Ruehe, Harrison August

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The construction of the dairy house

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UNlVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
Agricultural Experiment Station 
URBANA, ILLINOIS, JULY, 1916 
CIRCULAR No. 188 
THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE DAIRY HOUSE 
BY H. A. RUEHE 
Associate in Dairy Manufactures 
Most dairymen realize that in order to produce milk or cream of the 
best quality it is desirable to have a dairy house so constructed and 
equipped that the products may be cared for in the most convenient 
and satisfactory manner. 
It is impossible to draw a plan of a dairy house that will meet the 
requirements of every individual case. In order to design a plan 
properly, it is necessary to know the size of the herd, how the product 
is to be disposed of (whether as whole milk, cream, or butter), the 
location of the barn, well, etc. However, there are a few general 
principles that should be followed in the building of any dairy house. 
Location.-Altho the dairy house should be near enough to the barn 
to be convenient, it should not be directly connected with the barn 
because it is then likely to be filled with stable odors which are ab-
sorbed by the milk or cream. It is well to leave an open air space of 
six to ten feet between the barn and the dairy house. Placing the 
dairy house on the side of the barn opposite the barnyard also lessens 
the chance of stable odors being absorbed by the milk. Proper drain-
age from the dairy house is important and must be considered when 
selecting the location. 
2 CIRCULAR No. 188 [July, 
Construction.-The building material may be drop siding, brick, 
or concrete, depending upon the investment the builder desires to 
make. The inside walls should be smooth. Plastered walls are pref-
Hable since board walls have a tendency to rot, especially close to the 
floor. Rotting can · be obviated to a certain extent by plastering 
the walls up to a height of about three feet. 
The building should be so partitioned that the milk room, wash 
room, and boiler room are separate. The rooms should be well lighted 
by windows, and ventilation should be supplied by an opening placed 
in the ceiling of each room. Each ventilator should be fitted with some 
sort of damper to regulate its action. 
A solid and impervious floor is essential. A cement floor meets 
these requirements very well. A wooden floor is v~ry unsatisfactory 
because it is not durable, does not dry quickly, collects filth, and when 
wet is slippery and hard to work on. The floors should have a good 
slope leading to drains fitted with proper traps. 
Water Supply.-An abundance of clean, cold, running water is 
necessary. If the location is such that water from a municipal water 
system cannot be supplied, it may be obtained from an elevated tank 
or by means of a compressed air· system. 
Equipment.-The dairy house equipment depends largely upon 
the purpose for which the house is to be used. A boiler is the most 
convenient means of furnishing steam and hot water for washing and 
sterilizing cans and utensils. An upright boiler of two to four horse-
power will serve the purpose. 
The wash room should 'contain a sink having a drain board. The 
drain board may be fitted with steam and water connections so that 
the cans and pails can be rinsed and steamed after they are washed. 
It is desirable . to have draining racks for cans and pails, and a closet 
in which to keep utensils. Every dairy house should have a Babcock 
milk testing outfit, which may be either hand or steam driven. Further 
equipment will depend upon which of the following purposes the 
dairy house is to serve, namely: (1) selling whole milk in bulk (see 
Fig. 1); (2) making butter or selling cream (see Fig. 2); and (3) 
bottling milk on the farm (see Fig. 3) . 
The plans in this circulal' are designed for dairies with as many 
as twenty-five cows in the herd. For larger herds it may be neces-
sary to build a dairy house having larger dimensions than those sub-
mitted. If it is not intended to have the dairy house fitted with a 
1916] THE CoNsTRUCTION oF THE DAIRY HousE 3 
boiler room and a wash room, it may be made smaller than suggested 
in Figs. 1 and 2 by eliminating that part of the building devoted to 
suc4 rooms. 
DAIRY HousE FOR SELLING WHOLE MILK IN BuLK 
The milk room should contain a coil cooler for cooling the milk as 
quickly as possible after it is drawn. The milk may then be put into 
eight- or ten-gallon cans and set in the cooling tank, or the preliminary 
cooling may be omitted and the cans of warm milk placed in the cooling 
tank. The cooling tank may be fitted with water connections so that 
the milk can be kept cold by running water, or the tank may be in-
sulated and fitted with a lid so that ice may be placed in the cooling 
water. The latter is not necessary if there is a good supply of cold 
water which will keep the milk at a temperature below 50° Fahrenheit. 
A hand separator may be installed in case of the necessity of skim-
ming surplus milk. 
DAIRY HousE ·FOR SELLING CREAM OR MAKING BuTTER 
Selling cream necessitates the use of a centrifugal separator and a 
cooling tank or refrigerator. Making butter requires the additional 
equipment of a churn, and a table upon which to print and wrap the 
butter. The cooling tank may be smaller than that shown in Fig. 2, 
the size depending on the amount of material to be kept cool. The 
cream should be cooled directly after skimming and kept cool until 
it is delivered or ripened for churning, as the case may be. 
A gasoline engine may be installed in the wash room to furnish 
power for separating and churning. If such an engine is used, the 
exhaust should be piped thru the roof of the building in order to avoid 
the possibility of the gasoline flavor being absorbed by the cream. 
·DAIRY HousE FOR BoTTLING MILK 
For bottling milk on the farm the dairy house should be larger and 
contain more equipment than is required for the two above mentioned · 
purposes. A double compartment sink is convenient for washing and 
rinsing bottles. There should be a sterilizer for sterilizing all bottles 
before they are filled. This may be used also to sterilize the milk 
pails, cooler, and the bottler. The sterilizer may be constructed of 
hollow tile plastered with cement plaster, or of heavy galvanized sheet 
iron reinforced with angle iron. A drain should be placed in the floor 
of the sterilizer and a ventilator with a tight-fitting damper in the 
4 CIRCULAR No. 188 [July, 
ceiling. Shelves may be arranged so that they will hold the bottles 
in an inverted position, or, if cases of the proper kind are used, the 
bottles can be put into the cases and the cases inverted. It is neces~ary 
to allow the bottles to cool ,bdore filling with the cold milk in or~er to 
prevent breakage, as well as to avoid warming the milk. A bottling 
table or small bottler may be used in bottling the milk. A _ well-con-
structed refrigerator is necessary for storing the bottled milk until it 
is delivered. 
In constructing a refrigerator, p·roper insulation is extremely im-
portant in order to maintain a low temperature and to use ice economi-
cally. Either cork board or water-proof lith makes a very efficient 
insulation. These materials can be obtained in sheets twelve inches 
wide, thirty-six inches long, and two inches thick. These sheets can be 
applied in the same way as lumber, and hence are very convenient to 
use. A refrigerator for storing milk, if built on the ground, should 
have the floor insulated with two inches of this material and the walls 
and ceiling with four inches. When putting on this insulation, it is 
best to use two layers and break the joints in each direction. A slush 
coat of cement plaster should be put in between the two layers and 
the outside covered with cement plaster. The doors should be tight-
fitting and well-insulated. The ice bunker should be placed in the 
upper part of the refrigerator, and the air shafts should be so con-
structed as to obtain a good circulation of air. Fig. 4 shows the 
proper method of insulating a refrigerator and also the construction 
necessary to give the proper circulation of air. 
The milk room should have some sort of cooler for cooling the milk 
rapidly to a temperature below 50° Fahrenheit. As the milk is put 
into the cooler supply can, it may be strained thru cotton outing flannel 
or thru absorbent cotton held between cheesecloth. 
A separator should be installed also for skimming surplus milk or 
to supply cream for the cream trade. 
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[July, 


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