“Easy & Quick” Feed Bunk
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Last winter, we created a new little pasture by clearing out trees and willow bushes in hopes of growing more grass in that area. The willows have been coming back in again prolifically, sending up shoots all over the pasture. The heifers ate them back a little during the summer, but at the rate the new shoots are regrowing, we’re fearful that we’ll lose all the cleared ground we’d gained.
We didn’t want to use spray, so we decided to winter a couple of yearling bulls in the new little pasture and let them work on the willows. We figured we’d take them out again in early spring before the grass starts to grow.
They still need hay for winter feed, so we had to figure out some kind of feeder for them. Instead of spending several hundred for a commercial feeder, we decided to create one with materials on hand.
My daughter and I found an old leaky aluminum water trough that hadn’t been used for 25 years, realizing it would be perfect for the job since any rain or snow melt would leak out of it instead of pooling around the hay. To reinforce and secure it so the bulls couldn’t damage it, we situated it tightly in the fence corner, against the braces, and placed an old board under the edge of the trough to keep it from being flat on the ground.
We braced a post tightly across the top of the trough to reinforce it so the bulls couldn’t mash it down when leaning into the trough to eat. We also put a pole along the bottom of the water trough to make sure it didn’t get damaged and caved in by the bulls’ hooves.
Now, the young bulls are happily eating willows and a little dormant grass in that pasture, with plenty of room for exercise, and enjoying a little hay from their “new” feeder to balance their diet. If we use this as a winter pasture for young bulls every year, we may eventually win the war on willows.
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“Easy & Quick” Feed Bunk FENCING Fence Systems Last winter we created a new little pasture by clearing out trees and willow bushes in hopes of growing more grass in that area The willows have been coming back in again prolifically sending up shoots all over the pasture The heifers ate them back a little during the summer but at the rate the new shoots are regrowing we’re fearful that we’ll lose all the cleared ground we’d gained We didn’t want to use spray so we decided to winter a couple of yearling bulls in the new little pasture and let them work on the willows We figured we’d take them out again in early spring before the grass starts to grow They still need hay for winter feed so we had to figure out some kind of feeder for them Instead of spending several hundred for a commercial feeder we decided to create one with materials on hand My daughter and I found an old leaky aluminum water trough that hadn’t been used for 25 years realizing it would be perfect for the job since any rain or snow melt would leak out of it instead of pooling around the hay To reinforce and secure it so the bulls couldn’t damage it we situated it tightly in the fence corner against the braces and placed an old board under the edge of the trough to keep it from being flat on the ground We braced a post tightly across the top of the trough to reinforce it so the bulls couldn’t mash it down when leaning into the trough to eat We also put a pole along the bottom of the water trough to make sure it didn’t get damaged and caved in by the bulls’ hooves Now the young bulls are happily eating willows and a little dormant grass in that pasture with plenty of room for exercise and enjoying a little hay from their “new” feeder to balance their diet If we use this as a winter pasture for young bulls every year we may eventually win the war on willows
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