When raising livestock, it is important not only what the animals are fed, but also what they eat from. Using the right sheep feeder will ensure the animals have constant access to food, reduce feed consumption, and make it easier to clean and maintain such equipment. In addition, such products suggest the simplest possible design, which makes it easy to assemble the feeder at home, even without the relevant experience.
Sheep feeding
Why do you need a sheep feeder?
Raising sheep at home is considered profitable only if the breeder has access to extensive pastures with fresh vegetation. Forbs in the summer is the basis of the diet for such livestock.
With the onset of cold weather in domestic open spaces, as a rule, they practice stall keeping of living creatures. During this period, fresh vegetation is in great short supply and livestock is fed with previously prepared fodder. This is mainly hay, root crops, cereals, silage. Some breeders place such feed directly on the barn floor, not caring about the comfort and health of the animals. But the use of a suitable feeder in this case is more preferable and offers significant advantages:
- feed is spent more economically due to the lack of spillage on the ground;
- food in such a container is clean, does not contain particles of manure and dirt, which is a significant measure for the prevention of various diseases;
- feeding from feeders allows you to maintain cleanliness in the sheepfold longer;
- a permanently located feeder teaches the herd to eat in the same place, which greatly simplifies animal care.
Tellingly, even a novice breeder makes a do-it-yourself feeder for sheep in a couple of hours and does not require a lot of material. Therefore, all the above benefits from the use of such products can be obtained at minimal cost.
Materials for making feeders
The exact set of materials for the feeder depends on which particular model the breeder collects. Most often, wooden blocks, boards, metal corners, gratings, galvanized sheet are used in this regard. As a device for feeding hay to livestock, old playpens are excellent.
In general, the possibilities of the master here are limited only by his imagination. But it is worth remembering that old containers from toxic substances should not be used to assemble long troughs. Especially if plastic containers are used. Chemicals and harmful liquids are easily absorbed into plastic and can cause serious health problems for sheep later on.
For the same reason, modern toxic solutions are not used to process wooden products. Animals often lick them off the surface. Therefore, it is better to use vegetable oils for impregnation.
Varieties of feeders
There are several different options for sheep feeders. Moreover, the division here is carried out immediately on several grounds. So, depending on the method of placement, all structures are divided into three main types:
Homemade feeder
- Stationary. They are located in a specific area of walking or in a barn and are securely fixed.
- Portable. Such products are easier to use when grazing animals on remote pastures. In addition, they make cleaning much easier.
- Universal. This option assumes both of the above placement methods.
Also, all designs are divided on the basis of what feed they are intended for. In this regard, there are two main types of feeders:
- A manger for feeding hay.
- Containers for feeding grain feed and root crops.
Manger for hay
The nursery is a lattice structure, assuming the presence of a bottom and walls. This type of product is used only for hay. The use of dry food in such a feeder is impractical due to large holes.
Hay in such a device is poured from above. Animals eat it through wide openings between the vertical crossbars of the lattice. At the same time, the structure is installed both by hanging method on one of the elements of the sheepfold, and by placing it on vertical racks made of bars.
The nursery is quite convenient to use and extremely popular among sheep breeders. But one of the disadvantages of this model is that in the process of eating, the cattle pulls out part of the hay from the openings and scatters it on the floor.
For grain and silage
Feeders designed to feed silage, chopped root crops and grain feed have a completely different design. Most often, wide boards and wooden beams are used to assemble such a structure.
The capacity for grain and silage is a long wide trough. Moreover, its longitudinal walls are made inclined so that it is easier for the sheep to eat away the remnants of feed. With a large number of sheep, the trough is made wider and a long separator board is nailed in the middle along. It allows animals to feed from two sides at once.
Important! By itself, this design is not very stable. Excessively active cattle can easily turn it over. Therefore, the grain trough is supplemented with stable legs. When stationary, they are made longer and dug into the ground.
How to make a feeder with your own hands?
It is not difficult to build any version of a sheep feeder at home. The main thing at the same time is to accurately select the necessary materials and follow the specified work algorithms. To simplify the task, first make a detailed drawing of the model you like.
Feeding sheep in a wooden feeder
Nursery
If the material is available, it takes no more than 40–60 minutes to make a hay manger. They are made from wood or metal. Below is an algorithm for assembling a wooden manger, supplemented by a pallet for concentrated feed or silo.
To work, you need several long wooden bars with a section of 30×40 mm, boards, galvanized steel for assembling the gutter, as well as nails or self-tapping screws. The assembly process of the structure involves the following steps:
- From the bars make 4 racks for installing the product.
- A gutter with a semicircular section is made of metal, with a top width of 15 cm and a depth of 12 cm. It is mounted along the base of the stand at a height of 10 cm from the ground.
- From the boards make two rectangular lattices that will run along the entire length of the feeder. In this case, the pitch of the vertical rails is 10 cm.
- Lattices are fixed with the letter “V” on vertical bars. The base of the sennik is approximately above the gutter.
- Lattices are reinforced with crossbars from the board.
Important! The last stage of work is the inspection of the structure for the presence of burrs and sharp corners. If such are found, they are smoothed out so that the animals do not get hurt.
From wooden planks
This design is characterized by maximum ease of manufacture. For her you will need:
- wooden blocks with a section of 60×60 mm – 7 pieces;
- wooden blocks with a section of 40×40 mm – 5-6 pieces.
Attention! The recommended length of purchased bars is 130 cm.
The assembly process is carried out as follows:
- Bars with a diameter of 60 mm are knocked down in pairs in the form of crosses.
- The resulting crosses are installed parallel to each other in the form of the letter “X” at a distance of 130 cm.
- The middles of both crosses are connected by another sixty bar.
- The same bars connect the upper free ends of the crosses.
- On the resulting inclined frames formed between the crosses, a beam with a cross section of 40 mm is vertically stuffed. Such strips are placed in increments of 25-30 cm.
Hay is poured from above into the assembled structure. If desired, the sheep approaches the feeder, raises its head and pulls the vegetation out of the holes formed by the crossbars.
Bunker type
The design of the bunker type is more complex. But its main advantage is that the food reserves in it are replenished every few days.
The product is made according to the following plan:
- Two rectangular lattices are knocked down from wooden bars with a step of crossbars of 25-30 cm (so that the sheep’s head passes).
- Lattices are set at an angle to each other in the form of a triangle, leaving a small free space between the tops.
- Inside, as the basis of the triangle, two wide boards are installed along, also connecting them in the shape of a triangle.
- The ends of the feeder are closed with crossbars and grind off all the sharpness.
A sheep from such a container eats food through the grate. As its amount decreases in front of the grate, the hay itself moves down to it along continuous inclined boards of the base.
Metal
The metal sennik is extremely durable and, in the presence of ready-made gratings, is easy to manufacture. To assemble it, you need two lattices from popular fences with spikes. Two sections of such a fence are welded at the base and installed in the form of the letter “V” on dug-in metal supports. For reliability, the gratings can also be welded together at the ends with crossbars.
Manege
If the children in the family have already grown up, and the old unused arena remains on the farm, it can also be used as a hay feeder. In this case, the arena is simply placed on a dry area of the floor or raised to a height of 40-50 cm using a stuffed stand. In this case, the main thing is to take into account the step of the vertical crossbars of the product. If they are placed too often, they are knocked out after one. Inside such an arena, hay is poured and animals pull out as much as they need through the holes.
Making a drinker for sheep
Sheep drinkers
When sheep eat dry feed, they also need large amounts of clean drinking water. Therefore, it makes sense when making a feeder to also assemble a suitable drinker for sheep.
At home, such a device is often made from truck tires. It is simply sawn lengthwise, and the round halves are cleaned and filled with water. A plastic pipe with a large diameter is also suitable. It is also sawn lengthwise, and the ends are closed with plastic or metal inserts of suitable size.
A sheep feeder offers a wide range of advantages when raising such animals. It keeps the feed clean by preventing the ingress of dirt. In addition, food from such devices is consumed much more economically. But since such products are quite expensive in specialized agricultural stores, it will be much easier and cheaper to build a similar structure on your own.
