The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-03-15

important things in the construction OF
their barns: Cd As place of shelter
for farm animals during stormy or cold
periods; ~ as a place Tor safe and con-
yenient storage for farm crops, said Prof
|. G. Weld before the New Hampshire
Dairymen's association.
At a later time, or about 25 years
ago, another feature was favorably con
sidered here in New England, and in
many places provided for. refer TO
the practice of constructing barns with
basement under the stable for the
convenient storage OF manure, This
brought together under one roof and
in the same atmosphere, the food, the
animals and the filth from their own
bodies. Such barns for the most part
were constructed with few if any win
dows, and no provision was made for a
system of ventilation.
About 25 years ago, when the advan-
tages of winter dairying were coming to
be generally recognized in our state
when creameries were being rapidly es.
tablished, and the cities We're developing
an all-the- year-around demand for milk
it was discovered and proclaimed that
cows would give more milk when kept
in warm stable. Yankee ingenuity was
quick to find a way to warm the stable
by simply mailing boards in front of and
above the cows hangers. Exposure to
storms and cold weather was said to be
influential in decreasing the milk flow,
so the cows, for the most part, were de-
prived of sunlight and fresh air and kept
tied in their stables.
In many cases, especially in the south
ern part of the state. the water supply
was frequently piped to a tank located
in the barn basement, close beside the
manure pile, where it would not freeze.
and so the cows, without going out of
doors, could get this water by going
down runway into the basement. As
the winter wore away, the haymow
above them gradually grew smaller and
the manure pile underneath them grad
ually grew larger. These conditions and
standards of stable cleanliness are UNI
fortunatel your inheritance. Not that
fortunately your inheritance Not that
they did as well and planned as wisely
as they knew. But the standards OF
cleanliness have materially changed.
The development and perfection Of
laboratory apparatus and the science Of
bacteriology, especially as it relates to
milk, are to-day responsible for much
of the attention given to the milk sup
ply. We are now entering the era when
barn is not to be regarded simply as
a shelter and protection for dairy cattle
and storage for farm crops and manure,
but is coming to be regarded as a food
factory, place where finished food
product for human beings is being daily
and hourly prepared or handled. A COW
stable is coming to be regarded as a
food factory, where cows instead Of
people. are employed, and where the
cows do work for the people which the
people are unable to do for themselves.
So, then, we must go farther than our
forefathers did and in addition to the
storage for farm crops and providing
shelter and warmth for our cows we
must first of all let more sunlight into
these old stables Provide windows
enough so that all parts OF the stable
will be as light as a well-arranged food
factory should be.
Provision must also be made for a
liberal supply Of fresh air at All times.
According to the report Of the chief Of
the bureau OF animal industry, over II
per cent. of all cattle in this state test
ed for tuberculosis have reacted to the
test, and in every case the post norton
examination has shown the reacting ami
NAL to be diseased When we eandidly
consider the conditions under which our
dairy cows have been housed and cared
for. or, rather, neglected, and the condi-
lions under which many of them are
being kept at the present day, we can
only wonder that many more have not
contracted the disease We must, then,
see that our food factories or COW sta
bles are provided with sunlight and fresh
air for the benefit of our employees, the
cows. for unless we can employ or make
use Of animals that are in sound health
we cannot expect to realize the greatest
benefit from our investment or to put
upon the market food product that
will be fit for human food
In addition to more sunlight and fresh
air, we must find some way by which
manure can be removed from the imme-
diate vicinity of the cows or to a point
where the cows will not be compelled to
exist in its odor, and where it viii not
be source Of contamination for the
product of the food factory. Floors,
CUTTERS, hangers of plain, simple con
struction and having few corners, are
most easily kept clean