hay manger out of a 55 gallon drum

[Christina R.]

A few years ago I saw a hay manger made out of a 55 gallon drum. We never could make one, as the cow would have just played with it endlessly. Now I just have the 3 goats and would love to make this type of manger, but I can't remember the exact design. I know basically it had keyhole shapes cut into it for the goats to stick their head in and pull the hay out. What I can't remember is if it had a lid on it or was turned upside down to keep water out. Has anyone ever seen this method and if so what are some of the specifics to the design to keep out rain? Thanks!!

[Raftercat5]

Christina R: We have one of those plastic barrel feeders for hay for our 2 nubian goats. My hubby cut two keyholes in it high enough off the ground so the goats don't have to reach too far down, but down enough so they can get the hay low in the barrel when it starts running low. We just open the lid and throw another flake of hay in there daily for them, and re-position the lid. Once, one of the goats had her head in the barrel munching away, and the other goat pushed (butted) her, and the barrel fell over and the poor lil' goat rolled with the barrel. We have since fastened it to the fence by putting a piece of 2x4" inside the barrel and another 2x4" on the outside of the barrel with the wire fence inbetween the barrel and the outside 2x4". It's all bolted together so the barrel is stationary now. My hubby cleans out the old hay (stems that the goats won't eat) every so often with a rake, so it doesn't have to be removed from the fence. I hope you understood what I meant here....
- Kathy

[moosemaniac]

Great idea! But make SURE the barrel you use is a FOOD GRADE barrel and not a chemical barrel. I live near Welch's...mmmmmmmm, grape juice. We can get them pretty cheap. I'm going to have to give this a try.

Ruth

[KSALguy]

what we used for a hay manger when we didnt put the whole round bale out was take a piece of CattlePannel and make it into a "V" and attach each end to another cattle pannel in the perimiter fence, then we could just fork hay over the fence into the "V" and the goats would put their heads in to eat through the holes, for goats with horns we made some larger spots in the sides and they would use these with out getting stuck.

for the whole round bale we took a full piece of CattlePannel and would rap it around the bale to hold it togather and help keep the goats off of it. bouth very easy and quick

[midkiffsjoy]

Rachel's hubby made mangers out of barrels that are on legs so they are high off the ground, with holes in the bottom (around the cirlce of the bottom, not the bottom bottom) and they are AWESOME. I just cut four round holes in a barrel, and dump flakes in it. I'm glad I made holes and not keyholes because my boss doe tends to butt the others to drive them off and would break a neck had I cut keyholes. I've read in books about goats having their heads in keyholes and another goat butting them and them getting hurt because they cant get their head out and get away fast enough. I've gotten to the point where I LOVE using round bales because I dont have to worry about all my goats trying to use the same darn hole (WHY???? *SHRUG*), and no one gets hurt.