Solar-Powered Cubed Cake Feeder
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Robert and Genieve Sutterfield have been cattle ranchers in eastern Oklahoma for 56 years. During winter months, they feed their 200 mother cows hay cubes twice a day at a couple different pastures to supplement dry baled hay. When their old cube feeder went on the blink the Sutterfields decided there had to be a better solution than spending a couple thousand dollars on a new truck-mounted unit. Robert checked the auction listings and found a serviceable 3-pt. model for just $300. He spent a couple weeks taking things apart, rebuilding the frame and creating secure mounting brackets in his shop. Then he mounted the rebuilt cuber onto an old flatbed trailer that they can pull behind either a truck or a tractor.
“I don’t have a lot of money in this feeder, in fact only about 20 percent of the cost of a new one,” Robert says. “The 40 hrs. or so that it took me to build it wasn’t taking me away from anything else, so I figure I’m way ahead of the game.”
Robert rigged up a 12-volt self-contained electrical system to run the feeder instead of hooking it into his truck or tractor electrical power. The battery has enough juice to run the old 12-volt starter motor that has a belt, which drives the conveyor auger. To turn the auger on and off, Robert wired a solenoid switch into the system on a piece of flexible cable that he can bring into his pickup or tractor cab. “It’s a lot easier to feed the cattle when I don’t have to get out and turn the feeder on and off,” Robert says. The re-built feeder is about 5 ft. long, 3 ft. tall and holds about 600 lbs. of cubes.
When he’s done using the feeder in the morning, Robert hooks up a small solar panel to the battery. “That little 16-in. square panel keeps the battery fully charged, even on a slightly overcast day,” says Robert. He figures that one pass through the feeding yards twice a day only uses about 20 percent of the battery power, so even in the winter when there’s less sunlight the battery has plenty of power to run the cube feeder. His home-built cube feeder and trailer even looks like a new one thanks to the fresh coat of paint that Genevieve put on. “Out in this country we can weld and cut and come up with ideas to build things that work just fine without costing a lot,” says Robert. “This little rig should work for a long time and make our cube feeding a lot easier.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Robert Sutterfield, 29850 S. 160 Rd., Henryetta, Okla. 74437 (ph 918 652-9706).
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Solar-Powered Cubed Cake Feeder ENERGY Solar Robert and Genieve Sutterfield have been cattle ranchers in eastern Oklahoma for 56 years During winter months they feed their 200 mother cows hay cubes twice a day at a couple different pastures to supplement dry baled hay When their old cube feeder went on the blink the Sutterfields decided there had to be a better solution than spending a couple thousand dollars on a new truck-mounted unit Robert checked the auction listings and found a serviceable 3-pt model for just $300 He spent a couple weeks taking things apart rebuilding the frame and creating secure mounting brackets in his shop Then he mounted the rebuilt cuber onto an old flatbed trailer that they can pull behind either a truck or a tractor “I don’t have a lot of money in this feeder in fact only about 20 percent of the cost of a new one ” Robert says “The 40 hrs or so that it took me to build it wasn’t taking me away from anything else so I figure I’m way ahead of the game ” Robert rigged up a 12-volt self-contained electrical system to run the feeder instead of hooking it into his truck or tractor electrical power The battery has enough juice to run the old 12-volt starter motor that has a belt which drives the conveyor auger To turn the auger on and off Robert wired a solenoid switch into the system on a piece of flexible cable that he can bring into his pickup or tractor cab “It’s a lot easier to feed the cattle when I don’t have to get out and turn the feeder on and off ” Robert says The re-built feeder is about 5 ft long 3 ft tall and holds about 600 lbs of cubes When he’s done using the feeder in the morning Robert hooks up a small solar panel to the battery “That little 16-in square panel keeps the battery fully charged even on a slightly overcast day ” says Robert He figures that one pass through the feeding yards twice a day only uses about 20 percent of the battery power so even in the winter when there’s less sunlight the battery has plenty of power to run the cube feeder His home-built cube feeder and trailer even looks like a new one thanks to the fresh coat of paint that Genevieve put on “Out in this country we can weld and cut and come up with ideas to build things that work just fine without costing a lot ” says Robert “This little rig should work for a long time and make our cube feeding a lot easier ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Robert Sutterfield 29850 S 160 Rd Henryetta Okla 74437 ph 918 652-9706
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