# Hay Feeder Help??



## lonestrchic23 (Jan 7, 2011)

My adopted grandpa is a handy man extreme & loves to tinker & build.

He has gobs of very nice scrap lumber & said he'd like to build me some hay feeders 

I have to gather pictures of what I want & let him know how big I want it. Plans/instructions/tips would be nice, but if the pictures are good he can build them off the pics... I'm planning on 3 feeders...One for the buck pen, one for the girls & one for the kid pen...

So.... if y'all could be so kind to post pictures of your hay feeders or links to plans of hay feeders you'd reccomend, I'd greatly appreciate it!

I'm wanting to reduce waste & keep the lil ones from jumping in it.......With the amounts of hay I'm feeding I have to find a way to save as much as possible. 

Also is there any safe paint/sealer I can use on these to prolong their life & appearance or with the mouthy goats should I just leave it plain wood?

TIA!


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## Lynn_Theesfeld (Feb 21, 2010)

Vicki has a pic of one on here somewhere.... We built ours off that. 
I like them, easy to "plop" the hay into and not a ton of waste depending on the fencing you use.


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## buckrun (Mar 7, 2008)

Does he want to be re-adopted ? :biggrin


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

Do you want a free standing one? I use the metal horse hay feeder with the grain tray below in one pen under one shed and then I just have the plain horse hay feeders in the other shed. If you wire in a piece of 2 x 4 wire in there it doesn't waste as much hay. For a pasture hay feeder that will hold a full square bale of hay I built this out of treated lumber and 2 x 4 welded wire.


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## smithurmonds (Jan 20, 2011)

We built ours out of cull lumber and conduit. They probably cost us around $15 each. Sorry, they're improvised so no plans!


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## lonestrchic23 (Jan 7, 2011)

buckrun said:


> Does he want to be re-adopted ? :biggrin


LOL I dunno, I'll ask. The story is I went up to him when I was 4, told him he looked like a grandpa & he said he wasn't, & I told him he was now & his new name was Grandpa Bill  He kids (20+ years older than me) never had children so my adopting him worked out well.

Thanks to those who posted pictures! I'm thinking I want a free standing one for the girls & a wall hanging one for the boys & kid pen.

Right now they waste so much hay & I'm paranoid about them eating it off the ground so I'm constantly raking up.


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

On Niki's photo, have him angle the top of the feeder towards the goats, that way a whole bail can be simply lifed and tossed in, rather than having to put in flakes and squish them against the wall when feeding. Better is to have the feeder right on the other side of a half wall, so the goats eat on their side, but you can fill it from yours. Search Hay Feeders on the forum, mine is similar to Nikki's but the front is utiltiy panel (like a cattle panel but smaller so nobody can get their head in and pull out hay for sport. Vicki


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

Here is a link to Vicki's hay feeders.

http://www.dairygoatinfo.com/index.php?topic=5944.0


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## NubianSoaps.com (Oct 26, 2007)

Thanks Chris, those are the small ones in the kids pens, they hold flakes of hay. In the milker pen it's 10 feet long and is angled out from the wall far enough to throw two bales of hay into it. Vicki


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## Red Mare (Apr 23, 2011)

I am thankful for the extra photos and ideas- we are building more ourselves currently.


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## adeeelrehman (May 8, 2014)

*Horse Feeders*

 I use bowls on the ground for their pellets to minimize the chances of choke, and my 
 horse feeders  are bale-sized boxes on the ground. Alpacas are largely designed to be eating things from near ground level - keeping food low reduces problems with choke, helps keep hay from getting all over them if one is eating below a feeder and another is pulling hay out above it, etc. 
http://www.ranchsupply.com/horse-feeder-a-frame-round-w-o-metal-red.html


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## RKAcresGoats (Apr 8, 2014)

I use something like this (Only mine are single feeders) They have worked REALLY well as my goats are HUGE hay wasters. They put their head in the hole and then their neck slides down. They stand and eat instead of grabbing mouthfuls and pulling it out.


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## fmg (Jul 4, 2011)

RKAcresGoats said:


> I use something like this (Only mine are single feeders) They have worked REALLY well as my goats are HUGE hay wasters. They put their head in the hole and then their neck slides down. They stand and eat instead of grabbing mouthfuls and pulling it out.


That is called a keyhole feeder and can be dangerous for goats, as they cannot see who is coming up to them and also can't pull their heads out quickly and they could get rammed hard by a herdmate.


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