Round Bale Feeder w/ pics

[weldingisfun]

If you raise goats then you know that feeding round bales of anything is a waste of money. They love to get on top of the bale to do their business, urinate and defecate, then they won't eat anymore of the round bale.

Well, I may have found the solution to the problem. A friend told me about a stand he had built on which he set his round bales. He cut his waste by 75% and his goats build up their hindquarters since they have to stand on their hind legs to reach the hay.

He invited me over to take a look. I took some pics and then went home to build my own. The pics are of my project. To avoid rust by placing the rack directly on the ground, I bolted it to a couple of landscape timbers. The timbers also act as skids to move it around, without a bale on it, of course. It can be towed by my Kawasaki Mule with no problem.

Project cost was about what you would pay for a hay ring from TSC not including labor because, afterall "welding is fun". [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[RichZ]

Nice feeder, and great idea. I feed my goats square bales, and have plenty of feeders for them, but I feed my sheep round bales, and have the same problem with them climbing on the bales, soiling them, and tearing them apart and wasting a lot of hay. So I just bought a round bale feeder, but it's designed for cows, not sheep. I put fencing around the bottom ring, so they can't pull the hay out, and waste it. So far that's working pretty well, and they waste a lot less hay. They do climb in the feeder, but they don't seem to be soiling it that much, and they're eating just about all of the hay in the feeder.

Before I got the round bale feeder, they'd tear apart the round bale in a day of two, then they'd spread the hay all around and would just waste it.

[CJDave]

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] That's a great design. Just goes to show you that it's never too late to innovate. Just THINK how much hay has been wasted by goats climbing on the bales. We had a little goat who would climb the big haystacks of small square bales that we had on our dairy....three-wire bales which weighed about 130 pounds.... and the stacks were as much as sixteen rows high. This little goat was the companion to a horse we had so there was no getting rid of "billy". [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]

[eccentricfarmer]

The feeder between the pens is so far a big hit, but need to work on the pen doors a bit, the little escape artists! [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

Like the pic of your feeder, if you do not mind would like to copy the design. Is there any problems with the bale getting too lopsided and falling over? How about any issues with the mesh around the bale, either getting ingested or falling thru and getting played with?

[weldingisfun]

They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery, thank you. Hey, I copied the idea.
The 16 inch high railing around the platform should be enough to keep the bale from falling over. The fellow from whom I copied the design has had his for about 6 years and never said anything about bales tipping over.
The bale in the picture was tied with nylon twine, I just cut it off after setting it down. If you have a bale with the mesh wrap, just remove it while it still on the bale spear before setting it down on the feeder.

[eccentricfarmer]

I was planning on showing it to the neighbor as well, he does not have rounds but was thinking along the lines of something with square bales that could be tossed up by the kids. He has more access to 'welding materiels' as well (like steel). So be VERY flattered!!

With forks i have the option of putting them on the flat side as well so it would be little easier to get the wrapping off, or would it make feeding by the goats more difficult, or just more entertaining for them? Or logistically too hard to get the bale off the forks? Asking since i put them in the cow feeder flat side down and just cut up and walk around the feeder unwrapping the wrap, with the dog keeping the other critters occupied.

OK, richz, really nuby question and maybe i have been doing it all wrong (not the first time), for the cow round bale feeder, i have the one with the bars and then a flat bottom and the sheet metal up 18" or so. Bars up or bars down? I have it bars up for the cattle, never thought of turning it over and the calves could get hay easier thru the bars. [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img] Or is this one of those trick things you get by experience?

I also had seen issues in the past with livestock tearing up unprotected bales and using them for bedding. Pretty pricey now though. [img]/forums/images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

[Pat]

With cattle I am always very careful to remove all string or bale wrap so they don't eat it. Does your picture indicate it is safe to leave it on for goats?

Pat

[weldingisfun]

There is no wrap or string on the bale. It just looks like it is still on in the picture. I did remove the string.