I am aware that the amount of land which I have devoted to this purpose
is inadequate. One acre would be none too much to supply a cow with food
through the year, but I can realize more profit by purchasing a portion
of the necessary food and devoting part of my land to the culture of
small fruits, the amount of money received from the sales of which, will
more than pay for the feed that I could raise on the same land.
[Illustration: Fig. 19.—PLAN OF COW-SHED, ETC.]
[Illustration: Fig. 20.—PERSPECTIVE VIEW.]
My barn (figs. 19 and 20) is inexpensive, yet it answers every purpose.
It consists of a box-pen for the cow, an open shed and a pig-sty, the
whole covered by one roof, and occupying a space twenty feet in length
by fourteen feet in breadth. It is constructed of hemlock lumber. The
posts on the front are twelve feet in hight, while those on the back side
are eight. It is boarded vertically and battened on the sides, and the
roof is also covered with rough boards, laid on double, breaking joints
so that no water can leak through. The box for the cow is eight feet by
ten, and is six feet and four inches high in the clear. Adjoining this
is a feeding passage four feet by eight. The arrangement of doors is
shown in the accompanying sketch. The middle portion of the building is
an open shed, and is seven feet wide by fourteen feet long. It is used
principally for storing dry muck and also as a cover for the manure pile.
Adjoining the open shed is the pig-pen. While the partition between the
cow-stall and shed is carried up to the floor above, making a tight box
stall, that between the pig-sty and shed is only built four feet from
the ground, leaving the upper part open. A floor is laid at a hight of
six feet ten inches from the ground, which provides storage room for hay
above. I would suggest, as an improvement to this plan, that the whole
be built two feet higher, making the long posts fourteen feet instead of
twelve, and the short ones ten instead of eight, thereby securing more
room above. There would then be sufficient room for the storage of over
two thousand pounds of clover hay. Of course the provision I have made
for a pig is outside of the question under consideration, but in view of
the fact that wherever a cow is kept, a pig may also be profitably raised
and fattened on the skim-milk and much that would otherwise be wasted,
and at the same time increase greatly the value of the manure heap, I
think such provision should be made, especially as the cost of such an
addition to the cow’s shed is but little. In case it is not desirable to
keep a pig, the space may be used as a calf-pen or for the storage of
straw. The cost of the building which I have described should not exceed
fifty dollars.
The only way to secure a good cow, is to keep trying until we get such
a cow as we want and then hold on to her. We may have to change several
times before we can bring this about, but there is no infallible rule for
selecting a good cow. Were I to select one for myself, I should select
one not over five years old, of gentle, quiet disposition, with a large
barrel; one whose udder is large and well formed, with teats set well
apart, of good size, and projecting slightly outward from each other, and
with large milk veins.
The method which I have adopted in the management of my cow, has this in
its favor, that it has been highly and uniformly profitable to me.