A Wisconsin farmer who wanted to reduce feed waste with big square bales built his own feeder for them, complete with roof, on an old wagon chassis.

Edwin Schaffner of Mondovi came up with the idea after trying to feed the square bales in a round bale feeder.

"I had to cut off a section of each bale just so that it would fit into the feeder. It was a lot of hassle. Cattle don't waste any more hay in my square bale feeder than they would in a round bale feeder, and there's no spoilage from rain or snow," says Schaffner, who feeds the bales to his 35 cows and 14 heifers.

The 10-ft. long, 4 1/2-ft. wide feeder has a swing-out gate on one side that's secured by two steel pins. He used 1-in. sq. steel tubing to build the feeder, which is chained to the wagon at each corner so it can be easily removed. A sheet metal base flares in-ward to help keep hay from falling out. The roof is galvanized tin and sheet metal.

 "I use a chain to keep the wagon tongue out of manure. I mounted it on a wagon but it could also be put on skids. "I think big square bales are the wave of the future. I can stack big square bales four high in my pole barn and get three times as many bales in it as I can with round bales.

Schaffner will put plans together for a fee if there's enough interest.