IDEAL MILKING SHEDS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5390, 20 February 1929, Page 3

IDEAL MILKING SHEDS.

EXAMPLES AT HORAjHIA. NOTEWORTHY FEATURES. Two cowsheds which have recently been erected on Hcwahia farms have very commendable features, and have earned the enthusiastic approval of inspectors of the N.Z. Dairy Company and officers of the Dairy Division, Department of Agriculture, who are now using them to demonstrate to farmers the ideal in design and EXnstraction. (One shed is on the farm of Messrs Kneebone Rr.os. and! the other is on Mr J. Sloane’s farm, but both are very much alike. Ladt week a representative of this paper was invited by a Government inspector to view the shed on Messrs Kneebone Bros’, farm in company Avith a number of Kaihere Road settlers who will shortly be building cowsheds on their Kerepeehi Block holdings. The building w'as ve;ry soundly constructed, and better materials were used than would be considered necessary by many people for dwellings. Concrete was used for all floors and for the bottom two feet off all walls, and nowhere, was there a,ny wood touching the floor. This is a recent stipulation in dairy factory construction owing to the difficulty of, keeping wood from rotting when frequently wetted, and also because it is less sanitary than concrete, apd its adoption for milking-shed design is a commendable feature. i This idea] necessitates the use of. swinging dummy partitions between the bails, and any farmer observing the simplicity of construction and the ease with which a shed can be kept clean when there are no posts in the floor will appreciate the value of this feature. Messrs Kneebone Bros, beleive in feeding then* and have adapted the dummies for this purpose In a novel but very satisfactory manner. Each dummy contains a box and t.wo bins, one opening to„eaeh cow so’that it can feed comfortably while being milked. Between milkings sufficient bran and cattle cake for the cows which will pass through each two bails art; a milking is mixed in the box, and’ it is. an easj r matter to measure a ration into each bin. It has been found since feeding commenced that all cows will walk into a bail as soon as it becomes qmpty, and that the regular ration of bran and 1 concentrated food enables cows to get In calf quickly and hold their calves. A lump of rock salt is placed in each feed binThe lifting doors for the c.ow's are counter-weighted ip the same manner as ordinary windows, t and! ate pulled up as easily. All drainage; from the shed and yard flows down a shallow drain to a concreted hole, where the solids settle and the clear water flows away through an outlet near the top to the farm drain. The tank only requires emptying everv month or two, according to its size, and as it is always full of. water there is no objectionable smell.

. Between the inllking-shed and the separator-room and engine-room there, is a 7ft wide passage having wide doors at each end 1 . This passage seems to create a draught of air which effectively prevents smells front reaching the separator-room. In the passage the washing up is done, and the cans of cream are placed in the cool breeze at night. This passage has to be seen for its worth to, be fully realised, and any fanner contemplating, the erection of. a new shed would he well advised to inspect ■Messrs. Kneebone Bips’. or Mr Sloane’s building, for both have been erected by a ma,n who has obviously profited by a wide experience and whose layout is well worth copying. The visit wouldi also be interesting and instructive by reason of the placing of the machinery, and the many simple devices which make for easy and quick working.