# Alfalfa Pellet feeders



## Josie (Oct 26, 2007)

Didn't want to hijack the other thread :biggrin

What do you guys use to feed your pellets??

I've been trying different things but either then get knocked off the wall, or pooped in. Don't like pouring them into ground feeders either. So.... what do you all use? 

Thanks! 
Josie


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## Truly (Oct 26, 2007)

I have an 11 foot bunk feeder behind a cattle panel. They stick their heads thru the panel to eat. No feet or poos in the food. I do have the bunk feeder hung at an angle as mine is a little deep for the smaller goats to get down to the last of the feed. It's probably tipped at about 30 degrees. It holds 100lb just fine, even at this angle. I usually only use 50lbs at a time tho. It is also easy to fill as the feeder is in the storage part of the barn. The cattle panel is what separates the pen from the storage area.


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## LynninTX (Oct 25, 2007)

I have a bunch of those over the fence (2 hook) feeders.... enough that each doe & buck has their own.... 

I'd love a different kind of feeder... where I could feed on one side and they stick their heads through, but not doable right now. 

This eliminates MOST (not all) of the fighting over the feed....


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## Guest (Dec 6, 2007)

PVC feeders mounted high enough on the wall that they step up with their front feet onto cinder blocks to eat.
Christy


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## Kaye White (Oct 25, 2007)

I use 2 aluminum dog feeders and two of the plastic ones. Will hold 50lbs.
BUT, we have them bolted to the wall with huge metal washers on the inside to keep the bolts from breaking through.

LeslieH on here had a great idea for feeding pellets. Maybe she will come back and post some pictures.
Kaye


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

I have a wooden one I built.

[attachment deleted by admin]


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Kaye to you keep the flap that goes down over the feed closed or do you clip yours open? With 8 soon to be in the junior pen and bred, not really alot of head room (belly room), so was going to put my two up in there. Vicki


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## Bella Star (Oct 27, 2007)

Kaye, Do you have a photo of feeder setup ?

Right now I use a split PVC but I have to get in with the goats to feed ,otherwise it works good.
I do use a smaller metal dog food feeder for the kid goats.


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## Guest (Dec 7, 2007)

I do not feed free choice, and feed all my goats individually.
I feed out of bred baking pans. I made wooden frames that the pans will easily set down in, and these frames are bolted to the wall of the barn. I keep extra clean pans in the barn, and just pop out and set in a clean one as needed.......as I get two or three dirty ones, I can just throw them in the dishwasher with the next load that runs. If I were to gang feed, I would go a lot like pic above where the slats run up and down , helping to prevent much of a fight when two or more are feeding.


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

I took the flap off the metal dog feeders after I had a couple baby cats crawl in and die. That was before I used them for goats. So no flaps here. That is just in the kids pen now. on two other pens I have those big blue barrel things that hold hay and pellets but wish they were covered some how for rain. They just hang on the fence and I fill from over top . the rest eat out of pans on the ground. Got to change that.


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## Josie (Oct 26, 2007)

yeah I'm not sure what the dog feeders are either... but sounds cool. anyone have a picture? Sounds like what I need to do. That or the feeder with the cattle panel.



Cotton Eyed Does said:


> I have a wooden one I built.


Going to show this to my brother and see what he thinks about making it for me.  I need a fix for right now but am also looking for ideas for my new place.



LynninTX said:


> I have a bunch of those over the fence (2 hook) feeders.... enough that each doe & buck has their own....
> 
> I'd love a different kind of feeder... where I could feed on one side and they stick their heads through, but not doable right now.
> 
> This eliminates MOST (not all) of the fighting over the feed....


I have 4 of these feeders but its just not working for me. I put pellets in them and they eat for a while. Then it seems like the like to put their feet in them. :sigh

Thanks guys!!


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## Tim Pruitt (Oct 26, 2007)

Automatic feeders will not work for me. My goats are pigs when it comes to alfalfa pellets and will eat too much of them. I feed all of my goats from the outside so you can even wear your Sunday shoes without getting goat poop on them. They have to stick their head through a cattle panel in order to eat. This discourages them from pounding each other because they have to remove their heads from the feed and back out to butt the goat nearby. I use 8 or ten inch pvc schedule 40 pipes cut in half down the middle which are about ten foot in lenght. These are hung on the fence with hay string at an angle so that it will drain. These are easily flipped over to knock out any dirt or contaminant and then I pour the pellets into them. 

For rainy days or bad weather, I have an inside area where again they have to put their heads through a cattle panel. Here I have the 3 - 4 foot hanging feeders from Slydell. These are durable feeders that are about 6 inches deep. There is a 2 X 12 at the bottom of this panel for stability. 

I have little problems with wasted feed with either of these methods.


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## Qvrfullmidwife (Oct 25, 2007)

One problem that we have had with feeding through alfalfa pellets is that they are getting rubbed raw on the chest and then on the back of the neck where they are pushing against the panels to eat.


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## Truly (Oct 26, 2007)

Ok, here's a pic of my feeder. It's not the best but I think you can get the idea of it.

[attachment deleted by admin]


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## Oregonian Chick (Oct 26, 2007)

Ok here are some images of my alfalfa feeders I built to go on the barn wall last summer. They have worked great. In fact I built another one for out in my buck pen. I adapted Chris's design for what I have now. Below that is a hay feeder I also built.


















































This is my hay feeder

























Justine


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## old dominion (Oct 25, 2007)

We use feeders like LynninTX. We have gates in our barn and hang the feeders on the gates so the goats stick their heads through the gate to get to the pellets. I get to feed from outside the pen. When it comes to feeding I put feed in these same feeders on top of the pellets.


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## Melissa (Oct 27, 2007)

ahh Justine, I LOVE your old name of mother clucker. never mind me.. just reminiscing.


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## Oregonian Chick (Oct 26, 2007)

Melissa! So good to see you on here! LOL I was like "how on earth did she know my old name" LOL!

Justine


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## Josie (Oct 26, 2007)

Thanks a bunch you guys for the ideas and especially the pictures!!!

I'm going to try to wing together a feeder to hang on the wall - maybe it will look something like what it's supposed to!  I like the feeding through the cattle panel idea and will definitely use it at the new place. Here I just have one long pen and cattle panel by the gate only. I think that's been park of my problem with hanging feeders. 

Stay warm!! ~Josie


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## Melissa (Oct 27, 2007)

yea, I just keep following these crazy goat owners around to different forums. lol. 
was homesteadingtoday still called countryside when we first went there? (jeeze, I'm showin' my age) anybody know how many forums we've been at now? 4? 5? I really can't remember. It's just neat how we've all been togeather for so long. it's 3 in the morning, can you tell I'm sleep deprived. I'm taking some Advil and going to bed. might wake up to another 2-3inches of ice on the ground when I wake up in the morning. of corse, compaired to last January, it'll be a walk in the park. okay, I'm rambling, off to bed with me...

-Melissa 

-Melissa


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## Dreen (Oct 26, 2007)

I made a feeder for hay that will hold one small square bale and catch a lot of the waste underneath. What we did was band a cattle panel into a V, cut a 55 gallon barrel in half and drill holes, build a holder that holds the barrel extending to a roof of metal, with a back stop for the cattle panel V, and then insert the cattle panel with a piece of old galvanized pipe for an axle at the bottom. Then we have clasps on the side that we open from to put the hay in. There are drain holes in the barrel, but we pour pellets and grain in there and put hay in the top. There is very little waste with the feeder and it does a fair job of keeping the hay dry except for in really driving rains. 

I want another one, but it took a whole day to build, and we're in the midst of building a house and finishing another building project, so it is doubtful that it will happen any time soon. If I could find the cable for the digital camera, I'd post a pic!


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## SherrieC (Oct 26, 2007)

that's why I went back to SherrieC Ive been that since back in the Luneset archives, and the old old homesteading today back when it was run by Ann marie of Country side.


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## goatkid (Oct 26, 2007)

I feed mainly alfalfa hay, so I feed my pellets in bown in their pens, just what they will clean up in about 10-15 min, twice a day. My friend, who has a larger herd and sometimes feeds mainly pellets uses calf creep feeders in her goat yards. She buys her pellets in bulk. The feeders are metal with covers and overhangs to keep the pellets clean and dry. She bought them at farm auctions. I'd love to get my hands on one of those for my main goat pen.


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## leslieh (Oct 25, 2007)

Hi all,

This feeder is 4 feet long with a middle divider. You can actually feed two different kinds of food if you want to. We don't. This worked so well and it was not enough room for all the girls so we made another and put it beside this one so we have 8 feet of feeder.

[attachment deleted by admin]


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

The goat shed on MSN was started in 1998, then countrysidemag.com made the mistake of asking me to help on their new goat forum after I answered some questions for their magazine. It morphed into the lusente site with Rebecca, and then back to countrysidemag.com which turned into homesteadingtoday.com...then diane started diarygoatplus.com, kicked me off  so Kaite helped me start this forum. Then Kaite erased our old format..... Vicki


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## Melissa (Oct 27, 2007)

vicki, I could of swore that their was one between the HT and DGP. I came on the seen around '99 or '00. I used to go by the name missy (what my sis calls me).

-Melissa


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## J-Basqo (Oct 26, 2007)

I dont free feed my goats alfalfa pellets year round. When I do feed grain or alfalfa I just spread it in my keyhole feeder without any problems (very similar to the wooden feeders with slats only the front is solid with keyhole shaped openings for goatie heads!). The keyholes keep the goats separate when eating and I have not had a problem with getting poop kicked in or wasted pellets falling out of the front.
Patina


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Melissa were you on Goatworld.com back with Gary the kudzo guy? Vicki


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

I've read on several of the goat boards that the only problem with the key hole feeders is they stick their head on through the larger part at the top and then slide their neck down the long slit. They can't pull their head out unless they raise it back up to the top part. I've heard of several goats that got spooked or paniced while in there and broke their neck because they were trying to get out without raising back up to the larger part to get their head out. That was the reason I never made one like that because of the stories I had heard about them.


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## Aja-Sammati (Oct 26, 2007)

> broke their neck because they were trying to get out without raising back up to the larger part to get their head out


Or their neck gets broken when another goat slams them...


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## Melissa (Oct 27, 2007)

That's it! goatworld. don't remember much from back then though.

-Melissa


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Karen came out and took a picture of my alfalfa pellet feeder in my adult doe pen. It's right on the otherside of the milkstands, so the floor is cement in the front of it, and when looking through it that is the milking doe pen. So I can fill it from my side of the milk room. The wall goes up to a large shelf, this way the girls can't stand on the feeder to look over, and it gives me a place to store my radio, monitors etc... Vicki


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## Katarina (Oct 25, 2007)

Miss. Vicki's Alfalfa Feeder--


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## Sondra (Oct 25, 2007)

And it is sooo nice would have it in a jiff but first have to have a barn :/


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Oh you can see one of Sondra's stall signs she makes also! The red one. Vicki


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

Wow Vicki, that is nice. You sure have a lot of girls over there. You gonna be one busy little goat Mama in the spring! :crazy


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Shoot Chris that's only the ten, 2 to 5 year olds (and GE)! The geriatric pen has 3 and the yearling pen has 8...all due March and April. Vicki


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## goatmom (Oct 26, 2007)

Hey Vicki -where did you get the 'goat lovers only' sign? I've looked around the internet and haven't found one like that. 
Thanks
Ginger


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## Rose (Oct 26, 2007)

http://texsignonline.com/GOAT-LOVER-PARKING-sign-street-pet/M/B00095NKW6.htm


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## UnRuli Acres (Oct 26, 2007)

I don't have a photo of my newer version of the feeders, but this is where I started. When I was done it looked a lot like Vicki's with a wooden feeder on the outside. The feeder is still there but there's a board up in the "reach thru" so the ponies don't get their legs caught up in it. I refuse to take the feeder down so right now it's just a handy place to put things.



















Wow.....looking at those photos I realize that WAS a while ago.......the barn aisle was still sand (fortunately, that is no longer the case).


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## Ravens Haven (Oct 26, 2007)

I have thought lots on this subject, as alfalfa hay is near impossible to get as it is $320 a ton delivered here to Georgia and I have to take 23 tons at a time, what would I do with that kind of hay with 20 goats, or I can get alfalfa pellets $300 per ton and get a ton at a time, so we have decided to feed alfalfa pellets. What we are trying to decide on is using the 2 hole hog feeders or getting a calf creep feeder and using that, these are our only two options as we don't have space in the barn to build anything. So I will let ya'll know which one we get and how it works.


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## Josie (Oct 26, 2007)

Thanks for everyone's responses!! I really appreciate the pictures.  They've really helped. Its going to be my project for this weekend.

Now I got a terrific deal by accident on pellets last night. The normal feed store was out so i went to our local FS store. They had pellets but they were a year old so they sold me two bags for $5. Are they still good? The bags are intact and smell / look just like the others I was buying. 

Cheers,
Josie


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

As long as they have stayed dry they are fine. I can smell mold, it gives me an asthma attack...really check through them. Vicki


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