Author Topic: An interesting hay feeder idea (Read 5742 times)

Womble · « **on:** January 09, 2016, 11:00:11 pm »

I was looking online for gate-hung hay feeder designs, and came upon this:

Yes I know they're charging £180

for a pair of wheelie bins with holes cut out of them, but what do you all think? Would it actually work?

I worry that the sheep would just pull big chunks of hay out through the holes and then waste it (That could be overcome by strapping some 3x3 weldmesh inside). However, would the hay above fall down properly as the stuff below is used up I wonder?

Foobar · « **Reply #1 on:** January 10, 2016, 08:26:24 pm »

I've tried this with a big blue barrel (slightly smaller holes though) ... the biggest problem was getting the hay to fall down evenly.

Penninehillbilly · « **Reply #2 on:** January 10, 2016, 10:32:23 pm »

How about a large dalek style compost bin? Or would the hay fall down too easily and cause problems?

Fleecewife · « **Reply #3 on:** January 10, 2016, 10:56:48 pm »

With the wheelie bin being wider at the top than at the bottom, the hay would not fall down. Unless the bin was tied to something, then the sheep would tip it over, the lid would open, the rain and sheep would get in. We tried all sorts of things before we bit the bullet and bought proper hecks - never looked back

marka · « **Reply #4 on:** January 11, 2016, 09:27:19 am »

We use a frame from an IBC tank with 2 pallets stood up in the middle to form an inverted triangle - this creates 2 sections where the slope of the pallet allows the hay to slide down as the sheep eat it through the bars but still allows feeding from all 4 sides.

The frame is stable enough that the sheep cannot move it about but its also easy for 2 of us to move it around the field or lift into a trailer for longer moves.

Regards

Buffy the eggs layer · « **Reply #5 on:** January 11, 2016, 10:32:11 am »

Whenever I see them advertised ( they have been a round a while ) they are used for horses. My concern is the same as yours and everyone else's.

I think you could invent something better ( and cheaper ) Womble. With pregnant sheep my main concern is that they all have easy access to a steady supply of dry hay and so far I cant find a better solution than the covered metal hay feeder on wheels.

Having said that though I realise that you were looking for over the gate feeders and although I have a few I am not as happy with their performance so I am still in search of new ideas. So if you come up with something to solve that problem please let me know.

Womble · « **Reply #6 on:** January 11, 2016, 10:47:32 pm »

Thanks for the comments folks. The IBC cage idea is a good one!

Actually though, I went out at the weekend to buy a 2nd hand creep feeder (I would have loved to have made one but am very short of time just now), and also came back with an old 8ft wheeled hay rack, with cast iron wheels no less! It's definitely a fixer-upper, but with a bit of welding should be good for a decade or two!

Hellybee · « **Reply #7 on:** January 18, 2016, 02:57:12 pm »

Cage great idea.

clydesdaleclopper · « **Reply #8 on:** January 18, 2016, 04:57:59 pm »

I use IBC cages because you can get them for free. Nobody has much use for an old leaky IBC so I have had a lot of success asking for them on Freegle

waterbuffalofarmer · « **Reply #9 on:** January 18, 2016, 05:30:49 pm »

It is certainly an ingenious idea, apart from a few slight flaws. A the price ( a little expensive, you may or may not disagree with me on that one) and 2 what would happen if it was windy, how could you secure it up and also make sure the sheep could still get to it. Here is my idea..... Suppose one of us designs an easy to open up plastic box, not entirely sure what the weight would be just yet..... but this box could be attached to a fence, again not sure how, and it would be easy to fill and easy to get at in all weathers. Maybe someone could improve on this idea for me? What do you all think? A bit vague I know.