VOL. LXVII
INDIANAPOLIS, MAY 18, 1912.
NO. 20
Model Home for Dairy Cows
The New Dairy Barn at the
University of Missouri.
PRINCIPLES     USED     IN  ITS     CONSTRUCTION   CAN  BE  ADOPTED
BY   FARMERS.
By Professor C.  H.  Eckles,  Dairy Department   University   of   Missouri.
This barn was planned with the idea
in mind of making a thoroughly practical barn, and at the same time including all the features that are necessary in order that the best sanitary
conditions      may be       maintained.
We did not start out with
the idea        of        constructing      a
barn that could be duplicated on every
farm. We did try to plan the barn so
that any farmer who wishes to
build, or to remodel a barn can get
ideas and suggestions as to modern
bam construction, even though he
may not be able to duplicate ours.
The type of a barn to build depends
upon the number of animals to be
housed and to a considerable extent
upon the amount of feed to be stored.
In our case, the hay and straw is practically all, in the baled form, making
it unnecessary to have large storage
space for this class of feed.
The main part of the barn is 84x45
feet and has two stories. The loft
has a capacity of about 70 tons of
baled hay or straw, with ample bins
for storing grain and mill feeds. The
cow stable is in the form of a wing
which is one story in height. The object in extending the cow stable to the
center of the two story part was a
matter of economy, since it was necessary to provide room for the maximum number of cows and the appropriation available did not make it possible to build a larger structure. Stalls
•are provided for 58 cows. Five box
stalls of ample size are arranged In
the main portion of the barn, also
four Individual calf pens 4x7 feet, and
one large calf pen 23x16 feet as shown
in the illustration.
The barn has a stone wall extending
up to the bottom of the windows. Thia
was done in order that the barn when
complete might harmonize with the
other barns and buildings on the college grounds.
Use of Cement in tbe Barn.
As a matter ,of fact, this wall added
greatly to the expense of the barn and
little If any to its utility. A better
construction for a purely practical
barn would be a concrete foundation
extending a foot or more above the
ground, with the frame structure
above.
The entire barn has a granitoid floor.
Special care was taken in getting the
slopes        for      drainage arranged
in such a way that there
would be no danger of the animals slipping. The floor was finished
by the use of what the cement men
call the float, which is a place of wood
In the form of a trowel. In this way
a uniform, even surface is made, but
at the same time it is rough enough
l°  prevent  slipping.    So   far  we   have
had no difficulty whatever with the animals slipping on the concrete. The
floor should never be given a smooth
finish as is done with a sidewalk. A
movable wooden platform is placed
on the concrete in each cow stall so
the animal stands and lies on wood
and not on the cold concrete. This
plan  so  far has  been  satisfactory.
Dimensions for Stalls.
There are 58 stalls in the wing constituting the cow stable; of these, half
or 3 feet 8 inches, and the others 3
feet 6 inches in width. The platform
on  which  the  cows  stand   is   5   feet  2
sysiem. The inlets will be seen along
the outside at intervals of 12 feet. The
fou! air is taken out of the barn near
the llcor by four flues which pass under the roof and have the outside
opening in the cupola on the top.
Handling the Feed and Manure.
The feed is stored in bins on the second story which are connected with
the feed room below by spouts. An
elevator will be installed shortly for
taking the grain to the bins. The
feeding is done entirely from trucks.
Two concrete silos 16x34 feet are located at the ends of the two story
structure. They are placed in that location rather than at the end of the
one story wing on account of greater
convenience in filling, and since it
leaves opportunity  for  the wing to be
A Good Type of Dairy Barns,   Seen on Many Indiana Farms.
inches at one end and slopes to 4 feet
2 inches at the other. This wide variation is necessary in our herd on
account of the fact that we have four
breeds of cattle varying in size from
Holsteins weighing 1500 pounds to
Jerseys weighing 700 pounds. We find
this plan of arranging tho platform
to be an excellent one and the extremes are none too great even where
we use adjustable stanchions. The
cow stalls are fitted throughout with
steel stalls and stanchions. The latter are of the adjustable types. The
gutter is 16 inches wide, 8 inches deep
in front and 5 inches on the rear side.
The mangers are built of concrete
in the continuous trough form. A
drain is provided in the center and a
water faucet at the end, making it
possible to water the cows easily in
the barn in this way. For experimental purposes we put in temporary
wooden partitions when needed to prevent cows from obtaining feed other
than that given them.
Lighting and Ventilation.
An abundance of light is provided
1 y windows on both sides of the stable
giving five square feet of glass per an-
l.na!. The windows are hinged at the
bottom and have chain fasteners
which allow them to tip in from the
top  when  opened.
Ventilation  is provided by the  King
extended at any time if desirable. By
the us-; of trucks for feeding no inconvenience is caused by the silos being
located some little distance from the
main stable.
The box stalls and calf pens are all
of steel pipe construction and are giving the best of satisfaction. The larger calf pen has a concrete manger
with a drain and stanchions for tieing
thirteen calves. The small calf pens
are used for the youngest calves, or
for some that It is desirable to keep
I y themselves. The locating of the
scales in the barn is necessary on account of the large number of weights
to ie taken of our experimental animals.
The overhead track carrier is used
for taking out the manure. The plan
followed is to dump it directly into the
p-anure spreader which stands under
an open shed and it is hauled to the
field daily. A cistern for the liquid
manure will be constructed beside the
shed for the manure spreader. Drains
will connect the gutters to this cistern,
and i cut-off will be arranged so that
when the floors of the barn are washed the water may be drained into a
sewer and not Into the manure cistern.
How the Milk is Cared For.
The milk room is on the west side
of the  barn and is provided with  wa
ter and a drain. It is connected with
the cow stable by a passageway provided with double doors. In the summer time these will be replaced by
screen doors. The milk is taken from
the milk room by way of the outside
door and hauled to the Dairy Building to be used in such ways as is
wished in connection with the instruc-
t'on work.
Provision is made in the way of
washing facilities for the milkers, and
lockers in which they keep their
white suits worn while milking. The
walls and ceiling of the barn are
covered with sheating in order to give
a smooth surface upon which dust
will not readily accumulate. The
stone walls inside are plastered
smooth with cement plaster. Cleanliness is secured by having a floor that
can be thoroughly and readily cleaned
by having fixtures of steel that will accumulate the minimum amount of
dust and by giving an abundance of
light which is after all, the best disinfectant. It is not to be expected
that any larger number of farmers can
follow this particular plan, but it is
believed that the principles of construction used include those that are
essential for economy in labor and for
maintaining proper sanitary conditions.
FERTILIZING   WITH   GUNPOWDER.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Much space has been given in the
cosmopolitan and agricultural press of
late to the use of dynamite in farming,
but it remains for the United States
Navy to demonstrate that crops can be
raised with gunpowder as the fertilizer.
Someone has remarked facetiously
that gunpowder ought to be able to
raise anything if a sufficient quantity-
were used.
After the adoption of smokeless
powder the Navy Department had a
lot of old powder on hand that it did
not know what to do with. It hap-
pended that this old powder contains
about 80 per cent potassium nitrate.
Since growing crops must have both
potash and nitrates, the Navy officials
turned to the Department of Agriculture, but the officials there thought
that there was no theoretical reason
why old powder should make a good
fertilizer and believed that some one
else should make the experiment.
Finally the naval authorities at Indian Head—the ordnance proving
ground.?—mixed up some of the brown
powder with a liberal portion of water
and used it to irrigate the truck patch
that is grown there. The result was
beyond expectation. The following
year the experiment was tried on a
larger scale, with almost equal success
and this year a quantity of the powder
will be used at a number of forts
around Washington for fertilizing the
lawns.
Again it is jocularly remarked that
it will be well to heed the sign "Keep
Off the Grass" if the green carpet is
fertilized  with  gunpowder.
G. E. M.
If the farmer would give a little attention to the hen and get rid of the
mongrels and poor layers, the income
of the farm would be increased. It is
the poor layer that is keeping the egg
production of the country down and
the price up.