We're just looking for ideas on possible changes we can make to our kid hay feeders. Currently we use a cut stock panel in a corner with clips. I'm just wondering what you all use? Thanks, Trisha
I don't use cattle panel I use the small utility panel, the goats can't get their heads in them, only their muzzels even kids. I know LMonty took photos of alot of things when she was here perhaps you could PM and ask the for a photo. The gist is, from a 10 foot one down the barn for the milkers to the 4 foot ones in the kids pen, they are framed in 2x4's, and are nearly touching the wall at the bottom and are wide enough at the top (think funnel or envelope) to hold flakes of hay...the big one for the milkers holds bales at the top and then funnels the hay down into the bottom. I still get some waste but I love these feeders more than any we have tried. Vicki
That is exactly what we use and it works great. Like Vicki they are mounted against the wall at the bottom and we used chain to allow them to fall forward away from the wall at the top. So much for me thinking I had the greatest and smartest husband who built my one of a kind hay feeder! Jolene
I forgot to say that when we attached the bottom to the wall we guessed at the height by using what we though a kid would need if they stood on their back legs. I really like this as no doe could every jump in it due to the height of it. Jolene
hope this helps, Lisa gets the credit as the photographer, but she sent me the pics. thats an adult doe lying down there IIRC as a size reference
Ours is solid so hay can not fall out of the sides, and goats can not crawl in. I am anal about the sides of cattle panels, from owning a buckling who as a kid impailed his eye on the staub of a cattle panel that was cut off, to a rip in an udder...no edges of cattle panels showing around here. Vicki
Vicki - can you describe the sides of the feeders? I cannot see them in the photo. And where do you find 4x4 panels? I haven't had any luck locally and the NDs will crawl into anything bigger than that. Do you think a stretched horse fence 3x2 might work for feeders?
Imagine a piece of plywood shaped like a V....ok a triangle though so the V has a solid line across the top. Then frame in the front and insides to screw the plywood together and also slats to cover the utility panel. The barn wall makes the back of the feeder, the front of the feeder is the utility panel. No I don't think fence would work because it is bendable. The utility panel is sturdy and could stand on it's own. The fencing would also grab the hay as you put hay in the feeders, making them impossible to fill. I can stand on my side of the barn and toss hay into these feeders, only going in every so often to really fill them on cleaning the stall days. This one is a 4 foot one that are in the two movable wall 10x10 stalls, that can become 10x20 or 20x20. I like the V to be really deep into the girls pens, both so the space across the top is easy to toss hay into, but also so they don't stand at the feeder like the black doe is doing above. This contaminates the hay that is in the bottom of the feeder with hoof sludge And then when my big fatties lay at the feeder and eat hay they parasite themselves all over again. And just for size, that is a doe who just turned a year old in the photo, about 140 pounds. Yes my walls are tall over 5 feet, that way if the bottom board rots out, I haven't ruined a whole expensive sheet of 10 foot plywood, I only have to replace the bottom 'rot' boards. Vicki
