Every since I saw this page on restricted hay feeders, my brain has been churning away. I really liked the idea of my horses having access to hay all the time, but in small amounts. And not having it spread out all over the place. I contacted a local business that supplies my company with liquid sweeteners in these pallet sized totes.
I really liked the look of the hay feeders that people have made from them, like the one pictured at left. My local source rarely has them without the plastic container inside. The whole thing sells for $85. That’s more than I wanted to spend. I kept thinking. Thinking about how to make one with found materials. That means Cheap!
As I mentioned yesterday, Cirro is a PIG in his shelter. Last time I was there, it looked like this. And that’s not bedding. I don’t use any.
This is tidy!
I usually end up throwing out half of the hay that he gets fed. At least that’s what it feels like. And if he’s eaten all the hay out of the mess, I am guessing that he didn’t really get fed as much or as often as he could have. I am guessing that eating dirty hay is not done entirely by choice. So, on to the bright idea I had last week!
I have access to 55 gallon plastic drums. What if I used the same principles of the slant bottom, grid feeder with a barrel? Bingo! Next was spending last week visiting local hardware and farm stores looking for the right materials to finish out my plan. I tried cattle panel for the grid – too large of a grid. Next I tried what’s called utility panel. It’s similar to cattle panel, but the grid is smaller. Well, it was too heavy gauge to either cut or bend. That led me to my local True Value hardware store, Eugene Hardware. I love this place! It is small, human scale and the people there are the same ones (mostly) that I’ve seen for more than twenty years. There’s something to be said for that. Places like Home Depot just tire me out.
They had various sizes of field fencing by the foot. The larger stores would have only sold me 50′ rolls. Not worth spending the money on that. So I came home with four feet of 3″ x 4″ sixteen gauge welded wire. I would have preferred a heavier guage and slightly smaller grid, but this will do for my test case.
On to construction…
I started with this. It's been kicking around in the indoor for months, so it's dirty. And I didn't bother to clean it up either. No time.
First to cut off the top.
Then I used some cardboard to create a template for the oval slanted piece inside. If this feeder works, I will look into getting either a plastic or aluminum sheet cut in this shape.
Rough ... yes, but I believe it will work.
My tool of choice was a Skil saw. Maybe not the best for free form work, but it’s what I’m comfortable with and it worked.
I just nibbled at it.
This is how it fits.
I eyeballed how large I wanted my grid area, cut the wire, marked the barrel and cut the hole with my Skil saw. It was getting dark by this time, so I didn’t get step by step photos of this part. The mesh was secured by drilling small holes for the end wires to fit through. Aside from getting the last few wires in, it was relatively straightforward. I finished it off with a single hinge and a rope handle. I know that the hinge is the weak spot, so I’ll watch that. Here is the finished product!
Demoed by my son
One last thing I may add is a flange of rubber or flexible plastic around the edge of the lid, so that it sits on the bottom without shifting. Tomorrow Cirro will get to test it out.
Read about how it worked out here.
Your blog is going to be one of the most interesting to read. Great stuff and I am interested too inhow your feeder works. I am assuming you will fasten it to something to keep it in one piece? My guys would be wearing it in no time.
Oh yes! I bought two strong, rubber bungie straps to secure it in the corner of the stall. That was the first thing that I thought of.
Originally, I was going to buy a hay rack that I could hook over the wall. I found this one.
http://www.horse.com/Hay-Bags-Racks/Abetta-Feeder-Large-BRH23.html?scode=hbizrate
That’s what started me thinking about using a barrel at all. I was going to make one like that. So I started to consider what I could make the rack part out of. First I thought of threaded rod, that could be secured with nuts through the plastic. That took me to maybe using cattle panel. That reminded me of the swedish style restricted hay feeders.
So you see, it was quite the thought process this week! And I did my round of calling all the local feed stores too. About once a month, I decide that I want to try to building something new and different and make the rounds. lol!
A very nice man, named Jose, at Coastal, even let me buy the piece of utility panel. It wasn’t really for sale. It was part of their shelving. It’s about 4′ x 5′ so it will make a nice trellis next year for peas or something.
And….
…the verdict?
Getting ready to do another post on the good and the bad… and plans for version 1.1
[...] week, I posted about my prototype hay feeder. I’m here to update you all on the [...]
this is a great design and I’m about to build my first one. I’m thinking of putting two grids on since my 4 equines are all turned out together 24/7. Two of them could pull from the barrel. What’s the purpose of the wooden oval piece?
The oval is slanted at about 45 degrees, so that the hay is pressed up against the wire mesh. If it weren’t there, the hay would fall to the bottom of the barrel away from the mesh. The horses wouldn’t be able to reach it.
I love this, im going to try this- i think you saved my day, and the rest of days in the future:)
Really good thinking:)
I made two of the feeders and having problems with keeping the hay up against the front. Any suggestions?
Hi Joseph,
Did you put in a slanted bottom? That helps the hay fall to the front of the barrel, so that your horse can reach it through the grid. If you look at the top feeder made from a shipping container, you might get a better idea. I used plywood. That’s what the oval is.
Since then, I’ve gone to just using small mesh haynets.