Feeders, drinkers, mangers for sheep – self-production

It is difficult to keep animals in the first place because it is necessary to properly equip the premises for their presence, as well as to build everything necessary for feeding and watering. Sheep require maximum attention and care from the owner. For their proper nutrition, it is necessary to install special feeders, drinkers and nurseries for hay or straw in pens or sheepfolds.

How to make a sheep feeder for grain and silage yourself: size calculation depending on the number of sheep

Animal feeding is ongoing. Less often, supplementary feeding is carried out when the animals are on pasture. If sheep are kept in a stall, it is necessary to constantly monitor their diet.

It is necessary to make the right convenient feeder, depending on the type of complementary foods offered. Many are sure that hay is enough for sheep, which can be thrown under their feet.

This is far from the case, because sheep need the following complementary foods:

  • hay;
  • straw;
  • concentrates;
  • stern;
  • roots;
  • corn;
  • succulent feed (vegetables), etc.

The amount of each complementary food, depending on the age of the sheep, is distributed individually. Usually sheep breeders do not waste their time and buy ready-made drinkers, nurseries and feeders for keeping their livestock. It will be cheaper and more profitable to make such designs with your own hands. This is not as difficult to do as it might seem at first glance.

Important! The optimal size of the opening of the feeder for one sheep is 3540 see.

A nursery or feeder should be created according to special drawings and calculations, which will not only allow sheep to eat comfortably in the future, but also reduce feed loss to a minimum.

This is very important, because the sheep breeder will not incur financial losses due to the extra expenditure on the purchase of feed. To make it comfortable for the animal to eat hay or silage, it is necessary to take into account the correct size of the feeder per individual.

What can be feeders for sheep

If silage or crops are intended for sheep, then the use of ordinary feeders will be incorrect. The particles of such food are small, which means that the container for them must be appropriate.

The ideal option would be a small trough or rectangular box, firmly mounted on a small support. The structure must be placed evenly so that the animals cannot overturn it and thus pour food onto the ground.

Toolkit, choice of material: metal, wood

You can build feeders used for keeping sheep from different materials:

  • wood (bars and planks);
  • metal (sections);
  • arena.

Important! The choice of material and the design itself depends on where, with what and how the feeding will take place.

In accordance with the choice of material, the necessary tools for work will also differ. In any case, fastening tools are used – nails, staples, a hammer for hammering them.

If you have to work with wood, be sure to take a saw blade, an ax or other equipment with you. It is quite enough to have at hand the usual tools that every man has at home.

Hammer and nails for making sheep feeders

Metal feeder: material calculation

To prevent the grain from spilling out of the feeder, it is necessary to make it in the form of a small rectangular structure. To do this, using special tools, a metal container with sloping edges is prepared. This is necessary in order for the animal to completely eat out the food without problems.

For an adult, a space of 40 cm long is needed. Openings of this size can be separated from each other by small tin rods. The total size of the structure will correspond to the number of livestock in the paddock.

Scheme of a metal feeder for sheep

The advantage of this feeder is its weight. Sheep can’t knock it over. Also, metal is more durable than wood, especially if the structure is outdoors and constantly exposed to weather conditions. Metal feeders are considered the most durable and hardy with a maximum service life of several decades.

Wooden feeder: material calculation

Wooden feeders are not as durable as metal ones. At the same time, they are no less practical to use. To make a wooden feeder, you need to take a large board and bars that will be placed on the sides, visually resembling a trough.

Did you know? Sheep are under a lot of stress if they live alone. For them, the herd way of life is natural.

The sides should be sloping. The calculation of the length of the entire structure is calculated in accordance with the standards for one head, in the same way as for metal structures. If the size of one lamb is smaller, then the animal will not be able to eat comfortably, constantly colliding with others in cramped quarters.

Video: wooden sheep feeder


Sheep nursery for hay and straw

For larger feed in the form of hay or straw, special nurseries are used. Such structures are also made of wood or metal. Visually, they resemble feeders for wild deer, elk, which are left in the forest by huntsmen. The size of such structures is determined depending on the number of livestock.

Dimensioning, material selection, tools

The material for the nursery is also selected individually, depending on the number of livestock and the conditions of detention. In order for such a design to be as comfortable as possible in operation, it is necessary to adhere to certain norms that will allow animals to eat without problems and not feel cramped.

If all the necessary tools and material are available, the construction of the structure will not take more than an hour of work.
Sheep feeder

Wooden nursery for simple / rolled hay and straw: material calculation

To build a hay manger, you can use a combination of wood and material. For the feeder you will need wooden bars with a cross section of about 40 mm. The gutter can be assembled from galvanized steel. Fastening is carried out using self-tapping screws and nails.

Important! After carrying out all the work, you should pay attention to the presence of burrs on the structure. If there are any, they must be ironed out.

Five stages are required for the construction of the structure:

  1. First you need to make 4 racks using wooden bars.
  2. A pre-made gutter made of metal with a semicircular section is installed on the resulting structure. The size of the gutter should be 15*12 cm (width*depth). At 10 cm above ground level, it is necessary to place the structure.
  3. Two rectangular bars running along the feeder must be made of boards. A step of 10 cm is provided for rails.
  4. Above the gutter, a sennik is installed on vertical bars in the form of the letter “V”.
  5. With the help of the board, the lattices are strengthened among themselves.

Wooden feeder

It is possible to simplify the workflow even more if you construct a sennik from wooden planks. For such a design, only two terms are needed – 7 pieces of wooden bars (section 60 * 60 mm) and 6 pieces of smaller bars (section diameter 40 * 40 mm).

To make a sennik from such materials, you must:

  1. In pairs, in the form of a cross, knock down bars with a diameter of 60 mm.
  2. In parallel, at a distance of 130 cm, the resulting crosses are set in the form of the letter “X”.
  3. With the help of the same bar (60 mm), the middle of the obtained crosses and the upper free ends are interconnected.
  4. Inclined frames are formed between the crosses, on which bars with a section diameter of 25 mm are stuffed with a distance of 30–40 cm.

Feeder-nursery

This design is very convenient to use, since the sheep can approach the sennik at any time and get hay.

Metal nursery for simple / rolled hay and straw: material calculation

Installation of metal mangers is also simple. To make it, it is enough to disassemble the old tin fence. Using welding, two sections of the fence are welded together at the base in the form of the letter “V”.

It is possible to strengthen the structure as much as possible with the help of crossbars at the ends. The reliability and service life of such nurseries is very long. In addition, in such options, you can fit much more hay, for example, a roll.

Metal creche for sheep

From the arena

A crèche for lamb from an ordinary arena will also be comfortable and practical. The old design can be used very effectively. To do this, you need to install the arena on the ground if the surface is dry, or create a stuffed stand 50 cm high. The distance between the bars should be optimal so that the animal can get as much hay as it needs.

Important! If the distance between the vertical bars is small, it must be increased by knocking out extra partitions.

How to equip a drinker for sheep

In addition to feeders and mangers, it is also worth providing drinking bowls for sheep. They can also be made with your own hands using improvised means. Water is very important for sheep, because in its absence, the animals will feel bad and get sick.

For adult sheep

Depending on the number of sheep, you need to choose the optimal suitable container for filling with water. In this case, anything that you can pour liquid into will do. The most unpretentious are considered adults. As an option, a tire cut along a jigsaw from a truck is suitable for them.

Drinking bowl for sheep from a car tire

Such a drinker holds enough water to drink a small flock at the same time. The tire drinker option is only suitable if the number of individuals is small (up to 10 pcs.).

For young animals

Another good option for a drinker is a large diameter pipe sawn along. At the end of such a structure, you just have to solder a metal insert to keep water inside (like a trough).

This option is more suitable for young animals, since the animal at this age is active and often needs water. The sheep breeder can determine the size of the pipe on his own, based on the number of heads.

Did you know? Among the peoples of Ancient Asia, the ram’s horns were a magical symbol. In ancient Egyptian iconography, the main gods were depicted with a ram’s head.

For lambs

Lambs are considered the most whimsical in everything. They need a special approach. In this case, bottles with screwed nipples are ideal. Similar parts are sold in almost every pet store.

This method is very practical, since it is most reminiscent of mother’s feeding. More than one lamb can be fed at the same time in this way. To do this, bottles of water or milk are placed in a small nursery parallel to each other.

Drinker for lambs

Do-it-yourself drinkers, feeders and mangers for sheep will be much cheaper and more practical than buying factory versions. Such options are built quite quickly and at the same time are practical for decades.

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Anna Evans

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