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Cattle Feeders......Hay savers????

S

Sparktrician

Member
Ok, we need to get/buy/build, or combination thereof, some new round bale feeders for our herd. I was wondering everyones opinions of differnt types of feeders. We have several "rings", a 16'? SI feeder (green pull behind job) and a contraption built out of a large tire and angle iron. The simple buiit rings seem to have the less waste around them, but I saw a cone triangle thing to add to them that is supposed to save hay, anyone use them??
 
I have a hay saver from steinway equipment. Got it used about 5 years ago. Great piece, and i would guess it will last another 10 years. The only thing I hate about them is cattle will dig through the hay and let the junk fall to the floor. The only way to get the junk out is to go in with a pitch fork and clean it out. It hard work and time consuming. They do save a ton of hay though/
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I used various designs of rings and have build 3 and 4 bale feeders on skids.
The rings are death traps for yearlings,on the ones without a bottom skirt i've had calves and yearlings goten stuck and broke a hind leg.
The skid feeders save the most hay but the cattle dig a trench around them,it makes a big mess.

I prefer to feed out in the field and spread it out,little or no waste and no manure to clean up either.
 
Bison, do your skid built feeders have a "floor" in them? Our SI feeder has the bottom or floor if you will, and it is a major pain to clean the junk hay and rotted hay out of. I am thinking I will build something, but not sure what just yet.
 
Ive good luck with these feeders. They have been very durable with the cattle.
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Depends on what you are feeding with them. If horses, horned cattle or smaller cattle you want things covered they don"t get hung up in bottom rings or inner slat bars. We use the sheet metal covered horse type feeders so cattle can"t get hung up in them.
 
All I've ever used are the simple, 3 piece rings, open bottoms and sides, etc. This is for cows and horses both. I've got 25 of them out now. Never had a serious problem with any of them as far as health and safety feeding on a pad. Without using the pad it gets to be such a nasty mud hole that it becomes lethal to baby calves.
 
Thats the same feeders I use and feed on a pad . I have had 2 different bulls get there head stuck in the narrower part , just took a pipe wrench and twisted the bar out .Had a bale roll over on a cows head one time and choked her . Old cow and in the mud . Guess thats not bad for 40 yrs. Keep thinking I am going to make some heavy haysaver type but dont get to it .
 
We just use an old wagon that we used to green chop into. Set the bale in from the side so they feed off the ends of the bale. When it gets to muddy or hard to get to with the loader tractor just hitch it up and move it to a different location. In the winter we will just go fork up the waste and throw it back in since we have to pull the string off anyway.
 
Bought two of those cone shaped thingies you put in the top of a regular 8' bale feeder. I think they save a lot of hay, but there are some things to consider; you have to have a tractor loader to put the bales in the feeder; there is hay and dust falling on the heads of the cattle as they eat; there gets to be an accumulation of junk in the bottom, but if you are feeding clean weed-free hay it doesn't amount to much and you will have that in any feeder. Also, due to the added weight of the extra cone, it makes the feeder heavy enough to require a tractor loader to move. But, with all that said, I still prefer them over a regular feeder.
 
I use geotextile fabric under crushed stone base. Its a lot cheaper than concrete and easy to clean and maintain. My oldest pad is 40 feet x 72 feet. I top dress it with 20 tons of class I sand every 2-3 years. Just built my newest one this year. If Im smart enough I've attached a photo. This one is 45 x 70, cost was right at 2000 dollars, plus the dirt work and the access road. I probably didnt have to do the road but I wanted it so that added another 1200 to the project cost.
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No,no floor,i just boarded the skirt and had a board covered inverted V running under the center pipe end to end to direct the leftovers to the sides.They cows cleaned it up pretty good,i skidded the feeders to a fresh spot weekly to try to avoid trenches around them.I just hated these mud hole trenches all over the place came spring.
 
I wouldn't waste my money on these things,these are hay wasters,not savers,espessially the red one.
 
We have black angus cattle, so no horns to deal with, we feed on a concrete lot, so not much of a mud concern. I like the looks of the red craddle type feeder shown below. Might look into those. What do those type cost to buy? I might like to build one or two that are longer than that.
 
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