Hay feeders for sheep

[shellymay]

We ordered some new round bale feeders for our sheep, they came in to day....YIPPY
 they save on waste and are short for sheep!

[Maura]

You must have a lot of sheep.

[Deleted]

All that hay right down on the wool, here the seeds would be sprouting and growing....James

[shellymay]

Nov 4, 2015 1:52:04 GMT @jwal10 said:

All that hay right down on the wool, here the seeds would be sprouting and growing....James

@jwal10, WHAT is this wool you talk of I own HAIR sheep not wool sheep


Maura, Right around 210 head which includes the rams

[Deleted]

Like to know how you like those after you have used them for a winter. I have the Premier sheep feeder. It works pretty good.

[Deleted]

What are the clips for on the ends of the feeders?

[shellymay]

Nov 5, 2015 17:27:59 GMT @littlebitfarm said:

What are the clips for on the ends of the feeders?

You can remove clips and the end of the feeder will come off, some people don't own a tractor with a front end loader
and these are low enough to ground that you can load with tractors rear hitch if you remove the ends. 

 We already own some of these (kinda) they are the same style but taller legs under them (think they were
meant for tall Suffolk when designed) anyhow they work great and the waste is a lot less, I like the fact that lambs can get
under them without fear of ewes stepping on them while they eat, lambs always want to lay up against any hay feeder as to
be near mom while she eats, another issue with taller ones are you are risking ewes standing up on back legs and reaching
up to get to hay easier, all fine and dandy but a heavy bred ewe is risking prolapsing if they stand up on back legs all the time
as gravity works here as well, pressure and weight has to go somewhere, Thing is we paid $750.00 for the taller ones and had
to order them in and wait three weeks, these shorter ones where right in my own back yard so to speak and at the cost of
$260.00 each (thud)....Now I wouldn't recommend anything like this if your stock has horns

[bergere]

Sweet!

I have only two sheep now, been using those Slow feeder bags. Works well. Miss the days past, seeing the lambs bouncing around in spring.

[shellymay]

bergere, I can take pictures for you of our lambs when they arrive and fill you up with as many as you can stand,
so many lambs 

[Awnry Abe]

I think the price and height is perfect. I have some cone-style hay-savers and had some prolapse issues last year. I think it was a combination of the height and the fact that the does pushed in to get to the choice section of the bale. I don't see that happening as much with a cradle feeder.

What issues do you see with stock with horns?

[bergere]

Look forward to that shelly!!

Abe, if you have sheep with horns like the Black Welsh Mountain, I had way back when, those curled horns could get locked on the pipes and cause them to panic.

[shellymay]

Awnry Abe,

With horns all one could do is form inside and weld cattle panel down so they couldn't get their heads in feeder and

that would limit horn issues, could be done though  

[Awnry Abe]

Ahhh see. I have katahdins, but one ewe is a genetic freak with a full, curled set of horns. I think I would play the numbers game vs modifying the feeder.

[shellymay]

Nope not a Genetic freak, most of the first Katahdins had horns, they continued to try to breed it out of them

but we still get lambs with some horns, we just send them to slaughter instead of keeping them in the breeding

program...  If you are speaking of just one or two I also would just let it play out with this style feeder

[Callie]

You hay feeders make mine look like country bumpkins. I made mine out of 55 gallon drums.

[Awnry Abe]

Callie, Yeah, I'm a bit jealous. That is an impressive pile of feeders.