Hello Deborah and others, A brief history of the stanchions. I apologize to the list for making this so long. It will bore some who are not interested. Sorry! After my old wooden stanchions, came the newer variety that you mentioned. They were manufactured of steel lined with wood where it touched the cow's neck. They were suspended from a top bar by a short chain and held in place at the bottom also with a chain. They opened and closed by a "mechanism" at the top of the somewhat "v" shaped contraption. To me they were a nuisance as the mechanism sometimes stuck from becoming rusty in the moist dairy barn. But they were widely used because they allowed the cow more freedom in moving her head around. Then came the tie stalls. These consisted of "u" shaped metal pipes (about 2" diameter) about 3 or 4 feet high cemented into the floor. They were wide U's, wide enough to make a wide space for each cow. These "u's" were set in a line, each being about a foot apart. The cows could stick their heads through, but it was not wide enough for them to walk through. Each cow had a wide strap around its neck which was snapped into a chain which slid up and down on the u-pipes. This method gave the cow freedom to move around somewhat and lie down more comfortably. Straw or sawdust or shavings were used over the cement floor to make a soft bed for the cow. The use of "water beds", rubber pads filled with water, (somewhat like our camping air matresses) were used to some extent although they were very expensive. Anything to make the cow more comfortable increased their milk production. In earlier times when I first started farming, every morning I turned the cows out of the barn to drink from the watering trough. This was in the winter. In summer the cows drank from streams or from a water trough in the pasture. When they were out to drink in winter the barn was cleaned ( manure shoveled out from the gutters and spreas on the fields) and fresh bedding laid down behind the stanchions. Most of the time the water trough was frozen over, so the ice had to be chopped out. Of course, the cows were thirsty after a diet of dry hay, so they drank all they could to last them until next morning. They didn't really drink as much as they needed because it was cold ice water. Most of them were trembling and shaking as they stood in the barnyard waiting to be let back into the warm barn. They had drunk just enough water to "get by with". Later those who had a barn that was built warm enough to stay above freezing began to use "water bowls/buckets". Water pipes were run along the rows of stanchions and a metal bowl was fastened between each two cows. They could share one bowl because they took only sips along through the day as they felt thirsty. The buckets had a "flat paddle" and inch or two above the bottom. I first taught our cows to drink from these on the day they were installed by pushing down the paddles to let a little water in. When the cow drank that much and tried to get more they pushed the paddle down, trying to get what was left. It only took about one day before they learned that was the way to get more water in the bowl. It was said milk production increased by about 20% after water bowls were installed. (probably true) Charles