>er week, or 

 rather more than GJd. per gallon, these costs at the \ resent 

 time are certainly twenty-five per cent. !cwer. 



****** 



THE PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION 

 OF COW-SHEDS. 



II. 



COVEEED YAED AND MILKING SHED AT THE 

 NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOE EESEAECH IN 

 DAIRYING, BEADING. 



Major H. P. G. Maule, D.S.O., MvC, F.E.I.B.A., 

 Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. 



The July number of this Journal contained an article on the 

 construction of modern cow-sheds, and though the sheds illustrated 

 contained some novel features, they followed the traditional 

 method of keeping and milking cows in one building. Through 

 the courtesy of the Board of the National Institute for Research 

 in Dairying, and of Mr. Hutt, of Messrs. Charles Smith & Son, 

 Architects to the Institute, it is possible in this number to 

 describe and illustrate the plans of the new farm buildings 

 which the Directors of the Institute are about to erect at Shin- 

 field, near Beading. The most interesting point in these plans 

 is that the method about to be adopted by the Institute em- 

 bodies another principle in cowkeeping. The traditional cow- 

 shed method is discarded in favour of the principle of keeping 

 and feeding fclie herd in covered yards, milking being performed 

 in a building erected solely for that purpose. 



From the practical and structural point of view, this de- 

 parture from tradition is of great internal and importance, 

 coming, ms it does, at a time when the necessity for improved 

 methods in the production of clean milk is being increasingly 

 realised, and many farmers arc anxious to know what steps 

 they can take to secure better conditions without undue capital 

 expenditure. 



c 2 



