Giant Round Bale Feeder!!!

[MikeA57]

Very cool! I'm guessing there will be enough overhang on each side of the roof to keep the rain/snow out? That's a great looking rig and it ought to work perfectly. Be sure and post some pictures when you get it placed!

[GLyford]

I'm going to run my tin length wise across the roof so I dont have to buy as many pieces. I can lay two down, overlap them and I'll pretty much have a one seam roof. Granted the ridges will be running the wrong way, but I think the slope will be steep enough, and the hill it will sit on will add to the pitch that It should shed snow and water well.

They do that all the time with carports, as it lets the tin follow the curved parts of the roof. Seems to work OK for that, so why not?

[lost in wisconsin]

Interesting build and project. May I ask how many horses will be eating off this feeder?

I am anxious to hear your results in the next few weeks.


Thanks

[RedNeckRacin]

Interesting build and project. May I ask how many horses will be eating off this feeder?

I am anxious to hear your results in the next few weeks.


Thanks

I think we have 6 horses eating out of that pasture I want to put it in. They seem to be the most hungry bunch of the three pastures we have right now.


Thats a good point about the car ports. I tired to think out the roof as best as i could while I was builing it. I usually spend A TON of time thinkinng about how something will cause me problems. Its so much easier to erase a line on paper than having to get the torch and grinder back out.

Mike, As far as the over hang, I sort of SWAG-ed it. I knew two pieces of tin was about 8' so I made the roof approximately big enough to support that. I may have to rework a couple things since the wife decided she is concered about the back side being low. Oh well, back to the drawing board!


I appreciate all of the replies. I dont proclaim to be a fabricator but I can definately notice the improvement in my welding and fabrication as I was working through this project. I would absolutely encourage anyone to atleast start a project. Even if the project fails miserably, there is an untold amount of knowledge that is gained just from working with the materials. Ill keep everyone posted with some follow up pictures!

[zing]

Are you planning to place it right against the pasture fence, with the loading side facing out? Seems to me that 3 sides would be enough for 6 horses to feed from, and depending on your fence (maybe take some planks down) you might be abel to load it from outside of the pasture.

Then you wouldn't have to open the pasture gate or the feeder doors anymore.

[crbr]

Thanks for the pictures

[RedNeckRacin]

Are you planning to place it right against the pasture fence, with the loading side facing out? Seems to me that 3 sides would be enough for 6 horses to feed from, and depending on your fence (maybe take some planks down) you might be abel to load it from outside of the pasture.

Then you wouldn't have to open the pasture gate or the feeder doors anymore.

Zing, I never thought about that. I just might have to consider doing just that! We have high tensile wire with 5 strand fences so it would have to be a dedicated opening, but you absolutely got the wheels turning in my head now!.

Again, I appreciate all of the feedback and I know how you guys love projects with PICTURES! I'll keep ya'll posted.

[jinman]

So I have some horses that I feed round bales too. My FIL built a single bale feeder for them and the dam thing drives me nuts. It only holds one round bale at a time and I have to get out of the tractor several times to put one bale out. (open the pasture, drive in, close the gate, drive to the feeder, open the feeder door, put the bale in, close the feeder door then get outta the pasture. This wouldn't be such a big deal except I have to do this every four days.

I'm sooooo confused. . . . You spent a lot of time in your first post talking about the inconvenience of handling one bale at a time. I thought for sure you were gonna build a multiple bale feeder with wheels or skids so you could load it all at once and pull it anywhere in the pasture it is needed; a true portable feeder. This one seems to need a trailer to move it into place where it is semi-permanently located. When you load it, you still have to do all that gate opening and tractor on/offing that you do now. You just have to do a bunch more of it at a time every two weeks instead of every four days. You also don't have to get off the tractor to roll the bale ring around and put it over the new bales. Of course, the tin roof will be a nice touch to keep down the amount of rain/snow that gets on the bales. Don't get me wrong. I think this is a very nice multiple bale feeder you've made, but any bale moving/handling is a pain if you are one person working by yourself to open/close gates and also remove the bale wrap. When you get to the feeder with your bale, you'll still have to get off the tractor to remove the bale wrap before loading into the feeder. I just think we have a long way to go before we make round bale feeding as simple as the multiple toilet paper roll dispensers.

[BeezFun]

I may have to rework a couple things since the wife decided she is concered about the back side being low. Oh well, back to the drawing board!

I've started making my wife sign the final drawings before I begin work. She said she'd be happy to sign anything because she'll make me do it over anyway, but it makes me feel like I have things under control for the first few minutes of every project.

[RedNeckRacin]

I'm sooooo confused. . . . You spent a lot of time in your first post talking about the inconvenience of handling one bale at a time. I thought for sure you were gonna build a multiple bale feeder with wheels or skids so you could load it all at once and pull it anywhere in the pasture it is needed; a true portable feeder. This one seems to need a trailer to move it into place where it is semi-permanently located. When you load it, you still have to do all that gate opening and tractor on/offing that you do now. You just have to do a bunch more of it at a time every two weeks instead of every four days. You also don't have to get off the tractor to roll the bale ring around and put it over the new bales. Of course, the tin roof will be a nice touch to keep down the amount of rain/snow that gets on the bales. Don't get me wrong. I think this is a very nice multiple bale feeder you've made, but any bale moving/handling is a pain if you are one person working by yourself to open/close gates and also remove the bale wrap. When you get to the feeder with your bale, you'll still have to get off the tractor to remove the bale wrap before loading into the feeder. I just think we have a long way to go before we make round bale feeding as simple as the multiple toilet paper roll dispensers.

Well technically it is portable. The pipes on the bottom are my skids. I also welded 2 grab hooks on them so i can loop a chain around and drag it. Im taking an idea from the thread and cut the fence to "semi-permantly" place it right into the fence line. So there goes the portable need. BUT this eliminates opening and closing any gates! It also eliminates the need for a door/contraption to keeps the pesky horses out of the hay. Though it does keep them from getting 360 degrees around it. Eventually Id like to put some asphalt down to help melt the ice and snow plus it would give me a nice stopping point for clean manure away from the feeder.

Dont get me wrong, I think I'm plenty smart. But I enjoy bouncing ideas off of people just to see what I miss and what they come up with!! Engineers are far from perfect esp when looking at their own creations.

I've started making my wife sign the final drawings before I begin work. She said she'd be happy to sign anything because she'll make me do it over anyway, but it makes me feel like I have things under control for the first few minutes of every project.

I haven't tried making her sign off on the designs but I usually change them about a dozen times during the process to make things heavier/easier to construct. I have an update picture i'll post in a second!