Dairyman's New Feeding Barn

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31083, 11 June 1966, Page 9

Dairyman ' s New Feeding Barn

Besides the one hundred and one jobs that go with working a town milk supply farm, a Kaiapoi dairyman and his assistant have built a 4180 sq. ft. feeding barn. For the owner, Mr E. C. Storer, and his employee, Mr K. Auld, this, in anyone’s estimation, is a fair achievement.

The two men began construction in January, and the completed barn has now been in use three weeks. Measuring 110 ft x 38ft, it has stall room for 60 cows. The main feature of construction has been the extent to which timber has been used. Steel, in fact, was used only to build some tail-rail units to keep the cows confined in their stalls.

The principal features in the design are a centre race to take a tractor and trailer and—in contrast to some loafing barns—two side races from which cows have access to and from their stalls. The stalls themselves have been raised lOin above race level; each is 3ft Bin wide and 7ft deep. This includes the space for a feeding trough and a raised water trough. The water supply, in fact, was the main teething problems. With the feeding of hay each night, it was found difficult to keep the water clean. Although square box-like coverings had been built over the troughs, these were not fully effective, so canvas flaps were fitted over the front of the trough housing. This overcame the problem quite efficiently, and the cows quickly became accustomed to pressing the flaps to get a drink. Instead of using chains to

keep the cows in their stalls, Mr Storer has developed his own type of tail-rail. These have been built in units of five and fitted to the tubular steel uprights at the back of the stalls. When the cows are let out, the units are simply swung over in a half circle to rest on the top of the stalls and until the cows return again in the evening, they stay in that position. The watering of the shed is simplicity itself, although in deciding not to use a pressure system with ballcocks attached to troughs, Mr Storer wap faced with a tricky task, because the shed has a fall of Ift from end to end.

The troughs in the bam are gravity fed from two master troughs outside, but because the shed has this Ift fall, the troughs in one half of the shed are at one level, and those in the other half at a higher level. By setting the master troughs at appropriate levels outside, the gravity system has been made possible. Ventilation and lighting are other aspects which bear out the detail that has gone into planning the building. Several perspex corrugated sheets placed in the roof let in ample daylight, and with 10 sets of louvre windows—-

four on each side and one each end—ventilation is quite adequate. In addition the ridging on the apex of the roof has been lifted, Electric lighting has been provided with bulbs of low strength, and the lights are left on all night, as it has been found the cows have settled down much better in the new quarters under these conditions.

To cope with dung and urine, two underground tanks have been installed outside the shed. Each day Mr Storer or Mr Auld fit a timber blade, with rubber edging, to the tractor, and sweep out the barn. With hosing of the side races, the contents of

the tank are converted to a liquid “brew,” which is pumped into a mobile tank, and spread on the pastures.

The cows have settled in well in the new barn. The heifers, in particular, quickly became accustomed to their new night quarters. In cold, wet weather, the herd is held in all day, but the bam is principally for overnight accommodation in the winter.

The change to indoor feeding has produced some interesting comparisons. A week ago the cows were being fed 17 bales of hay overnight,

compared with 24 bales when fed outside. There has also been a beneficial affect on production. The herd's production rose about 20 gallons when it was kept in during some southerly weather recently, whereas it would presumably have gone down had the cows been put out of doors.

The new feeding bam is a very neat and practical setup. It incorporates features of loafing bams in other dairying districts, as Mr Storer inspected a number of other bams before settling on his own plan. He also obtained information on plans and lay-out from the Dairy Board and the Department of Agriculture. At £l2OO, the cost of constraction was very economical.

Mr Storer’s herd is Friesian, but he recently visited Southland and purchased nine Ayrshires which will be the foundation stock of a new stud.