cattle cube storage ideas

[TXMike]

I always wait till tractor supply has a sale going on and buy a ton or 2 of cattle cubes for real cheap and put em up in my barn but the mice have been getting worse and worse and the traps and poison don't seem to be knocking em out either. I've been trying to think about something I could store this much feed in that's relatively inexpensive besides a bunch of 55 gallon drums to keep the mice out of it. Anybody else ran into this problem?

 

[Kingfisher]

If your feeding that much why not get a bin and buy bulk cubes. Probably save money and get a better cube too.

 

[John SD]

If your feeding that much why not get a bin and buy bulk cubes. Probably save money and get a better cube too.

+1. Buy delivered directly from the pellet mill. Save money and the more you can reduce handling, the higher cube quality :idea:

I used to get a couple tons of cake on my pickup which had a 6x8 combo box on it. Parked the pickup in the shed with the cake on and just fed off the pickup with a scoop shovel. Then go back to town for another load. Depending, I made a trip every 2 weeks - monthly. Of course your mieage will vary.

Nowdays most everyone I know who feeds cake gets it delivered to an overhead bin, and a has a feeder in the pickup to feed it.

Putting a cake feeder in the back of the pickup is probably better and and no doubt a lot safer than the old "turn 'er loose" method too. :idea:

 

[TXMike]

That many cubes lasts me 6 months or more. I feed it more for keeping the cows cube broke than for actual nutrition. The time my cows got out they made it a good ways down the road. When I went to get em I just opened a bag put it on the back of the ranger and they followed me all the way home.

I called around for bulk cubes a while back but the prices I found were more than I would spend buying them at tractor supply after the discounts. I like the bins and trailer feeders but they are pretty expensive.

 

[Bigfoot]

Before I got set up for bulk delivery, I kept feed in a bunch of different things: water troughs, bucket liners from bucket trucks, barrels, what we call a herbie curbie, was probably the best.

 

[TXMike]

Man a bucket liner is a really good idea! I work for the light company and they change out the liners all the time and I can try and get one the only thing is what I would cover it with. We have bucket covers but it just has elastic around the edges but it might work.

 

[Bigfoot]

Man a bucket liner is a really good idea! I work for the light company and they change out the liners all the time and I can try and get one the only thing is what I would cover it with. We have bucket covers but it just has elastic around the edges but it might work.

My dad was a lineman for 36 years. I had several.

 

[M-5]

Gravity flow wagon is your best choice.

 

[pricefarm]

Gravity flow wagon is your best choice.

I use to keep grain in gravity wagons before I got a bin but the mice and rats would still get in even if I covered the top with plywood. They would chew a hole in the wood to get in.

 

[dun]

Retired chest freezers work real well for rodent free storage. They can be a pain to get the stuff out of but if you're young enough it's not that big of a deal.

 

[shawn_boroviak]

We are storing our grain in old deep freezers!!! It works great!

 

[wbvs58]

I don't know what you guys call them but those square recycled plastic 1000 litre containers with a cage built around them. We call them shuttles but I think I have heard the word pallecon attached to them. The top can be cut out to allow to fill and get the feed out and they have the advantage of sitting on a built in pallet so you can get a pair of linkage forks under them and shift them around with the tractor.
I use a cut down one that I fill from my silo and then fill the 20 litre feed buckets from it by just scooping them in. Very economical and I take it that is what you are after and I like economical things too.
Ken

 

[TXMike]

I actually have an old deep freeze in the barn! That sounds like the ticket right there!

I thought about those 275 gallon totes but if i cut the top off I figured mice would be able to get in it. If I left it where they couldn't get in I wouldn't be able to get the feed out....

 

[SteppedInIt]

I only keep two or three bags a time and I keep the two sacks in an empty protein tub with corners tucked in. What I think got rid of the mice were the cats that hang out there now. One is usually up in the rafter just above the cubes. I haven't seen a bag chewed through in a while now.

 

[M-5]

Gravity flow wagon is your best choice.

I use to keep grain in gravity wagons before I got a bin but the mice and rats would still get in even if I covered the top with plywood. They would chew a hole in the wood to get in.

Dang , you must have flying mice , I've never had issue with mice in gravity flow.

 

[bird dog]

Why don't you just get a couple of barn cats?

 

[1wlimo]

Retired chest freezers work real well for rodent free storage. They can be a pain to get the stuff out of but if you're young enough it's not that big of a deal.

Need to keep the bottom dry, or with the aid of rust they can get in.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

Retired chest freezers work real well for rodent free storage. They can be a pain to get the stuff out of but if you're young enough it's not that big of a deal.

:nod: :nod: :nod: :nod: :nod:

Absolutely!! I have yet to have a rodent chew through an old chest freezer.

 

[greybeard]

:nod: :nod: :nod: :nod: :nod:

Absolutely!! I have yet to have a rodent chew through an old chest freezer.

Lucky you.
Someone must have already killed out all the chupacabra in your area.
:hide:

 

[jedstivers]

30 or 55 gallon barrels work too. Never seen a mouse get in one if cut and sealed right. Seen them get in if not right.