OPEN SHED COMPARED WITH BARK 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. 
