Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1906-02-22
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Cement Floors and Manners


Concerning cement and other floors
Tor dairy cows, beg to give you my
opinions and practice In the South:
We find 1t necessary in this climate to
use flooring that can be washed abso-
lutely clean, and cement is the only
material that answers the purpose.
Dirt, clay or board floors are more
foul smelling, and will communicate
foot rot and fungous warty growths
between the claws easier here. than
in the North.
We also admit that the cement Is
too hard to lie upon, and produces
stiffness and perhaps cold and rheu.
matism. In the South the time re.
CURED for keeping the animals tied in
stalls all night is so much shorter
that during the majority of the year
the cows merely come into the stalls
while they are being MIXED and eat
ing grain feed, and do not lie down.
In the winter time when the cattle are
kept in barn all night and most OF
the day, we have adopted the practice
here of packing bed six inches deep
OF sawdust, cottonseed hulls and cut
fodder or straw, in the stall, and hold
Ing 1t In place by fastening or 6
inch board across the ends of the
stalls, exactly flush with the side of
the manure gutter next the cows. The
bedding material is packed tight and
level with the top of this board at
the point where the cows hind feet
stand, and will remain quite clean for
a considerable time. We find this 6
inch layer of bedding when properly
renewed or leveled every day, makes
an excellent and inexpensive bed,
clean and practically dustless.
Now the use of cement feeding
troughs to my mind is an entirely diff
ferent matter, and | am not in favor
OF them at all. A round or square
cement water trough in the barnyard
Is all right enough. The use that l
object to is trough in front Of the
cows, used for feeding, and flushed
with water for cleaning. and to let
the cows drink. This consider
most fruitful method Of carrying dis
ease from one cow to another. II
some OF the cows fail to eat their
feed as quickly as others, 1t produces
a slop and waste. Feeding on floors
or In troughs without partitions be-
tween the heads, permits a greedy
cow to get more feed than belongs to
her. l consider the feeding such an
individual matter that each cow
should have a good sized deep feed
box all to herself, with partitions be-
tween heads high enough to prevent
any communication with neighbors. /
prefer such feed boxes made of sound
wood, tight enough to hold water rea-
sonably we'll, slanting slightly toward
the front and having holes or short
pipes in one or both corners, so that
they too may be thoroughly washed
occasionally with hose. Such boxes
do not need much cleaning, as the
cows usually keep them licked clean
and right. I consider cement too hard
and in winter too cold for them to
lick, and liable to disintegrate after
use from the action of the tongue and
saliva.
AS to watering, I consider all de-
vices for watering in the stall farce,
both useless and unsanitary. The best
way we have found is to turn cows
out of stalls for water at one or two
protected troughs where they will not
necessarily get cold or muddy while
drinking.
l advise the use of cement for the
entire barn floor, stalls, manure alley.
and feeding alley, with the single ex.
ception of bottom and sides of feed
boxes. Cement is becoming cheaper
every year and is great help to
dairymen. r
~ c. l.. Willoughby.
Dairyman Georgia Experiment Sta
ton