feed troughs

I have been intending to build some feed troughs out of plastic 55 gal drums but couldn't decide on a design.

Today I did.

I split a drum in half, lengthwise longways with a skill saw. It cuts easily so I did it to a second drum. I then split another drum in thirds lengthwise. I measured the circumference and marked the 1/3 points. There is a visible seam to use for a starting point. Next I cut some scrap pressure treat 2x4 into 20 inch lengths. It takes 2 pieces of wood per feeder. It takes 4 bolts to fasten each piece of wood.

The drum half is a base. The drum 1/3 is a trough. The base is concave downward and the trough, of course, is concave upward. The 2x4 goes at each end with two bolts into each piece of drum. You don't want the board to touch the ground as it will wick water and promote deterioration. I used fender washers against the plastic and regular washers against the 2x4. I used 1/4 inch bolts.

I pay $6 per 55 gal drum. They are about 1/4 inch thick plastic and very UV resistant. You could use drum halves for troughs but the capacity is excessive. If you prefer you can use steel at the ends in place of the pressure treat. I had the scrap pressure treat and reserve steel for other uses.

Considering the bolts, nuts, washers boards, drums, wear on the saw blade, electricity, and on and on I still can't imagine the cost per feeder running much over $10 each. I built three in about an hour or so, rinsed them out and put them to use. The heifers liked then just fine.

OH, I trimmed the "pointy" ends of the troughs nearly flush with the 2x4 so no one would "poke an eye out."

Next I need to come up with a system for filling the troughs faster so the more aggressive animals don't eat twice as much as the smaller or more timid ones. 11 of the "girls" are about a year old and 8 are 6-7 months older and pregnant.

The little year old bull is in a "target rich environment" but is several months away from being old enough to do anything about it.

If anyone wants pix just ask. I built and deployed these so fast I forgot to take snaps.

Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

pix,
Pix,
PIX.
We need pictures! The nature of this forum is Country; we simple country folk need photos!

Funny thing I just built another one with the same design and got back from putting it out in the pasture a couple minutes ago. I will try to remember to ... what were we talking about?

I'll try to remember to get some pix to post. I found a small wrinkle. By sawing on the mold part mark on the side of the drum (looks like a seam but is just mold mark you end up with a bung hole in the middle of where you want to put a bolt in some of the ends. Not all the drums come with the bung plug ("lids") but enough do to help but the bolts I used were a tad short and I wouldn't fit in the hole I drilled in the bung with washers so I skipped the washer. Too bad I don't stock a better selection of hardware.

I was helping a guy bring some more cattle onto my place and showed him the feeders. He was skeptical about the strength with just a board at each end so I invited him (240 lbs) to stand inside one and flex it. He is going to build some now. The previous feeders I helped build were made from 12 inch pipe split lengthwise and were quite heavy and a chore to cut and more expensive. Heavy wall pipe should last for something like like maybe 20 years ior more oiut in the weather but these heavy plastic drums should last quite a while as well.

To make the feeders last longer you could substitute steel (angle, channel, "C" purlin or ??? in place of the scrap pressure treat 2x4 that I used. You could cut up a drum into "planks" (straps?) and substitute plastic for the wood. Then the feeder should last as long as the galvanized hardware and if galvanized doesn't last long enough for you then substitute stainless or phosphor bronze or...

Before I built the first one I thought of making them two drums long which would have used three boards, one in the middle between the two drums and one at each end but my bolts weren't long enough to easily reach through two drums and a 2x4. They are easier to handle in singles anyway. IF the cattle knock them around too much I will join several together to make a longer heavier one.

I'll try to remember to post pix. In theory the 23 head shouldn't be much more trouble than the 12 were.

Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Here is a picture of the DIY feed trough.

Customer satisfaction survey.

uh - oh Could this be the start of a cow calf operation?? [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Clever observation Sherlock! Always before I had other folks cattle exclusively on the place but now have a friend in need of additional pasture who is quite experienced. This is the situation I wanted, about half and half and someone with more experience to help keep me from wandering too far out on a limb. The friend is a real estate agent and has had a ccommercial fencing sideline for 40 years. He loves to work outside and has helped me work fencing as well as build some of the troughs.

Pat

Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]