SUGGESTIONS FOR CONSTRUCTING A BARN.
Since there is so much information available concerning construction
of barns, it is not necessary for me to discuss it here except to
criticize the standard forms. On most farms at hay-making time there
is no time to haul hay to the dairy barn so it is stacked in the field
and hauled in during the winter. Many large dairy barn hay mows are
constructed at a great deal of expense and stand empty most of the time
in this climate. Before building large, expensive barns it might be
well to consult those who have built to see how they are getting along.
On an average farm I would suggest a one story shed for the cows built
as a lean-to or butting up against a hay shed. This hay shed need not
be very large.
In most expensive barns there is installed a litter-carrier that runs
on a track. If I were going to use a litter-carrier at all I would have
the thing so that it could be let down below the level of the gutter
and shove the manure down the gutter into it. This means would save
all the liquid manure which is more valuable and would save the effort
required to lift the manure with a shovel. When full the carrier could
be hoisted, run on the track, and dumped into the wagon or wherever
desired. But why use a carrier? Why not have the gutters run through
the side of the barn and a wagon or manure spreader standing beneath?
It is very easy to push the manure from ten cows down the gutter. Two
gutters could run into one wagon which would be left standing outside
of the barn on lower ground. The barn could either stand on a side hill
or a place could be dug to run the wagon into. If hogs are to work over
the manure, a concrete basin should be constructed to hold it.
The feed trough should be so made that it may be used to water the cows
during cold weather.