[Guest]

I have been feeding round bales, because I dont have any storage for small bales. Last year we cut them up with chain saw and fed them. This was alright except that the sight of me bringing hay also brings sheep so much of the time the were getting it thrown over their backs. This did not make for nice fleece.

This year I made a round feeder. I use two of the panels from premier's feeder that colapses(without the bigger holes) and added two pieces of plywood with holes I cut in it. This is still wrecking their neck wool and I have to tarp the top to keep the llama(giraffe!) from dragging the feed out onto their backs. We shear monday so I will see how bad the fleece looks. I am still not satisfied though.

I think that the premier feeder might work if my sheep didnt have horns!
I did also notice last year when I put one bale out with out anything around it they went through it and wasted it in about half the time. Another observation is that the small soft core is too small to tip onto a sheep, but my neighbor left a big cattle bale in our pasture and the lambs got to eating it. One night I didnt see them all so went to investigate and found one trapped under it-still alive thankfully.

Next to coating them are their any handspinners out there that have any suggestion? Does everyone feed small bales?

Thanks,
Tami

 

[mistymanor]

Have you tried putting keyhole-shaped holes in the feeder? I've seen this done with goats to keep them from pulling all the hay out of a feeder . . . . .

 

[Ross]

I feed round bales and have similar waste/contamination problems (BTW small soft core rounds will tip onto sheep too I feed 5-600 4x4 soft cores every year) Ultimately I'll have a feeder to feed chopped round bales (in a tub grinder) into a special feeder with 4x4 concrete mesh. Long stem hay will feed out of it as well, and you can get bale unroller spears that work on the tractor. Then it's a simple "V" bottom feeder with a fines tray to catch leaves as they nibble out the hay.