Owing to the fact that a silo is a necessity for the most economical
production of milk, a barn is not complete for a dairyman's purpose
unless it includes a silo with capacity to store sufficient silage for
the herd. In the case of the round barn, the silo is most economically
built inside, but in the rectangular form would cause a waste of space,
and for that reason is best erected outside. Therefore, in comparing a
round dairy barn with a rectangular dairy barn, silos should be
included.
In figuring the cost of materials in the silos for the round and
rectangular barns, the capacity needed in each case was determined in
the following manner: Allowing 40 pounds of silage per cow per day for 7
winter months and 25 pounds per cow per day for 3 months during the
summer, would require for 40 cows 220 tons; then allowing one-eighth for
waste would make the silage requirement 248 tons. As the silo in the
round barn 60 feet in diameter is 53 feet deep, it would need to be only
16 feet in diameter to hold 250 tons. This diameter is sufficiently
small to allow summer feeding without waste. To erect a silo outside of
a barn, with sufficient stability to stand well, the height above ground
should not be much more than twice the diameter, and in order to avoid
waste for summer feeding, the diameter should not be greater than 16
feet for a herd of 40 cows. In order that a deep enough layer of silage
can be fed off each day during the summer to avoid waste, it is evident
that to store 250 tons of silage outside the barn, two silos would be
required. One of these should be 16 feet in diameter and 36 feet deep,
holding 154 tons, and the other 13 feet in diameter and 36 feet deep,
holding 102 tons, making a total silo capacity of 256 tons.
As the large barns hold 100 cows, the same allowance of silage per cow
for the season would require silo capacity for 620 tons. As the silo in
the round barn 90 feet in diameter would be 71 feet deep, it would need
to be only 20 feet in diameter to hold 620 tons. To store 620 tons of
silage in silos built outside the rectangular barn would require two
silos, each 20 feet in diameter and 44 feet deep.[B] These are the sizes
on which the figures for cost of silos of the Gurler type, given in
Tables 2A and 2B, were used.
[B] Since the deeper the silo the more firmly the silage
packs, one silo 71 feet deep will hold as much as two silos
of the same diameter and 44 feet deep.
[Illustration: FIG. 10. INTERIOR OF COW STABLE, SHOWING WATER TROUGH
WITH FLOAT VALVE, SALT BOX, AND DOOR INTO DAIRY.]
The table (page 12) is the final summing up of the cost of all the
material for the completed dairy barns, with silos, and shows a saving
of from 34 to 58 percent in favor of the round barn and silo, or an
actual money saving in this case of from $379 to $1184, depending upon
the size and construction of the barns.
Thoughtlessly, men go on building rectangular barns, but what would this
reckless disregard of a possible saving of 34 to 58 percent mean in a
year's business on the farm? Some illustrations may help us to
understand what this money saved in building a round barn really amounts
to, and its convenience is also a great saving. If the dairyman
discarded the idea of a rectangular barn and built a round barn
instead, he could take the money thus saved and buy one of the best
pure-bred sires for his herd, and also three to ten pure-bred heifers or
fine grade cows. Either of these purchases might double the profit of
the herd. Or, this saving, properly applied, would purchase many
labor-saving devices which would make life less of a drudgery on many
dairy farms. Is not such a saving worth while?
[Illustration: FIG. 11. COW COMFORT IN A ROUND BARN.]
When the comparative cost and merit of two constructions are known, it
is a poor financier who will pay extra for the one which is inferior. If
a man received bids from contractors for a building, he would be a
foolish man who would accept one which is from 34 to 58 percent higher
than the lowest bidder, especially when he knew the lowest bidder would
put up the most convenient and substantial building.