Round field feeders

Yep. The bit of cord looped tied through the holes at the bottom is used for tying the bungee cord inside. The bit of baling twine coming up from the bottom outside of the tub to the bungee is an economy measure as much as anything. This is how I made it:

So we have...
A huge plant pot, complete with drainage holes at the bottom.
A hoop made of blue pipe with a little bit of copper pipe (or something else rigid will do) inserted in the join and held together with gaffer tape.
A massacred hayledge net. Bound on the hoop with nylon gardening string (£1.45 in B+Q).
Some strong cord to tie in loops through six of the bottom holes.
3 metres bungee cord (B+Q £1.78 mtr, once you can work out how to use the cutter and they can find it on the electronic till so you can pay for it!).
Some safety clips cut off unwanted leg straps etc.

To assemble:
Tie your cord loops in the bottom of the tub. Not equidistant, put two closer together so it's easy to flip the net cover up for filling.
Cut your bungee cord into equal lengths. Tie to the 3 cords inside the container. Slide the cover in and put the bungee cord through holes in the net.
Pull the two bungee cords that are close together over and tie them off on the outside by whatever method you've set up.
Pull the third one out and attach a safety clip of the right length to hook on to whatever you're going to hook it on to.

Voila! Unclip the clip bungee, flip the cover over so it's outside the tub, stuff the hay in, flip the cover back and clip the bungee back to secure it.

I included bungee cord just in case some bright spark decides to get their leg hooked up somehow. !
 
I've posted this picture before, but we use an old plastic oil tank which has been cut in half. Is light weight, easy to move, has no sharp edges and holds a four foot bale of haylage (a little overfilled in this photo - I tried squeezing in two bales without much success!);
036-1.jpg
 
I decided to get one as I was sick of so much wastage. I chose to get a sheep feeder, and was advised by the agriculture store to line the bars with mesh for safety.
 
Lots of houses near me are having loft conversions. On my travels I look out for discarded water tanks. Got 3 so far. the big round ones. Missed 2 d ue to not knocking on doors Last one even dropped it o my house. They only get put on the skip
 
Big round water tanks would be perfect for the setup I have. The huge tree planters I'm using are often skipped after landscaping is done, so nurseries might be useful contacts.
 
Enfys said:
My opinion ? No, no, no, no, NO :eek: Don't even go there! Lots of lovely little gaps for silly equines to thread body parts through :(
Personally, I wouldn't touch a metal ring feeder, tombstone or otherwise with a bargepole. Most of the horses here are not mine, if one got injured with something i had put in the field I'd probably get the pants sued off me.
Yes they are useful, and yes, the majority of the time they appear to be safe, but when there is an accident every single one I have ever seen or heard about has caused major, major, injuries. My friends tb somehow almost ripped his leg off on one only a month or so ago... bang!
Click to expand...

I have just bought a tombstone feeder and it's F A B U L O U S!! It literally DOUBLES MY HAY CROP!! ZERO FOOD getting trampled into the mud, or fouled. The bales used to be gone in 4 days, now they last 10 days (four 15.2 Quarter horses). The horses eat the food right down to the mud ZERO waste! Make sure you let them finish it. Just like they will eat the sour grass when the sweet grass is all gone. - don't be tempted to put the next bale in too soon. They WILL finish the bale if you let them.
Thoroughbreds can get hurt by just thinking about getting hurt, they're so stupid. But for any other breed (we have sensible Quarter Horses) they are quite SAFE, and I am running out to get another feeder! Not sure they can work for foals, whose legs could possibly fit through the tombstones ... they might try that if they can't reach in. But for grown horses? I say - GO FOR IT!!
 
Last edited:
I have two feeders like this: two tractor tyres bolted together and on top of a pallet. The metal rings that go around the inside of the tractor tyre have been sawn out, both to make it roomier and a bit safer. The tyre feeder can hold a 3'-diameter round bale, or several square bales. Excited horses hooning around appear to just bounce off it.

The pictures I've seen of horses stuck in tyres appear to be single tyres on the ground, rather than larger constructs such as this?

ponies-observe.jpg
 
RutlandH2O said:
I have been trying to have one of these made. I went to the feed store and took a look at one similar to yours, but it was 5'3" in diameter. It's just too big for my purposes. I over-winter my Shires in a massive pole barn. My 2 young geldings share a section of the barn and I thought one like yours would be perfect. I'm trying to have one of the cattle/sheep feeder manufacturers make one for me that is 4 feet in diameter and 32 inches high, with 3 inch mess welded around like yours. Next time you are out in the field, could you measure the diameter of your feeder? Perhaps a smaller one is already made.
Click to expand...

Why not use just half of the sheep feeder, fastened to a wall - I've seen it one and it works well.
 
197949_10152327194575437_1132141443_n.jpg


156263_10150345725255437_5011308_n.jp


I had mine made by a local blacksmith for £150 ( so cheaper than many pre made ones) . The ring is 7ft wide and it's 3ft high. It's for multiple bigger horses sharing but even the foal was able to reach. It fit's a large round bale easily with plenty of room to fall down the side and not over the edge. For smaller horses and ponies I'd have had it 6" lower.

I could have had it wrapped in sheet metal for a bit extra cost but I just folded chainlink fencing that I'd got free as cut offs from the local fencer.
 
Last edited:
supagran said:
Why not use just half of the sheep feeder, fastened to a wall - I've seen it one and it works well.
Click to expand...

We almost did just that. When we found out that the manufacturer wouldn't do a one off, we just purchased the standard sheep feeder and attached 2 inch weld mesh all the way around the outside of the feeder. It's worked brilliantly. That feeder is used by our two, young Shire geldings. We bought a 4 berth tombstone feeder for our two very quiet, well-behaved Shire mares. That, too, has worked out very well. Echoing Enfys's fears about the possible dangers of the tombstone feeders, I would never put that feeder in with my youngsters. They are too rambunctious and playful and I would be worried that they could catch a hoof in the tombstone openings.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top