# Pictures of my little "personal size" hay feeders



## freemotion (Mar 1, 2010)

I can't remember where I promised to post these pics, so here they are in their own thread....my low-waste hay feeders.  I have three styles....I show the backs of the outdoor ones so you can see the bungees and the front of the indoor one.  The indoor one is attached to the wall with strips of rubber roofing, and one is attached with scraps of nylon strapping.  I think a metal hinge would not allow enough give.  I use ball bungees on top to open it for filling.  It holds one flake of hay.  The purple sled holds two flakes.   I don't fill the outdoor ones when there is rain or snow, as the hay gets wet (as do the goats!) and then they won't eat it.


----------



## dianneS (Mar 2, 2010)

The last one was pretty much what I had visualized.  I like that idea and I've got some extra fencing laying around.


----------



## AlisonJ_SFW2 (Mar 2, 2010)

Thanks for sharing, Freemotion!


----------



## dianneS (Mar 2, 2010)

What breed of goat is that one in the first picture?


----------



## ksalvagno (Mar 2, 2010)

Love your hay feeders! Always great to use what you have. 

I have a bunch of hay bags from my alpaca showing days and now I'm glad to have them for the goats.


----------



## freemotion (Mar 2, 2010)

dianneS said:
			
		

> What breed of goat is that one in the first picture?


That is my  Ginger Peach, and she is 1/2 Nubian, 1/4 Alpine, and 1/4 Boer.  She is our "dumb blonde" and preggers to the La Mancha in the next picture.  I hope she gives her babies some ears....


----------



## freemotion (Mar 2, 2010)

ksalvagno said:
			
		

> Love your hay feeders! Always great to use what you have.
> 
> I have a bunch of hay bags from my alpaca showing days and now I'm glad to have them for the goats.


I haven't tried hay bags yet....I actually cut one out of some material I had but never got it sewed up.  Yet.  Then I got a very expensive load of alfalfa hay in and almost cried over the waste and was trying to design a feeder using the fence scraps.  I stuck the sled up against the fence to see if it would actually work, as a temporary test, and then of course saw no need to make the fancy feeder I had planned!  

The sled and the cookie sheet worked so well that dad and I made a bunch of the ones in the last picture to use inside the barn, out of the rain.  I still use the outside ones a lot because I can see the goats from the house that way and I really enjoy that.


----------



## dianneS (Mar 5, 2010)

freemotion said:
			
		

> dianneS said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I was wondering, because I have a goat that looks just like her, but with horns!  I was told she was an Alpine, but I don't think so.  I'd be willing to be she is a cross breed too.


----------



## freemotion (Mar 5, 2010)

Alpines have upright ears, so if they have airplane ears they are a cross.  I love airplane ears!!!


----------



## dianneS (Mar 5, 2010)

freemotion said:
			
		

> Alpines have upright ears, so if they have airplane ears they are a cross.  I love airplane ears!!!


Yeah, her ears are not upright, they're airplane ears for sure.  They sort of come forward, almost over her eyes, but not nearly as big as a nubian's ears.

My girl was a rescue, so I'm sure someone was just guessing at what breed she might be.


----------



## lupinfarm (Mar 5, 2010)

I have a haybag, the horse kind that is top loading with the circle hole in the middle of it...

I fill it up with a bit of hay in the run so they can eat out there or in the house lol, I did have one issue with it one day when it was tied too low... Cissy got her head stuck in it briefly, but it was way too low, I don't use it much.. only when we move them around..


----------



## Beekissed (Mar 5, 2010)

Free, I'm contemplating using bungee also next year but in a rather large way.  I want to bungee a stock panel up tight against my square hay bales in the barn and let the sheep self-feed and just keep the panel moving, keep the bungee tight, keep the twine cleaned up and keep the upper bales rotated downward.

I figure to use a base bedding of pine and let the pulled out waste hay become bedding.  

Anyone try this before?  How did it go?


----------



## lupinfarm (Mar 5, 2010)

Bee, that kind of sounds like what I did with my roundbales in a way... I used snow fence to keep the horses from tearing apart the round bales, like a slow feeder.

It sounds like it'd work pretty good. There is a sheep farm nearby that has welded wire cubes made up, I might be able to get a photo of them for you. They're a big cube that he crams a bunch of small squares into and the sheep help themselves..


----------



## Beekissed (Mar 5, 2010)

I've seen similar thing around here but with round bales surrounded by a stock panel circle.  

The whole idea around mine is that I am trying to streamline my morning routine for the winter.  I will be having separate pens for a while next winter when the ram and wethers are feeding separately from the ewes and lambs.  Both sections of the herd can be fed in this manner with my setup without me having to build more feeders.  

My sheep spend the winter in a long pen/barn situation with deep bedding that is always kept dry in the barn.  I kept them off the pasture this winter to avoid pugging and overgrazing of the grass while it is vulnerable.  

I will also be rotating the market lambs through  the winter wheat cover crop on my garden.  

The long pen will be used for corn and pumpkins this year, overseeded with clover and with a fall crop of kale and turnips.


----------



## freemotion (Mar 5, 2010)

Hi Bee!    Missed ya!

I think that is a great idea!  It is just a gigantic version of what I am doing.  The pressure created by the bungees slows them down a bit, and reduces waste.  

I also bedded my communal stall with a layer of shavings covered with straw, then let the hay that is wasted become more bedding.  It is about a foot thick by now, I think.  When there was a lot of snow getting tracked in, or if they were stuck inside due to rain and pee'd a lot inside, I have to add another layer of fresh straw on top.  Since I leave the outside door wide open most of the time, sometimes rain blows in and the dairy does tend to pee and poop near the door, so I have to clean that corner to the ground once a month or so.  Then I just re-bed it with shavings and straw.  I could get away without doing that, but the chickens come into this stall in bad weather and they end up scratching in that corner.  Otherwise, I would just add more straw on top and wait for spring.

Big clean-out coming soon!  It's gonna be a big job, but think of all that compost!!!!  Woohoo!


----------



## ksalvagno (Mar 6, 2010)

Sounds like a good idea, Bee. You have to do what works for you best. There are no rules!


----------



## Beekissed (Mar 7, 2010)

lupinfarm said:
			
		

> Bee, that kind of sounds like what I did with my roundbales in a way... I used snow fence to keep the horses from tearing apart the round bales, like a slow feeder.
> 
> It sounds like it'd work pretty good. There is a sheep farm nearby that has welded wire cubes made up, I might be able to get a photo of them for you. They're a big cube that he crams a bunch of small squares into and the sheep help themselves..


Lupin, I just moved my hay today and my sheep will now be helping themselves free choice to a large stack of bales.  These are still under roof in the sheep pen.  It will be interesting to see how they progress through the bales ad lib.  I'm not using any barrier right now to prevent waste, as this hay is not the greatest and I have it in excess right now.  It needs used up.

Thankfully I have found a better and cheaper source of square bales for next year.  This will enable me to buy less, as I am getting better nutrition per bale, with less overall waste of the hay.


----------



## Anny (Mar 8, 2010)

What a good idea, thanks for posting. How long does it take them to eat up all the hay in those?


----------



## freemotion (Mar 8, 2010)

I fill them once a day, sometimes I add another flake to one or two if the flakes are small.


----------



## miss_thenorth (Mar 8, 2010)

Hi Free!  I showed these pics to dh ust now, and he was so impressed at your ingenuity, that he is going out to make thes right now for my sheep.   Are you charging royalties?  the cheque is in the mail


----------



## freemotion (Mar 8, 2010)

I will be looking for that check, the one with lots of zero's....but I suspect that the zeros are the numbers just after the dollar sign, aren't they?


----------



## miss_thenorth (Mar 8, 2010)

Yes!  Lots of zero's   It's up, and the lambs are taking to it, but the ewe's are a little leary--they will figure it out soon enough.  *Great* idea!!


----------

