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VoL. LX. No. 2669. 
NEW YOKK, MARCH 28, 1901. 
•1 PER YEAR. 
AN OVERFLOW STOCK YARD. 
SHINGLED WITH CORN FODDEB. 
4 Roof Thai May Be Eaten. 
SURPLUS OF FODDER.—For years I have made 
pig-growing and feeding the stock specialty of the 
farm. As the years went on I made a strong effort 
to improve the land by tile drainage, rotation of crops 
—corn, wheat and clover—and by hauling large quan¬ 
tities of manure from town, selling from the farm 
only meat on foot, wheat and clover seed. By this 
system the increase of crops in quantity has been a 
rapid one. As I have not cared to handle cattle ex¬ 
cepting the cows necessary for home use, there has 
been a surplus of clover hay and fodder 
or stover. This I could not afford to 
sell off the farm, neither could I feed it 
to stock taken in to realize any profit. 
Consequently for three Winters, I have 
been feeding lambs bought in the Fall 
for Winter market. To succeed well 
with them they must be kept dry and 
protected from driving winds. I have 
barn and barn-shed room for only about 
200. Not desiring to build other per¬ 
manent buildings, I must resort to tem¬ 
porary shelter, that must be of a cheap 
kind. As there has been but little wheat 
straw for two years, it was necessary to 
find something else. It was suggested 
to me to use fodder, and from this has 
developed the shed covered with stover 
as shown in Fig. 86. As I have built a 
number of sheds covered with straw I 
can judge from experience as to the 
value of this shed. I find it much more 
easily built, and much cheaper, and, as 
straw sheds are commonly built on the 
farm, much superior as proof against 
rain and cold Winter storms. 
A FODDER SHED.—Last year I had 
a shed covered with fodder 65 feet long 
and 16 feet wide, covering 1,000 feet of 
space, using 500 bundles of fodder, tied 
with strings, four feet long, or 65 shocks 
of fodder 14 hills square. This roof 
never leaked. By April 1 last year the 
lambs fed at the barn had gone to mar¬ 
ket, and the lambs sheltered by the 
temporary shed moved to the barn. Dur¬ 
ing April the fodder roof was fed off to 
the stock in the adjoining lots, leaving 
the skeleton frame for use again this 
year. Last Fall I extended the shed in 
length to 100 feet, using 135 shocks of 
fodder cut 14 hills square, making 1,000 
bundles covering 1,600 feet of fioor 
space. This shed stands north and 
south, the north end coming within 10 
feet of low-down barn, as shown in Fig. 
85. A post-and-rail and post-and-plank 
fence is used for the west side of the 
framework of the shed. The cracks be¬ 
tween the rails and planks were covered with cheap 
plank to keep the lambs from eating the fodder 
through the cracks after it is set against the fence. 
The framework is constructed for a comb roof. The 
center row of posts is seven feet high; should be nine 
or 10 feet; made from White oak poles about eight 
inches in diameter at the butt. They are set 2% feet 
in the ground in a hole bored with a seven-inch post 
auger, the posts being dressed to fit the hole. The 
soil is hard clay, so the posts stand firm. The sides 
are about four feet high, the rafters on west side rest¬ 
ing on top rail or plank of the fence. They should 
rest on top of posts about one foot higher. The cen¬ 
ter posts are set the same distance apart as fence 
posts, and a rafter for each post, making them nine 
feet apart for the post-and-rail, and six feet apart for 
the post-and-plank fence. 
MAKING THE ROOF.—For the fodder to rest on, 
rails are put across the rafters. The east side of the 
shed is open, the west made tight by laying fodder 
two or three bundles deep horizontal with the fence, 
and then standing a row of bundles against these, 
leaving them over against the fence, bending the tops 
over the fence. The first course of bundles for the 
roof extends over this course set against the fence, to 
shed the water off it. In covering this shed the courses 
of bundles were started at the north end, and laid to 
the south. The first course is only one bundle thick. 
The butts of the bundles are down. After putting on 
the first course I found that to top the next course 
directly on to this would make the roof too fiat. To 
prevent this I laid a course on the rails above the first 
course; this gave a pitch for the second course the 
same as the first. Before putting on the next course 
I raised the pitch of the roof again with fodder. As 
nearly all the winds here blow from the west and 
southwest, I put the fodder on the east side first, 
making the course at the top as near perpendicular 
as possible. To do this it was necessary to lay bun¬ 
dles lengthways at the comb of the roof. Then the 
west side was covered, the top course standing up 
against the course on the east side, but a little high¬ 
er. This keeps the wind from blowing the bundles off 
the east side. As all the bundles are laid from the 
north end towards the south, each bundle as it goes 
down binds the preceding one, so if the wind takes 
them off it must commence with the last ones laid 
down. But to make sure of their staying on, the top 
course has a strand of wire running the whole length 
of the shed, drawn tight with a wire stretcher. The 
roof so far has remained intact. 
VALUE OF THE SHED.—During the month of 
April I expect to feed the fodder off this shed to the 
stock on the farm, horses, cows and lambs, and it will 
be as good as that shocked with good care and left 
standing in the field. I shall commence at the south 
end to feed it off, and as it was put on 
from the north end towards the south it 
will come off easily. For a shed of this 
kind the steeper the roof frame can be 
made the less fodder it will take to 
cover it. It is useless to try to put on 
such a roof without bundling the fod¬ 
der. For this shed the fodder bundles 
were taken from the farm wagon, but if 
required to be built much higher I would 
use my hay-stacking derrick and hay 
slings to lift the bundled fodder on to 
the rick. As I have the shed, after the 
frame is made three men should take 
the bundled fodder from the shock and 
put on the roof in two days. I would 
not try to put it on when dry, but would 
work in the morning when the fodder is 
damp or when the weather is cloudy and 
damp. It is a cheap shed that is within 
the reach of every farmer. But the roof 
should be made new each Fall, as fodder 
rots rapidly in the Summer. Fig. 85 
shows the whole length of the shed, and 
the end of the old-fashioned low-down 
barn. Fig. 86 shows the shed with a 
pen 25 leet in front of it used as a rack 
to hold clover haulms, and which the 
lambs feed on through tne cracks. It is 
built of fence posts that need seasoning. 
This picture also shows the feeding 
racks from which they are fed fodder, 
hay and grain as occasion requires; also 
the grain trough used for ear corn, 
screenings, roots, etc. By April 1 all the 
lambs not sold can be cared for at the 
barn and the fodder-roofed shed will not 
be needed any more till next Fall, and 
fodder stacked on the roof can be taken 
off and fed to the animals, and the teani 
will not have to be taken from the plow 
to haul fodder from the field. 
Ohio. JOHN M. JAMISON. 
R. N.-Y.—Mr. Jamison writes us at a 
later date that the lambs did well in 
this shed, and that the first lot has gone 
to market. A heavy windstorm blew 
down and spoiled much of the shocked 
corn in the field, but the bundles on this 
roof held in place, and will make fair feed at the end 
of the season. This idea of eating up the shed roof 
will appeal to many feeders who need Winter shelter 
for their stock, and yet do not care to incur the ex¬ 
pense for lumber. The stalk-covered shed makes a 
warm, dry shelter, and Mr. Jamison says that the 
fodder is about as good for feeding in April as that 
left out in the average shock. We have visited Mr. 
Jamison’s farm, and have seen the tremendous crops 
of corn and clover which he produces. His plan is 
to sell nothing from the farm except wheat, that can¬ 
not walk off on its own legs, and thus hay and grain 
are all consumed at home. Fat swine and sheep and 
fatter soil is the motto under this management. 
JOHN M. JAMISON AND HIS LAMB SHED. Fig. 85. 
A TEMPORARY SHED THATCHED WITH FODDER. Fig. 86. 
