Feed Trough Designs

dun":hvtf8vmn said:

I just use the hay spikes like pallet forks and lift and move them

Click to expand...

We have a loader at one place , but not the other . Could probably move them with the under bale spear though .

It's hard to beat 55 gallon drums with concrete in the bottom for mineral feeders. Set 3 in a triangle, and bolt them together. Holds 300 pounds.

I drug the last of my Tsc feed troughs to the junk like this weekend. Jed's 55 gallon drum feeders work good,and may just last to eternity. I'm up to almost 200' of them.

I don't spend any money on stuff like bunks or mineral feeders unless I'm pouring concrete for a permeant one.
I use black pvc culvert, 30 gallon barrels cut in half and what's getting to be my favorite is 270 tanks taken out of the cages and cut in 1/2 and bolted togather to make a long trough. I also use the totes for mineral feeders. I leave them in the cage and cut a hole big enough for their heads.
Metal pripe makes great bunks too but it's high.
Concrete bunks hold value real well too, I'm just not tying that kind of money up in them.
I have the have lots of bunk space for my 10 head.
Like 700 feet or so.

I built some of the blue barrel feeders several years ago. They are still working just fine. I had expected the lumber to rot sooner than this, and build steel frames if I still liked them. I'll try to get some pictures, but I made some with 1/2 barrels for silage/big cattle and some with 1/4 barrels for grain/light calves. We have also built a few that disassemble.....The legs are pipe welded in a square, with one pipe dividing the square that leaves a space about an inch or two bigger than the trough part is tall. The troughs are wood framed with a thick gauge barn metal (really needs to be thick) or straightened out piece of grain bin for a bottom. Just slide the two legs on and gravity locks it all together.

i made out like a bandit a few years ago and bought stacks of heavy duty feeders for 1.00 each at an auction.

Dint remember exactly anymore but I dont think i had much more than 100 into this one. Not counting the fence and gate of coure

dun":1d758zrc said:

I just use the hay spikes like pallet forks and lift and move them

Click to expand...

Did you pour your own concrete feeders or buy somewhere?

Neighbor bought them and when he didn;t need them gave them to me

I've used the center cores from the large rolls of field tile. Double wall smooth on the inside . cut in half length wise, on the ends bolt 2x6 . Ez to pickup and move .

BRYANT":3ugvjsen said:

for range meal ,has a lot of salt in it, and mineral I use a feeder like this one

Click to expand...

Had any trouble with the nails/screws falling apart?

I have a small one I built as a loose salt/loose mineral feeder but at times also put 3:1 or 2:1 range meal in it.. 4 yrs old now but even with galvanized bolts and nails, it's fasteners are succumbing to salt corrosion especially on the trough itself and the legs.

Also, the salt does something to the wood. Dunno how to describe it, but the wood has become soft & fibrous on the outside..kind of 'hairy' if you know what I mean. It was oak and pt yellow pine.

greybeard":1haq3nnv said:

BRYANT":1haq3nnv said:

for range meal ,has a lot of salt in it, and mineral I use a feeder like this one

Click to expand...

Had any trouble with the nails/screws falling apart?

I have a small one I built as a loose salt/loose mineral feeder but at times also put 3:1 or 2:1 range meal in it.. 4 yrs old now but even with galvanized bolts and nails, it's fasteners are succumbing to salt corrosion especially on the trough itself and the legs.

Also, the salt does something to the wood. Dunno how to describe it, but the wood has become soft & fibrous on the outside..kind of 'hairy' if you know what I mean. It was oak and pt yellow pine.

Click to expand...

this one in the picture is only around 3 yrs. old but I have one at another place that is some where's around 10 yrs. old and I keep the range meal in one side and wind/rain in the other side. I keep both mineral and the range meal out all year long, so it has had quite a bit use and I can not tell that there is any problem so far. I use poor grade, cheapest, lumber I can buy therefore the seams may not be the tightest so I lay a piece of plywood in the bottoms. I can see some rust starting on the sheet metal but not to bad yet. The one that is 10 yrs. old I would think I can get another 7 years or so from the way it looks, if they last 15 - 20 yrs. I wont complain. I do not use treated lumber.
KB