Considering that the barn on a dairy farm is used twice every day in the
year, and that for six months each year the cows occupy it almost
continuously, and that during this time a large amount of the labor of
the farm is done inside the barn, it is evident that the question of its
convenience is a vital one. The amount of time and strength wasted in
useless labor in poorly arranged buildings is appalling. People do not
stop to consider the saving in a year or a lifetime by having the barn
so conveniently arranged that there is a saving of only a few seconds on
each task that has to be done two or three times every day.
[Illustration: Fig. 3. INTERIOR OF BARN, SECOND FLOOR, SHOWING SILO AND
LOCATION OF ENSILAGE CUTTER. (TEAM UNHITCHED TO SHOW CUTTER.)]
The round barn has a special advantage in the work of distributing
silage to the cows. The feeding commences at the chute where it is
thrown down, and is continued around the circle, ending with the silage
cart at the chute again, ready for the next feeding. The same thing is
true in feeding hay and grain.
Still another great advantage is the large unobstructed hay mow. With
the self-supporting roof, there are no timbers whatever obstructing the
mow, which means no dragging of hay around posts or over girders. The
hay carrier runs on a circular track around the mow, midway between the
silo and the outside wall, and drops the hay at any desired point, thus
in no case does the hay have to be moved but a few feet, which means a
saving of much labor in the mowing.
To successfully embody all of the above discussed advantages in a dairy
barn is one of the large problems in milk production. In a careful study
of the barn question it soon became apparent that it was impossible to
embody all of the requirements advantageously in anything but a circular
form of building, and the 60-foot round barn, which is here described,
was built.
[Illustration: FIG. 4. SOUTH VIEW, SHOWING WELL LIGHTED STABLE.]