Walk In Sow Feeder

Walk in sow feeder HOG EQUIPMENT & IDEAS Hog Equipment & Ideas (351) 14-6-10 Some of his lots didn't have enough room for permanent fenceline feed bunks, so Arvin De Cook, Sully, Iowa, built his own 12-ft. long walk-in sow feeder from steel and angle iron scavenged from a local salvage yard. The feeder took first place in National Hog Farmer's inventions contest. "Limit-feeding sows is economical, but carrying buckets full of feed into a pen of hungry sows is a challenging, if not dangerous, chore," says De Cook. "Feeding on the ground or on open concrete slabs can waste a lot of feed and allows sows to fight over feed. My feeder makes feeding safer and easier." De Cook used two 12-in. long, 12-in. wide U-shaped lengths of steel for the troughs. He used 1 1/2-in. angle iron to weld a frame around the feeder, then used 1/2-in. reinforcing rod to make divider bars. The head openings are 16 in. wide at the bottom and 11 in. wide at the top. There are nine feeding spaces per side. He welded a flat piece of steel to the inside edge of both troughs to keep sows from rooting out feed. The walkway is 17 1/2 in. wide. A section of hog panel closes one end of the feeder. Pipe skids (1 1/2-in.) make it portable. De Cook is now manufacturing the feeders and sells them at a cost of $20 per sow. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Arvin De Cook, Rt. 1, Box 91, Sully, Iowa 50251 (ph 515 594-3438).

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