Ridgetop
Herd Master
You can make a keyhole feeder out of a piece of plywood. Measure the shoulder height of the adult goats. Measure up on the plywood from the bottom and mark for a 6" wide slot. The slot should be 6-8" wide x 10-12" tall. On the top of the slot trace around an 8" cake pan. Cut the circle out and continue to cut out the slot piece. The hole you cut should resemble an old fashioned keyhole. Sand the edges of the holes. Allow 18" on center between each slot for multpe animals. Adjust this fr the size animals you have - minis to standard goats. Drill 3/8" holes on the sides to attach the keyhole board in a corner of the stall. You can also use the keyhole boards as the front of feeders.
Goats are browsers meaning they like to browse on shrubs instead of grass. They like their feed off the ground. Goats are messy feeders and tend to lok around while eating and pull hay out of the feeder onto the ground. They are also finicky feeders and won't et feed on the ground and on their toes and put their head through the hole, then reach down for the hay sliding their necks into the slot. The slot wll not allow them to pull their heads out with bunches of hay. They have to get high to remove their heads.
Big savings in wasted hay - except as I say they are finicky and will pick through the hay in the feeders to find the best stuff. I found that removing the hay and feeding the old stemmy stuff to horses and calves was good Sometimes only the top layer is stemmy and you can pull everything out and turn it over in the feeder to encourage them to finish it off.
