Hay feeders

marusempai · #1 08/08/14, 11:39 AM

So how do you guys feed hay? Right now I have a tub behind a gate, which is working ok, but the girls won't eat more than halfway down the tub before they stop eating and just look at it wistfully. Plus I'm going to need more space horizontally. The chaffhaye fights are pretty intense sometimes, and the little one never gets any until the two big girls are done (no room!). I'm looking for ideas so I don't waste time spinning my wheels... pictures help.

coso · #2 08/08/14, 12:39 PM

If you are feeding chaffhaye, you need a trough to put it in. You can't really feed it out of regular hay feeders very well. A 8" sewer or PVC pipe cut down the middle might work for chaffhaye . If you could hang it some how on the other side of a cattle panel, so they couldn't get there feet in it very easy but get there heads through. That is if your goats don't have horns. My .02 I imagine there are 101 ways that people have thought of. Surely someone will post that feeds chaffhaye.

**mygoat** · #3 08/08/14, 12:42 PM

You need more feeders as your number of goats increases. If some of them are being left with the lower quality 'leftovers', then put a few more feeders out.

The leftovers in the bin are usually the least edible, least nutritional parts of the hay. They will never eat 100% of it. To get them to examine more of it, you could mix it up and see what they do with it, but at some point they don't think its food worth the effort to digest, so they won't eat it.

GoatGirl123 · #4 08/08/14, 01:21 PM

If you don't care much about wasted hay, just putting it on the ground works for us.

marusempai · #5 08/08/14, 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coso

If you are feeding chaffhaye, you need a trough to put it in. You can't really feed it out of regular hay feeders very well. A 8" sewer or PVC pipe cut down the middle might work for chaffhaye . If you could hang it some how on the other side of a cattle panel, so they couldn't get there feet in it very easy but get there heads through. That is if your goats don't have horns. My .02 I imagine there are 101 ways that people have thought of. Surely someone will post that feeds chaffhaye.

I've been throwing the chaffhaye on top of the regular hay in the bin since it's convenient for now, but am open to feeding chaffhaye and hay hay in seperate ways - I have quite a number of smaller feed pans I inherited from the previous owner, that have worked well for chaffhay/alfalfa pellets in the past. I'm also thinking about moving away from the chaffhaye, now that I've found somebody close who sells alfalfa hay (not a bad price, either). With so few goats, it starts to mold before I use the whole bag, then I end up throwing a bunch away. :P So basically I'm still figuring out my own feeding strategy and am trying to round up some ideas.

marusempai · #6 08/08/14, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mygoat

The leftovers in the bin are usually the least edible, least nutritional parts of the hay. They will never eat 100% of it. To get them to examine more of it, you could mix it up and see what they do with it, but at some point they don't think its food worth the effort to digest, so they won't eat it.

I get that. It just seems like the "rejects" are a very large portion of the hay - I'm wondering if it's not that the hay itself isn't worth it, but that it's harder to reach so reaching isn't worth it. I'm new and figuring this out, so maybe I'm imagining things, but that's what it looks like to me.

marusempai · #7 08/08/14, 01:29 PM

Oh and yes, none of my goats have horns. That simplifies things I've noticed!

DamnearaFarm · #8 08/08/14, 02:44 PM

Holds one square bale.

Aaaaaaand it's sideways. You get the picture, though.

marusempai · #9 08/08/14, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DamnearaFarm

Holds one square bale.

Aaaaaaand it's sideways. You get the picture, though.

Ooh I could build that... I like that it's free standing, too. Do the goats knock it over? Or maybe it is bolted to the ground somehow.

Alice In TX/MO · #10 08/08/14, 05:16 PM

Never ever feed goats anything on the ground. They pick up more worm eggs!

FakeMountainMan · #11 08/09/14, 12:39 AM

I built this manger trough thang. The goats are sleeping in it right now.

dizzy · #12 08/09/14, 06:06 AM

I have 2 (pet) goats. I tried for years to make something they wouldn't destroy, but had no luck. As a result, they were eating the hay off the ground which I didn't like for a few reasons:

1. As Alice said, they can pick up worm eggs
2. They wouldn't always eat it all, but would poop and pee on it
3. That made it very difficult to clean up.

I finally took some leftover 2x4s and a piece of no climb horse fence and made a hay feeder. I did have to tie it to the fence because otherwise, they knock it over. And, I had to show them how to pull the hay thru the fence. I'm happy to report that it works. It holds a day's worth of hay. There's less waste and less mess.

Alice In TX/MO · #13 08/09/14, 07:27 AM

If the goats are sleeping in their feeder, they are putting worm eggs in it from their feet.

We have to be careful not to create more problems for our goats.

marusempai · #14 08/09/14, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

If the goats are sleeping in their feeder, they are putting worm eggs in it from their feet.

We have to be careful not to create more problems for our goats.

This is the very reason our hay bin is behind a gate now... the baby thought it was a bed. XD We have those metal tube gates, that have closer spacing at the bottom than at the top.

TeenyTinyFarm · #15 08/09/14, 09:59 AM

We made this for our two. It has worked very well for us.
ImageUploadedByHomesteading Today1407596262.874929.jpg
ImageUploadedByHomesteading Today1407596284.814065.jpg
It is empty because I don't feed hay in the summer....they have plenty of forage in the woods.

FakeMountainMan · #16 08/09/14, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alice In TX/MO

If the goats are sleeping in their feeder, they are putting worm eggs in it from their feet.

We have to be careful not to create more problems for our goats.

Yeah, I didn't figure any good would come of it

I'm probably going to switch to some kind of fence mounted feeder and may just let them have it.