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The Barn

Categories: History and Breeds

The farm barn, next to the farm house, is the most important structure

of the farm itself, in the Northern and Middle States; and even at the

South and Southwest, where barns are less used, they are of more

importance in the economy of farm management than is generally

understood. Indeed, to the eyes of a person of taste, a farm or

plantation appears incomplete, without good barn accommodations, as much

as without good
household appointments--and without them, no

agricultural establishment can be complete in all its proper economy.



The most thorough barn structures, perhaps, to be seen in the United

States, are those of the State of Pennsylvania, built by the German

farmers of the lower and central counties. They are large, and expensive

in their construction; and, in a strictly economical point of view, are,

perhaps, more costly than is required. Yet, there is a substantial

durability about them, that is exceedingly satisfactory, and, where the

pecuniary ability of the farmer will admit, they may well furnish models

for imitation.



In the structure of the barn, and in its interior accommodation, much

will depend upon the branches of agriculture to which the farm is

devoted. A farm cultivated in grain chiefly requires but little room for

stabling purposes. Storage for grain in the sheaf, and granaries, will

require its room; while a stock farm requires a barn with extensive hay

storage, and stables for its cattle, horses, and sheep, in all climates

which do not admit of such stocks living through the winter in the

field, as is the case in the great grazing districts west of the

Alleghanies. Again, there are wide districts of country where a mixed

husbandry of grain and stock is pursued, which require barns and

outbuildings accommodating both.



It may be well here to remark that many designers of barns, sheds, and

other outbuildings for the accommodation of farm stock, have indulged in

fanciful arrangements for the comfort and convenience of animals, which

are so complicated that when constructed, as they sometimes are, the

practical, common-sense farmer will not use them; and by reason of the

learning which is required for their use, they are altogether unsuitable

for the treatment and use which they generally receive from those who

have the daily care of the stock for which they are intended, and for

the rough usage which they experience from the animals themselves. A

very pretty and plausible arrangement of stabling, feeding, and all the

other requirements of a barn establishment may be thus got up by an

ingenious theorist at the fireside, which will work charmingly as he

dilates upon its good qualities, untried; but, which, when subjected to

experiment, will be utterly worthless for practical use. There can be

no doubt that the simplest plan of construction, consistent with an

economical expenditure of the material of food for the consumption of

stock, is by far the most preferable.



Another item to be considered in this connection, is the comparative

value of the stock, the forage fed to them, and the labor expended in

feeding and taking care of them. To illustrate: Suppose a farm to lie in

the vicinity of a large town or city. Its value is, perhaps, a hundred

dollars an acre. The hay cut upon it is worth fifteen dollars a ton, at

the barn, and straw and coarse grains in proportion, and hired labor ten

or twelve dollars a month. Consequently, the manager of this farm should

use all the economy in his power, by the aid of cutting-boxes and other

machinery, to make the least amount of forage supply the wants of his

stock; and the internal economy of his barn should be arranged

accordingly, since labor is his cheapest item, and food his dearest.

Therefore, any contrivance by which to work up his forage the

closest--by way of machinery, or manual labor--so that it shall serve

the purposes of keeping his stock, is true economy; and the making and

saving of manures are items of the first importance. His buildings and

their arrangements throughout should, for these reasons, be constructed

in accordance with his practice.



If, on the other hand, lands are cheap and productive, and labor

comparatively dear, a different practice will prevail. The farmer will

feed his hay from the mow without cutting. The straw will be stacked

out, and the cattle turned to it, to pick what they like of it, and make

their beds of the remainder; or, if it is housed, he will throw it into

racks, and the stock may eat what they choose. To do this requires but

one-third, or one-half of the labor which is required by the other mode,

and the saving in this makes up, and perhaps more than makes up, for the

increased quantity of forage consumed.



Again, climate may equally affect the mode of winter-feeding the stock.

The winters may be mild. The hay may be stacked in the fields when

gathered, or put into small barns built for hay storage alone; and the

manure, scattered over the fields by the cattle, as they are fed from

either of them, may be knocked to pieces with the dung-beetle, in the

spring, or harrowed and bushed over the ground; and with the very small

quantity of labor required in all this, such practice will be more

economical than any other which can be adopted.



In latitudes, however, in which it becomes necessary to stall-feed

during several months of the year, barns are indispensable. These should

be warm, and at the same time well ventilated. The barn should be

arranged in a manner suitable to keeping hay and other fodder dry and

sweet, and with reference to the comfort and health of the animals, and

the economy of labor and manure. The size and finish will, of course,

depend on the wants and means of the farmer or dairyman; but many little

conveniences, it should not be forgotten, can be added at comparatively

trifling cost.



The accompanying cut of a barn is given merely as an illustration of a

convenient arrangement for a medium-sized dairy, and not as being

adapted to all circumstances or situations. This barn is supposed to

stand upon a side-hill or an inclined surface, where it is easy to have

a cellar, if desired; and the cattle-room, as shown in the cut, is in

the second story, or directly over the cellar, the bottom of which

should be somewhat dished, or lower in the middle than around the outer

sides, and carefully paved, or laid in cement.






On the outside is represented an open shed, m, for carts and wagons to

remain under cover, thirty feet by fifteen, while l l l l l l are bins

for vegetables, to be filled through scuttles from the floor of the

story above, and surrounded by solid walls. The area of this whole floor

equals one hundred feet by fifty-seven. k, is an open space, nearly on

a level with the cow-chamber, through the door p. s, stairs to the

third story and to the cellar, d d d, passage next to the walls, five

feet wide, and nine inches above the dung-pit. e e e, dung-pit, two

feet wide, and seven inches below the floor where the cattle stand. The

manure drops from this pit into the cellar below, five feet from the

walls, and quite around the cellar. c c c, plank floor for cows, four

feet six inches long. b b b, stalls for three yoke of oxen, on a

platform five feet six inches long, n n, calf-pens, which may also be

used for cows in calving. r r, feeding-troughs for calves. The

feeding-boxes are made in the form of trays, with partitions between

them. Water comes in by a pipe, to cistern a. This cistern is

regulated by a cock and ball, and the water flows by dotted lines,

o o o, to the boxes; each box being connected by lead pipes well secured

from frost, so that, if desired, each animal can be watered without

leaving the stall, or water can be kept constantly before it. A scuttle,

through which sweepings and refuse may be put into the cellar, is seen

at f. g is a bin receiving cut hay from the third story, or

hay-room, h h h h h h, bins for grain-feed. i is a tunnel to conduct

manure or muck from the hay-floor to the cellar. j j, sliding-doors on

wheels. The cows all face toward the open area in the centre.



This cow-room may be furnished with a thermometer, clock, etc., and

should always be well ventilated by sliding windows, which at the same

time admit the light.



The next cut is a transverse section of the same cow-room; a being a

walk behind the cows, five feet wide; b, dung-pit; c, cattle-stand;

d, feeding-trough, with a bottom on a level with the platform where

the cattle stand; k, open area, forty-three feet, by fifty-six.






The story above the cow-room--as represented in the next cut--is one

hundred feet by forty-two; the bays for hay, ten on each side, being ten

feet front and fifteen feet deep; and the open space, p, for the

entrance of wagons, carts, etc., twelve feet wide. b, hay-scales. c,

scale beam. m m m m m m, ladders reaching almost to the roof. l l l,

etc., scuttle-holes for sending vegetables directly to the bins, l l l,

etc., below. a a b b, rooms on the corners for storage. d,

scuttles; four of which are used for straw, one for cut hay, and one for

muck for the cellar. n and the other small squares are eighteen-feet

posts. f, passage to the tool-house, a room one hundred feet long by

eighteen wide. o, stairs leading to the scaffold in the roof of the

tool-house. i i, benches. g, floor. h, boxes for hoes, shovels,

spades, picks, iron bars, old iron, etc. j j j, bins for fruit. k,

scuttles to put apples into wagons, etc., in the shed below. One side of

this tool-house may be used for plows and large implements, hay-rigging,

harness, etc.



Proper ventilation of the cellar and the cow-room avoids the objection

that the hay is liable to injury from noxious gases.






The excellent manure-cellar beneath this barn extends only under the

cow-room. It has a drive-way through doors on each side. No barn-cellar

should be kept shut up tight, even in cold weather. The gases are

constantly escaping from the manure, unless held by absorbents, which

are liable not only to affect the health of the stock, but also to

injure the quality of the hay. To prevent this, while securing the

important advantages of a manure-cellar, the barn may be furnished with

good-sized ventilators on the top, for every twenty-five feet of its

length, and with wooden tubes leading from the cellar to the top.



There should also be windows on different sides of the cellar to admit

the free circulation of air. With these precautions, together with the

use of absorbents in the shape of loam and muck, there will be no danger

of rotting the timbers of the barn, or of risking the health of the

cattle or the quality of the hay.



The temperature at which the cow-room should be kept is somewhere from

fifty to sixty degrees, Fahrenheit. The practice and the opinions of

successful dairymen differ somewhat on this point. Too great heat would

affect the health and appetite of the herd; while too low a temperature

is equally objectionable, for various reasons.



The most economical plan for room in tying cattle in their stalls, is to

fasten the rope or chain, whichever is used--the wooden stanchion, or

stanchel, as it is called, to open and shut, enclosing the animal by the

neck, being objectionable--into a ring, which is secured by a strong

staple into a post. This prevents the cattle from interfering with each

other, while a partition effectually prevents any contact from the

animals on each side of it, in the separate stalls.



There is no greater benefit for cattle, after coming into

winter-quarters, than a systematic regularity in every thing pertaining

to them. Every animal should have its own particular stall in the

stable, where it should always be kept. The cattle should be fed and

watered at certain fixed hours of the day, as near as may be. If let out

of the stables for water, unless the weather is very pleasant--when they

may be permitted to lie out for a short time--they should be immediately

put back, and not allowed to range about with the outside cattle. They

are more quiet and contented in their stables than elsewhere, and waste

less food than if permitted to run out; besides being in every way more

comfortable, if properly bedded and attended to, as every one will find

upon trial. The habit which many farmers have, of turning their cattle

out of the stables in the morning, in all weathers--letting them range

about in a cold yard, hooking and annoying each other--is of no possible

benefit, unless it be to rid them of the trouble of cleaning the

stables, which pays more than twice its cost in the saving of manure.

The outside cattle, which occupy the yard--if there are any--are all the

better that the stabled ones do not interfere with them. They become

habituated to their own quarters, as do the others, and all are better

for being, respectively, in their proper places.



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