Hay feeder suggestions

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BoBo85365

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Jan 3, 2018
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Location
Yuma, Arizona
I am looking for a better way to feed hay to my steers (3 now, but going to get a bull and a few heifers in the next couple weeks). I have a bucket, about 150 gallon water bucket I use to put the hay in. Our pastures are dormant right now. It works ok for now, but they are a little rough on the bucket, it won't last long. I have seen the bale feeders, so many types out there and reviews are all over the place on them. I don't have access to round bales, so those won't work. Right now I have a couple dumps of 110# bales I feed them. Any recommendations on feeders. I know this is very subjective, just looking for options.

I have fenced in pastures, about 15 acers all together. I tend to keep the cows in half and the horses in the other half. I still irrigate, so whatever I use will need to be coated to increase longevity. I don't feed any grain, just grass and alfalfa.

I apologize if this subject has been discussed in depth…. I tried to search but the word "feeder" is ignored in the search :compute: .
 
You didn't ask for this... but it doesn't sound like you have enough land to support all the animals you're talking about unless you have a magic grass making machine. For now tho...Without access to round bales I'm thinking a lot of trips with your bucket system and a good supplement. You can do cubes (cake) or a good liquid feed to keep the protein level up.
 
slick4591":24aan3ib said:
You didn't ask for this... but it doesn't sound like you have enough land to support all the animals you're talking about unless you have a magic grass making machine. For now tho...Without access to round bales I'm thinking a lot of trips with your bucket system and a good supplement. You can do cubes (cake) or a good liquid feed to keep the protein level up.

No, we don't have enough pasture to feed them, on that alone. That's why we buy the hay and feed that to them. We have done this for a number of years and get some great beef out of them. We normally have about 4 head out here with a few extra when we are ready to butcher a couple. I don't mind dropping a bale or two a day, keeps them tame and we enjoy petting them. The three we have are 4H projects we bought, still on a bottle. So you can imagine how nice and tame these guys are. I am looking for something they won't beat up and stand in to feed them the hay.
Oh, we also get black eye peas from local grower we feed to them in addition to Bermuda grass and alfalfa.
 
If I'm reading this correctly I'd look into some type of fenceline feeder.
 
Beefeater":1zlvvmac said:
If I'm reading this correctly I'd look into some type of fenceline feeder.

We use that type up against the outside of the barn, and can feed it straight from the hay mow in cold weather thru a slot in the barn wall with a little angled roof over it. We also have a small freestanding one for weaning, etc; we tie it up to the fence. It's lighter-weight and will only feed about 3 animals. It's similar to this one (although ours looks sturdier I think): https://www.qcsupply.com/5-feed-bunk-ha ... gIDxfD_BwE
A neighbor of my in-laws has an ingenious system. Part of his fence consists of just the angled feeder panel.Like these:
http://tarterusa.com/tarter-products/fe ... nels-green
https://www.behlencountry.com/product-c ... er-panels/
https://www.cashmans.com/product/cashma ... er-panels/
He just shoves hay up against the outside of it and they can eat it thru the fence, without wasting much.
 
Beefeater":11s0rc1t said:
If I'm reading this correctly I'd look into some type of fenceline feeder.

That looks like one that just might work. Any issues with cattle with horns? I have one with about 8" horns.
thanks
 

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