# hay feeder questions



## miron28 (Nov 11, 2010)

does anyone use the hay feeder with the key holes in the front of them
do they help cut down on the waste 
and does anyone know the dimensions for the cut out of the key hole
 here is a sample of what i am talking about thanks for your help!


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## warthog (Nov 11, 2010)

I don't use keyhole feeders for hay, because my goats are horned.

So can't help you on dimension, but I would guess it will cut down on waste.


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## ChksontheRun (Nov 11, 2010)

Many people are concerned about keyhole feeders because the goats cant see what is getting ready to ram them from behind causing increased rates of injury.


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## miron28 (Nov 11, 2010)

never thought about them gettting ram from behied. just thought this was a good way to keep them from wasting hay. is there another system that work better then this?


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## ThornyRidge (Nov 11, 2010)

wow if anyone can actually come up with any type of feeder that prevents wasted hay I would be first in line to buy one.. but then again I have seen my goats take a mouthfull of hay and then literally spit it out.. ugh.. got to love them.. I don't recommend key hole either for the above mentioned issue.. goats are so prone to taking pot shots at each other that with someone with head inside eating is a likely candidate for severe injury or even broken neck.. I had a feeded that was slatted once and was not big enough for goats to actually get heads in but had a freak accident with a young kid who stood on it and was eating from the top and somehow got her tiny head wedged and then flipped over the top and was caught in it.. she suffered no injury and i only realized this cause I heard frantic screaming all of a sudden (luckily it happened when i was home and working in yard) and I was able to quickly free her but I was traumatized and the slatted feeder came down and I have been using horse hay bags with the one large round hole in the center.. they get tossed as soon as they start fraying or looking raggedy so noone will inadvertently get head or leg stuck.. they do me well but again hay waste is an absolute with goats!


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## freemotion (Nov 11, 2010)

Holy cow, I'd hate to think what I would be dealing with if I used a keyhole feeder with my crew.  Someone would be injured seriously within the first minute.

I've experimented with reducing waste.  With coarser hay, I use a rack made with 2x4" wire fencing and bungees.  This year my hay is much finer and lots of waste, so I am working on a design for a haybag with a small opening.  My third prototype is working, so I'll fix a couple of design flaws with the fourth one and make up enough that each goat can have one plus two more for when one goat guards two bags.  One of the things I'm liking so far is the ability to fill them in advance so I can feed in a hurry, which the goats love, too. 

I'll post pics somewhere (probably on sufficientself on my kidding thread) when the final design is completed.  I posted the fencing ones here somewhere in the past.


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