When a dairy of some size is kept, the cows may be arranged in double rows. Fifty cows could be crowded into a barn 80 × 32 feet. But fifty cows of 800 pounds each weigh 40,000 pounds; and if the stable is ten feet from the top of the lower floor to the bottom of the upper floor, it would contain only 25,600 cubic feet of air space. This is manifestly too little, as 1 cubic foot of air space should be allowed for each pound of live animal. Many stables, in fact most stables, provide but one-half of a cubic foot of air space for each pound of live animal kept in them; in such case it is impossible to keep the air approximately pure or the stable decently sweet. To realize what this means, suppose a bedchamber be constructed for a man weighing 160 pounds. If one foot of air space be provided for each pound of live weight, the chamber might be built 4 feet wide, 7 feet long and 6 feet high. This would give 168 cubic feet of air space. If the bedchamber be made proportionally as large as are most cow stables, its dimensions would be 3 feet wide, 6¹⁄₂ feet long and 4¹⁄₂ feet high. To insure good air in such a sleeping room one side of it would have to be knocked out.
Fig. 106. A swing window for stable.
If one or two box-stalls and one feed-bin are provided in an 80 × 32-foot barn, with 12-foot ceilings ([Fig. 105]), and room for a hallway, 3 feet wide, be left at one end of the building, it will then accommodate thirty-nine animals. Each one would have 800 cubic feet of air space, the required amount. The first story of most cow stables is about seven feet. It is seen how easily the stable may be overcrowded. A high story gives opportunity for long windows and for placing them well up from the floor, and for good ventilation. If the ceiling is to be reduced in height, which it well may be, the building should be proportionately longer.
A section of a part of the inside of the wall with swing windows is shown in [Fig. 106]. The windows should be of one sash and hung near the middle, as shown, by means of a piece of iron ³⁄₈ of an inch in diameter and 4 inches long. A hole for the reception of the iron, and of the same size, is made through the window sash and extends into the jambs of the frame about one inch. A button on the side of the jamb is used to hold the window partly open when required. This allows cool air to pass in at the bottom and the warm, vitiated air to pass out at the top in small, broken streams. It will be noticed that in case of a storm no rain or strong current of air can reach the stable. Usually too few and too small windows are provided, through which the manure from the stables is not unfrequently thrown.
Some additional ventilators should be provided; these may consist of wooden tubes extending from the ceiling through the roof, so constructed that the foul air may enter them. They need not be numerous or large, as the windows when slightly open form excellent ventilators. Two things should be kept prominently in view in ventilation: first, no strong draughts of air, or, as a distinguished professor puts it, “great gobs of raw air,” should be introduced; second, ventilators should ventilate both at the ceiling and the floor, as in these two places will be found the most impure air. Ample air space is most economically secured by high ceilings, rather than by horizontal enlargement. The air can be kept reasonably pure by the introduction, at several points near the lower floor, of small volumes of slowly moving fresh air.
Two stairs should lead from the basement to the second floor in all large barns to economize time; the openings in the upper floor had best be provided with flap doors, which can be left open in muggy, warm weather to assist ventilation, or closed in cold weather to economize warmth.
Many varieties of stanchion for confining cattle in stalls are in use, some really good, but mostly defective in one or more respects. It would take too much space to describe all of the various contrivances and to illustrate them and to call attention to their good and objectionable points. Some confine the animals too closely, others give too much freedom and allow them to become soiled; some are too expensive, and some are not durable. I shall describe but one kind of fastening and manger which, after trying numerous patent arrangements, has been found to be excellent. It is quite possible that there are better ones. The one thing which has been learned about stanchions by experimentation and observation is that they may be so complicated and handy as to be unhandy.
The size and character of the “drip,” the comfort and cleanliness of the animals, the ease of fastening and unfastening, the noise or quiet of the stable, and the effect on the animals, should all be considered. While using one stanchion, the animals became wild and made frantic efforts to pull their heads out when the attendant approached to unfasten them. As soon as another fastening was introduced they became docile. With one stanchion they would lie down more frequently than with another. With one kind of manger the animals are tempted to hook one another, and in reaching for food would fall upon their knees and injure themselves. Most of the contrivances were not easily adjustable, so that when the size, or rather length, of the animals varied the standing room was either too short or too long. Some had posts to sustain the stanchions; these intercepted the light and prevented an unobstructed survey of the animal. They gave the stables a forbidding, dark, prison-like appearance.
The individual stalls should be, for smallish animals, 3 feet 6 inches from center to center, and 3 feet 8 inches for larger animals. The partitions between the animals need extend only far enough backward and upward to prevent them from reaching each other with their horns. When dishorning is practiced the partitions may be lower than when it is not.