Small Ruminant Hay Feeder

[Does’ Leap]

I thought I would share a few pictures of the hay feeder I designed for my goats. I have raised goats for nearly 15 years and I have had numerous prototypes of hay feeders. My goal was a rugged hay feeder that would minimize wastage. Goats tend to want to pull hay out of the feeder, eat some of it, drop the rest on the ground and waste it. This design encourages them to eat inside the feeder, thus minimizing wastage. I have raised beef cattle, sheep, and hogs and pound for pound goats are the most destructive of all. These feeders built of 8 foot 2x4s and plywood have stood up well. I have been using one for 2 years and decided to build two more b/c they worked well and stood up to the animal’s wear and tear. I think they would work equally well for sheep.

George

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[Andy Carson]

Thanks for sharing this, George. It looks very nice and I need to build something like this myself. How far apart are the verticle slats? Would you change that width for big whethers or for pygmies? Do you have any problems with goats jumping over the edge and into the middle?

[Does’ Leap]

The space between the studs is 5.75 inches. I don’t know how big your wethers are, but you maybe could widen it some. You just don’t want it so wide that goats can crawl inside, especially the pygmies. If you are feeding the two groups together, you could go 6″ (or more perhaps) and put some vertical strapping at the same spacing. The pygmies would be less likely to crawl through a square. I haven’t had goats jump inside. Total height is 4′.

George

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