Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1901-12-23
OUR FARMERS.
VENTILATION OF STABLES.

+ great popular objection to ventilation
! is that it cools the stable and makes
/ the cattle cold. This is not a neces-
sary objection, but it is very potent,
and it is a view that is widespread
enough to cause multitudes of men to
plug little openings in the windows
with old sheets and old blankets and
wisps of hay, where they find little
oxygen might enter, because they feel
/ that if little fresh air comes in the
/ cattle will be too cold.
In ventilating stable we should re-
member that the.cold air, and also the
/ foulest air, is close to the floor, and
the air in the upper part is the warm
/ est air and also the purest. The air
at the bottom is constantly being de-
fled by the abstraction of oxygen and
the addition of carbon dioxide. The
/ cow in breathing does not turn her
/ head up. Her head is down, and the
used air from her lungs goes down.
1t very quickly loses the heat that
would tend to help it rise; hence, an
alysis shows that the air at the bottom
of close stable contains more carbon
dioxide than at the top.
Furthermore, it is at the bottom of
the stable that the manure and urine
are deposited. 1t is here, at the bot
tom, that the air of the stable is con-
stantly being contaminated by the
fermentation and putrefaction of the
manure and urine that have soaked
into the porous boards and floor
material. So it is at the bottom of
the stable that we wish to abstract air.
Now air should be admitted to the
stable at the top, because the air from
cut of doors is presumably colder
than the air in the room. If we admit
it,at the top it mixes gradually with
the warm air in the entire room with
out causing draft.
! so, the two things in ventilating a
stable are: Take the air from the bot
/ tom and admit fresh air at the top.
1T would, at first sight, seem rather
difficult to do this, but as matter of
fact 1t is perfectly easy, and I have
had in operation for three years a
stable in which this has been done.
The plan that is in operation in this
stable that I refer tot is a small
stable for but six ~cows-is this: In
each corner of the room there is
metal shaft 16 inches in diameter,
built of sheet iron. This shaft comes
down to within one foot of the floor.
1T passes up through the top of the
stable and goes out of the top of the
building where 1T is ~surmounted by
metal ventilator cap. This cap keeps
the rain from flowing in, and also
helps to prevent air from blowing in.
The wind can blow transv ersely
through this ventilator cap and thus
make suction; but even when there is
no current of air outside, the air goes
out almost as well. The air from the
bottom of the stable goes out because
although it is the coolest air in the
stable it is still warmer than the air
out of doors. The metal ventilator
shaft being built in the stable, prac-
tically. standing in the room occupied
by the. cows, is warmed by the air of
the stable to it's temperature, and so
the air, as it goes out through the
shaft is not cool and has no tendency
to fall, but continues to rise and escape
sout of the top of the ventilator.
| The air in the top of the room
comes in through the ventilator. That
is turned upside down. The ventila-
tor shaft comes in at the top, 'and then
opens outdoors at the bottom.
! you. will see cold air will not go up
through this ventilator, but If the air
goes out of the stable you may be sure
that cold air will go in to take it's
| place.
What is the use of building this ven
tilato- in this way with the opening
on the top and then letting ut run
down,on the outside, and open out
side at6he bottom? For this reason.
1t will not permit the exit of warm air
at the top of the stable; it will not.fall
! through this cold box outside of the
building. 1t cannot. But the cold
air will come in because the warm air
goes out of the stable, and the cold
air will enter to take its place.
know about this thing, because
say have tested it. / have tested it
in this way: pieces of tissue paper
were suspended from the ceiling at
different places. One was suspended
before the mouth of each ventilator,
and careful records were kept of the
movements of this paper, and in that
way we conld tell in just what sdirec-
ton the air was going in any part of