He Built Two Unique Horse Feeders

He Built Two Unique Horse Feeders LIVESTOCK Feeding Equipment “My daughter asked me to build her this portable horse feeder We think it works perfect because it keeps the hay dry and greatly reduces waste ” says Nick Van Wingerden “It’s made mostly from scrap materials and is clean neat efficient and affordable ” Designed for 6 by 8-ft bales the feeder is built entirely from steel and used rubber belting Bales wrapped in Hay Chix netting are dropped onto a porous floor made from thick rubber mats stacked on top of each other “The hay stays dry because it’s covered by a roof and also stays off the ground ” says Van Wingerden He got the rubber belting from a local construction company cut it to size and used self-tapping screws with big washers to attach it to the feeder’s 4 steel corner posts “Horses have access to all 4 sides of the feeder and the rubber walls keep them from hurting themselves ” says Van Wingerden He uses bale spears on his skid loader to pick up the feeder “The spears fit into a pair of 4-in dia metal tubes that run from one side of the feeder to the other allowing me to pick up the feeder from either side ” says Van Wingerden “I made a skid loader mounting plate and bolted spear adapters onto it The bales we feed weigh 900 lbs Our skid loader has no problem lifting a loaded feeder and moving it to another location ” Van Wingerden says the Hay Chix big bale netting they use www haychix com; ph 651 277-2449 is “the best invention in years It reduces our hay losses by 30 to 40 percent because horses can pull out only one piece of hay at a time in chewable bites so they don’t waste it or overeat ”

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