Bulk Feeder Plans

[Pat]

Sorry, Previously I missed the part with the accurate description of what YOU mean when you say bulk feeder. I buy bulk feed (feed purchased in bulk not bags) but I feed it out via multiple 5 gal buckets hand carried or hauled by pick up.

I may look into the sort of bulk feeder you mean as a convenience for my lazy side when I get caught up (do we ever really get caught up???)

So, you say 10 head. Are you talking stockers, cow calf operation or what?

Pat

[Bird]

Pat, the place I bought in Navarro County had obviously had an owner in the past with livestock (not the guy I bought it from) because there was a hay manger and a couple of small "bulk feeders" in the barn. Those feeders were just big enough to hold about a hundred pounds of feed each and I was buying my goat feed in 50# sacks. I thought that was a great idea, but it didn't last long. It's amazing how much a half dozen goats can eat, and I think I had the fattest goats in the county when I quit using those feeders. [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

[roujesky]

My operation is a very small cow-calf operation. I have black brangus. I see those feeders everywhere and I would like to have one....
BTW: I went to the University of Houston. Got my B.S. in '84 and my MBA in 89. Some of the best sports times during that time. Phi Slamma Jamma, Veer offense, all good. I have to wonder whether this football season is an upward trend or a spike....

[Pat]

Bird, I have some fatted calves now you betcha. It seems a friend of mine that I run cattle with (we each have a small herd and 160 acres each but sometimes have a bull or a few head on each others places) was doing me a favor during my recent convalescence where among various restrictions I was not supposed to lift over 15 lbs. He was feeding my weaner calves every day and a helper was feeding them Mon through Fri. Neither new the other was feeding Mon-Fri nor did I for 4-5 weeks. I thought my friend was only feeding on Sat and Sun and the helper on Mon-Fri. Oh well. The calves didn't complain, those little chow hounds! They sure look good. Still had a decent conversion factor pounds of feed into pounds of calf so it was not a big deal. They didn't scour or have any problems.

Now that I am released for duty I am back to handling the herd AND feeding the calves ONCE a day. I have been trying to rotate them through pastures with good lush green grass before frost browns it all out. Luckily I moved them a couple days ago to a lush field as it was 27 degrees this morning and the frost was definitely on the pumpkin as well as a few bumpkins too.

My wife has been feeding a gallon and a half of floating catfish food in our designated catfish pond every day. This cold weather will slow or stop their feeding but their fat reserves will see them through and hopefully with the "nest boxes" I will install in the spring they will breed. They are running about 14-18 inches in length and are plump but not grossly fat. Started with 200 channel cat averaging 4 inches. Don't know how many are left. I thought of seining and inventorying but it wasn't high enough priority to get done.

I have a solar powered deer/turkey feeder with a hopper that I intend to install on a float that I can tether in the pond so they get fed automatically. I will be able to pull the feeder in to the shore to refill the hopper. The tether will be an endless clothesline arrangement.

Pat

[roujesky]

not to hijack my own thread, but i am interested in your floating feeder. How are you going to rig it up. and what are you using for nest boxes?

[Pat]

I am going to put out lengths of 6 and 8 inch diameter PVC pipe in a spread of depths from about a 2 feet below overflow to 5-6 feet. I will attach something transverse, maybe smaller PVC to prevent the pipe from rolling. I was told by the county extension agent that the depth range for the nests is 2-4 feet so the additional depth for some of them is a hedge against lower pond levels.

My feeder isn't fully constructed yet as I didn't buy a complete unit. I wanted to save a buck and supply my own barrel/drum for the hopper. Once I assemble the motor/feed flinger and attach the battery, controller, and solar panel it will be mostly as if I bought a complete feeder to start with. So from that point on what I do will work with a complete feeder from just about anywhere.

I get 50 gal plastic drums for $6. I don't need big ones like that for this project as much smaller ones would work fine but I'm not paying a premium for little ones when I have a supply of big ones.

For the same reason a three legged stool is always stable, I will use three drums in an equilateral triangle configuration as floats. I will use then on their sides and attach them with a triangle of wood bolted or screwed together. I will make the triangle large enough so the CG, even under high winds and small waves will not tilt past the point of self righting. I will run a rope to the feeder from at least 2 places on shore (180 degrees apart) or 3 places about 120 degrees apart (probably just 2.) Slacking one and pulling the other will bring the raft into shore for refilling the drum. I'll probably use a sheave Pulley) at one end opposite to where I will "dock" the raft for refills in an endless clothesline arrangement. This will save running around to the far side twice per filling.

A 50 gal drum of feed may weigh up to about 300 lbs or so which exceeds my annual requirement. I can feed deer and or turkey with it after the water cools down and the fish quit feeding.

Sure it would be simpler to just leave it on shore but: 1. coons will attack it, 2. it slings feed 360 degrees (I could engineer around that), 3. floating catfish food is small lumps that green sunfish and the like can eat and I want to feed the catfish not the other species. By feeding out in the middle in deeper water (15-20 feet) the catfish will get most of it.

A while back we had lots of rain and an overflow event from a pond a few hundred yards up stream on the seasonal creek connecting 4 of my 12 ponds stocked the monoculture catfish pond with at least green sunfish and who knows what else. I built this pond for catfish and stocked it with only channel cat (200 4 inch) and a load of fathead minnows. Of course I have frogs and turtles and the occasional watter snake.

The sunfish aren't all bad as the channel cats are top predators and will eat some of the sunfish. Also the sunfish are easy to catch and when cut up make excellent bait, at least as good as plastic worms. When caught no matter the size I we never put a sunfish back. My BIL and I left a hundred on the dam one day and they were all gone the next day. The coons (and or ...) had a feast.

I have since built another pond which has NO part of its watershed subject to overflow from any other pond. This one should stand a better chance at remaining a monoculture catfish pond. It is a year plus old now and ready to be stocked in the spring. I may seine out some breeders from the current catfish pond to stock the new pond or may just start with 4 inch fry from the hatchery.

Pat