Bryan99705
Chillin' with the herd
Need design ideas for a round bale feeder for horned and polled sheep and goats. The only "bale handling" equipment I have is quad winches, my back, and the fact the the bale starts in the truck bed about 3' off the ground. I tried using tarp netting but about half way thru the bale they start climbing on the bale and ruining it. It needs to be wooden so I can build them in the pastures. Ideally I need 3-4 in each pasture so I can stage the hay in the fall, tarp it, and the all I have to do is dig away the snow and uncover a bale when needed. The other option is to back it up to a fence and roll a bale into it, off the tailgate. Oh I'm dealing with 1 - 4 feet of snow that usually packs to 6" to 2' deep.
With that snow fall, and loading out of a pickup, you're going to be very limited. They make a feeder that you can reduce in size as they eat the bale. That would keep them off the bale, but with that much snow, I think it would be very hard to use. Just Google "goat round bale feeder" and you'll get some pics of them.
