Monday, October 19, 2009

White Place Farm - Buildings 3-4 & 5.

Buildings 3 - 4 & 5.
Implement, Dry Stock
& Calving Boxes.
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The top diagram shows two of what was an eight bay implement shed, which was used for the storage of seasonal equipment such as: Ploughs, Cultivators, Harrows of various types, Haymaking and Harvest equipment. The Threshing Machine and Hay Elevator was stored off to one side in a building that does not show on the map. The building was open on three sides and the roof was made of CGI. The supports were old telephone poles cut in half, with wood joists and rafters.


The Dry Stock Pens in the diagram above are a mirror immage of the Implemnt Shed except there were ten pens instead of eight bays and they were there for use mainly during the Winter season, when no cattle were turned out as the majority of pastures were water meadows and subject to flooding. It was in these pens that the Dry Stockman put the in calf cows or heifers through what is known as "Steaming." No, that does not mean that they give them a steam bath every day! No it means that they are fed extra concentrates of food so that when they calve, they will yield the maximum ammount of milk.

In building five there were six loose boxes that were used for calving and when required for the treament of sick cattle, such as lameness due to a cloven hoof infection, most common where you have soft muddy ground and loose gravel mixed in. More about this treatment will come later.

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