PUKEKOHE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9065, 28 May 1888, Page 6

PUKEKOHE.

IMPROVED DAIRY BUILDINGS AND FARM. Notwithstanding the general depression and low prices ruling for farm produce, it is pleasing to find that some of our country settlers have confidence in the future stability and prosperity of the country. One of the great drawbacks met with on many of our farms is the want of suitable farm buildings, without which there will always be waste, loss, and discomfort to men and stock. Our climate is all that can be desired, but, during the wet, winter months, working horses and dairy cows will do far better if they are housed in a convenient building at night. One of our enterprising settlers, Mr. John Allen, of Hillside, Pukekohe, has just erected a barn which has excited the admiration of all who have seen it. A brief description may bo of use and benefit to settlers in other districts who may contemplate making improvements in their farm buildings. The barn is 60 feet long, 60 feet wide, and 30 feet high to the ridge. The outward appearance of the building Bhows the main portion to be 30 feet wide and 18 feet high, with a double roof, the rafters being 20 feet long. A building on each side, 15 feet wide, and extending the full length, forms a lean-to, the rafters being 18 foot long, and the eaves about 8 feet high on one side and 10 feet on the other. The outer walls are close boarded, and the roof is covered with galvanised iron. The internal arrangements are made to suit the convenience and requirements of the farm and stock. An inspection of the interior giVes some idea of tho solidity and strength of the structure. The whole of the building is supported by heavy puriri posts, all of which are sunk from three to four feet in the ground. The two centre rows, which carry the principal roof, stand 18 feet above the surface level, their massive porportions giving an impression of strength and durability, some of them averaging two feet in diameter. On a dairy farm one of the first buildings necessary is a good cow-house, and this is a prominent feature in the barn. It extends across one end of the building, measuring ()0 feet long by 24 feet wide, and is fitted up for the accommodation of 32 cows, that being the average number of cows in milk on this farm throughout the year. One aide of the building—that is, from the cowhouse to the farther end, measuring 36 feet by 15 feet—is fitted up as a four-stall stable, harness-room, and buggy-house, while the same space on tho opposite side is used as a dray and implement shed. The centre of the building, measuring 36 feet by 30 feet, is used as a hay barn, and appears to bo admirably adapted for the purpose. The walls of this portion are 18 feet high, and the double roof, with 20-feet rafters, increases the height another 12 feet to the ridge. The entrance door is 10 feet wide and 12 feet high, for unloading hay, and there are two smaller doors at intervals above for pitching in the hay when the stack is above the level of the larger door. Thero is a loft, extending over the cowhouse, stable, and implement shed, fitted with convenient doors, the floor space being of the dimensions already given of these three divisions—somowhere about 280 square yards—the whole of which is available for horse-power chaff-cutter ; also for storing seeds, hay, and other farm produce. One great advantage of a building of this nature is the convenience and economy of time and material in feeding stock during the winter months. The hay can be pitched from the centre stack into tho lofts, ready for putting down through convenient holes into tho stalls for horses and cows; in fact, after the hay is stacked in summer, it is kept and given to stock under cover without any risk of deterioration from exposure to the weather. The value of a barn for storing hay is not, however, confined to the winter season. In our variable climate it sometimes happens that when the hay is made and the stack halfbuilt, a thunderstorm will undo the labour of many days, and the well-made hay has to oe carted and spread in the fields again, the result being that half the goodness has been washed and dried out before it is securely stacked and thatched. This can be avoided and a large expenditure of labour saved, not only in making and stacking, but also for thatch every year, by the erection of a commodious barn, when every load of hay is secured as it is carted. There i 3 a convenient and well-ventilated dairy midway between the house and barn, in which some tons of butter are made every year for the Auckland market. It speaks well for the farm stock and management of the dairy when we state that Mr. Allen took two first and tho champion prize for fresh butter at tho Auckland Agricultural and Pastoral Association Show, and that this butter—the "J. A."— has been supplied at a contract price considerably higher than ruling rates to the London Dairy Company, Auckland, for some years past, and lias given every satisfaction. A piggery has been erected at a convenient distance from the barn and dairy. It is constructed of sawn timber, lias boarded floors, and eight subdivisions, each being fitted with iron feeding trough, and the whole building covered by a galvanised iron roof. A considerable number of pigs are fattened here every year for the Auckland market with the buttermilk and surplus skim-milk not required for feeding tho calves. From tho foregoing, it will be seen that this may be termed a model dairy farm, and we may add that a considerable quantity of grass seed has been harvested and sold oil this farm every year. Twelve years ago this farm of 150 acres was covered with standing bush and a few acres of stumps and logs, which almost covered the ground. At the present time nearly one-half the farm has been stumped, ploughed, and laid down in permanent pasture ; the other half has been felled and surface-sown with grass, except a few clumps of native bush, which have been preserved for shelter and ornament. The whole of the farm is substanially fenced and subdivided into some ten or twelve con-venient-sized paddocks. There aro several double lines of fences, between which are planted rows of shelter and ornamental trees. In future the owner intends growing from 20 to 30 acres of wheat and oats every year, in addition to the operations of the dairy. ___________