# pictures or plans of hay feeders



## SAHM (Mar 8, 2005)

Currently I am having issues with my cow and goats wasting hay. They have access to pasture that I rotate, but this time of year I am supplementing with hay. 

I am feeding them at night in their stalls- and getting waste
and i am feeding them during the day in a bunk feeder in our breezeway( undercover ) - and getting a ton of waste too

DH told me to show him pictures of feeders that he would build for me. I want one that was minimize hay waste. He does not really ever follow plans, he just looks at pictures and makes it based on what we have on hand. I like my man:kissy:

the dairy goats and cow do share areas

if you know of a link to some ideas or have pictures you would share with me, I appreciate it

I had a horse corner feeder, but one of the baby goats got its head stuck in it, so whatever he builds also has to be silly baby goat proof - as well as moody cow proof


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## topside1 (Sep 23, 2005)

Nothing fancy, but sure saves me a lot of hay money. They eat with their heads still in the holes so all the excess stays in the circle. Pallet on the bottom...Topside


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## momagoat61 (Mar 30, 2008)

My goat hay feeder! little to no waste.


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## SAHM (Mar 8, 2005)

Thank you! These are great!


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## SueMc (Jan 10, 2010)

This U of Arkansas site has a lot of plans for different projects including a hay feeder:

http://www.aragriculture.org/plans/default.htm


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## Ironbutt (Jan 5, 2013)

This is one I found on internet that works great for me. I added runners to the bottom to skid it around behind my gator.


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## Markymark68 (Jan 8, 2013)

Here's mine I built for my goats...the mini pony uses it too

After a number of years of abuse from the bucks, its due for some repair and modification...might get to it one day.

Sorry about the small pic...it's the only one I got


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## luvmyjersey1 (Dec 14, 2009)

http://cinchchix.com/

We use the chinchchix hay bags (hubby likes the xtra large ones) for our small cow herd and our horses. We put them inside a rubber hay ring. Our round bale waste is down from maybe 30% to 1-2%. No kidding! Plus we can move each bale to a different area so the poop gets distributed all over the pasture. For horses without shoes, we do not use a hayring. Keeps the bale from falling apart. Awesome invention!


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## bigmudder77 (Jun 9, 2008)

We just use a 10ft feeding trouth and they don't seem to waste it ( we paid $20 for it new in stores there like $160 Ithink) that's the only bad thing


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## Copperhead (Sep 12, 2011)

How many goats? I use a haynet 2 or 3 ft off the ground to slow the (10-15) goats consumption and waste. Since I end up with a pile of stems and "chaff" under the haynet, I have often used a bottle calf to consume the "waste". Usually it's good hay. The goats will chew a mouthful down to the last 3 or 4 inches and spit it out to grab the next mouthful of goodness.

Last week, I made a new haynet out of a 5x10 piece of netting from gourock.com aka http://gourock.com/mcart/index.cgi?ID=245885813&PID=IT1318&code=13. I folded it in half and was cheap enough to use old orange bailing twine to stitch/knot two sides closed. It will hold about 2 square bales if you're strong enough to lift it. I suspend it from my shelter so that the bottom is about 2 feet off the ground. My smallest goat may have to stand on her hind feet to grab a mouthful, but she hasn't gone hungry, yet.

Just watch your haynet closely to make sure the goats aren't eating holes in it. One of my ladies in particular was making a habit of eating a new hole every day in an old haynet made from a hammock. She would get tangled so often that she now wears the "stick of shame" duck-taped crossways on her horns. In comparison, the gourock netting is 2-3 times heavier than the hammock netting so there haven't been any holes, yet.

A feeder pig is another great idea to comsume the extra waste


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