Our new sheep feeder! What's your thoughts on this?

[soarwitheagles]

Just a quick update...

Feeder is still working incredibly well. Believe it or not, it is working well for feeding over 25 sheep!

I did notice a little sag on some of the upper rails. This is probably occurring due to two reasons:

1. I did not perfectly level the feeder when placing it on the ground in the sheep pen [my bad].

2. I used sawed in half 2"x3", and I now see how 2"x4"'s would have provided a much better structural support.

I will do my best to post new pics of the 9 month old feeder soon!

 

[Baymule]

Great update. My hay feeder is 2 halves of a cow panel. Our hay man delivers a round bale, parks it in a corner of the fence and I "build" a hay ring around it with the 2 half cow panels. So far, it works.

 

[Alexz7272]

Still looks great!

 

[soarwitheagles]

Great update. My hay feeder is 2 halves of a cow panel. Our hay man delivers a round bale, parks it in a corner of the fence and I "build" a hay ring around it with the 2 half cow panels. So far, it works.

Wow Baymule, that sounds much easier than our set up!

Still looks great!

Thank you Alex!

 

[norseofcourse]

Feeder still looks great! I see it's out in the open - do you get much rain where you're at?

 

[babsbag]

I have two of those feeders and about to build a single sided one for a fence line. I love those Premier1 plans. I have wire on the ends of mine so a few more goats can eat at the ends. I like the way you attached the panels to the top rail, may copy that on my next one. I screwed some pieces of 2x4 to mine and sandwiched the panel in-between; works ok, but yours looks better...staples are impossible. I have discovered that young goats can get their head through a 4x4 square and for some reason can never seem to get it back out.

I may have to start investing in the 3x5 panels from premier.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Feeder still looks great! I see it's out in the open - do you get much rain where you're at?

Thank you norseofcourse! We usually have approximately 18 inches of rainfall per year. Last year, I think we had 98% of our average annual rainfall. Unfortunately, we are still in an extreme drought due to 4 solid years of way below average rainfall.

I have two of those feeders and about to build a single sided one for a fence line. I love those Premier1 plans. I have wire on the ends of mine so a few more goats can eat at the ends. I like the way you attached the panels to the top rail, may copy that on my next one. I screwed some pieces of 2x4 to mine and sandwiched the panel in-between; works ok, but yours looks better...staples are impossible. I have discovered that young goats can get their head through a 4x4 square and for some reason can never seem to get it back out.

I may have to start investing in the 3x5 panels from premier.

babs,

Glad to hear you like Premier 1's design. Me too! And I also like your idea of install wire on the ends rather than the plywood. I will carefully examine the options on this because I too would like to be able to feed as many sheep as possible from one feeder.

So sorry to hear about the young goats getting their heads stuck in the wire....fortunately, we haven't had that problem with the sheep.

Yes, I routered the wood for the center divide on the bottom board. So far it is working well.

Please let us know how you like that single sided version once you have it completed!

 

[Baymule]

Here is our ram Prince, eating hay from my makeshift "hay ring" that is really a square, LOL. I put a tarp over it to keep it dry.

 

[babsbag]

@soarwitheagles I had a single sided one first and then got too many goats so converted it to a double. Don't tell my DH but I need a bigger barn. If I had a bigger area I would build another double but I think that that is pushing the standing room capacity plus they sleep in the barn when it rains. I only do feeders where I can throw hay from the fence line as I am not into being mauled by 40 goats. I could pick up another 8x16 area if I didn't need a pen for bottle babies. Hmmm...there is an idea forming in my head... I only need that area for about 4 months out of the year so it just seem so wasted...

 

[soarwitheagles]

Here is our ram Prince, eating hay from my makeshift "hay ring" that is really a square, LOL. I put a tarp over it to keep it dry.

View attachment 22569

Nice looking sheep there Baymule. I like your square hay ring. Sure appears much easier than having to throw a bale of hay/clover into a feeder every other day!

@soarwitheagles I had a single sided one first and then got too many goats so converted it to a double. Don't tell my DH but I need a bigger barn. If I had a bigger area I would build another double but I think that that is pushing the standing room capacity plus they sleep in the barn when it rains. I only do feeders where I can throw hay from the fence line as I am not into being mauled by 40 goats. I could pick up another 8x16 area if I didn't need a pen for bottle babies. Hmmm...there is an idea forming in my head... I only need that area for about 4 months out of the year so it just seem so wasted...

babs,

Yes, I read a formula somewhere that spoke about square feet per animal. Not sure where it is now, but I remember we were nearing our limit for both chickens [in the coop] and sheep [in the manger]. You may want to search online for that info. And maybe you could use the baby pen on a seasonal basis. Here, with ewes dropping new lambs nearly every month, we are always in season, so, I may be building some new mangers...esp. in some of the new paddocks.