I have decided it is time to invest in a round bale feeder. While I enjoy seeing the horses in the hay “beds” they make there is just too much waste. Every feeder I look at I see a way they can get hurt ( or rub their manes out ). What do you all like best? I have been hoping to find a tractor tire feeder but so far no luck so might need to do another route.
DId you get plans for it or just wing it?
I did not know there were plans to get so I guess I will have to take the second choice. Though Mr. Trub does not just ‘wing it’ on anything. He sits down and sketches and calculates and things some more. It is a whole process. A very slow process.
I don’t normally feed a round bale in a feeder ( feed 2X a day by hand) but one year we were going on vacation and I didn’t want my farm sitters to have to feed the horses so we made a temporary feeder by hooking wood pallets together and making a ring around the 2 bales we put out. After we got back I just adjusted the pallets as the bales got smaller.
I like the feeder pictured above, but I would want to add wall height so the horse couldn’t get in with the bale…
They can’t really get in with the bale. That wall height is plenty tall enough. I just have one very mischievous mare, that I know all too well, who one day climbed in. She has only done it once and I was very thankful we planned for the ‘just in case’ situation.
If the walls were taller then the smaller horse(s) would not be able to reach the floor level.
I guess looks are deceiving, as it looks so low in the picture. Nice feeder though.
I looked on line and found lots of similar ones, but no plans, I guess my husband will have a new project 
I do have a youngster that I know will get in there so I will have to go a bit higher and try to come up with a way to add rubber to the top edge.
I really like the Hay Hut. It is expensive up front but I have zero regrets buying it. It is 5+ years old and has aged great. l. I love that I don’t need to go out in the rain and cover it any time there’s rain/snow/whatever. The holes are well placed and roomy, and we’ve actually had a decrease in random nicks/scrapes since we swapped from the metal roundbale feeder to this. Only one horse rubs his mane out on it, but you have to have a big/tall horse (17h).
No matter what feeder you use you will still need a net of some sort to really see a reduction in waste.
1 Like
Either way you go id get a net! I stopped free feeding after they wasted 30% + of the bales and after one of my dummies cast himself under the bale feeder (those old school ones)
lots of people seem to have hay huts around here and like them.
1 Like
I LOVE these plastic hay rings. I’ve had them for a few years and they do well in winter, don’t freeze to the ground. They can be easily moved by hand and I can’t imagine how they could get injured. I went with the shorter height but my friend got the taller ones and one cracked from the horses leaning against it to get the hay on the ground. http://rockinsranchds.com/agi-adjustable-hay-ring/
I added a couple eye bolts to the bottom of mine to hold a hay net in there. Otherwise they pull the net out when it gets low. My bale sits on a plastic pallet inside the ring. I love this set up.
Another vote for a Hay Hut paired with a www.HayChix.com net. Zero waste, no fighting. I’ve been doing it for years, with 2 to 6 horses and 2 goats at a time. I still use one on the right side of my property.
On the left side is a massive run-in. I paired a Century Livestock Feeder and Hay Chix net, so now I have the bomb-dot-com of round bale feeders
Hope the link works… I did make it public: https://www.facebook.com/ChocoMare/v…9292060707280/
I make the tire feeders myself. I have one for sale right now actually, but I think that I am probably too far away for it to be of interest for you LOL. But they work well, and are easy to make. You can make one yourself. I use them here, in every paddock and enclosure that requires feeding hay rather than grazing pasture.
Get a skidder tire, off logging machinery. There will be some damage to the tire, they are “used” tires, and the logging company will keep using them until they are unable to be used any more, because they cost several thousands of dollars each to replace. Some damage is fine, does not effect the use of the tire as a hay feeder tub, but inspect it for this, some damage is sometimes too severe to take on as a project. There are many different types/makes, and each is slightly different in size. Most are 32 to 36 inches high when laying on their sides, and 5 feet wide. Drill drainage holes on one side, then flip it over (you need a tractor for this - they weigh at least 500 lbs) and cut the sidewall off with a reciprocating saw (or chainsaw, or various other saws that can do the job). Once you get the sidewall cut off, check the interior of the tire for nails or other metal stuck in the tire from it’s baring surface, sometimes you will find these things damaging the tire, and if not removed may cause injury to a horse eating hay out of the tub. I leave a rim of about 6 inches around the top edge, to stop horses from throwing hay out of the tub. I don’t use a net, and I usually just measure out loose hay from a round bale twice a day for this, but CAN and HAVE dropped a round bale into these tires, our “small rounds” do fit into the hole in the tire. If you have “large round bales” ( the 1200 lb ones), it will be tougher to find the right tire big enough for your purposes. If you want to affix a net on top, you can do that easily, just cut some holes into the top rim and affix some quick links through those holes and snap a net onto those. As the bale gets eaten, the net will drop down into the feeder.
These tires are FREE at your local tire shop that services logging equipment. The shop is paid by the previous owner of the tire for it’s disposal/recycling costs, and the tire shop pays the recycle people to come and take it away. So, if you offer to take it away for free, they are happy to load it for you, and keep the $$$$$ they have to otherwise pay the recycle people. I have a flat deck truck that I use to bring them home, but a flat deck trailer would work as well. I can pick up practically all the tires (but one) with my 35 horse Kubota tractor, and place them where I want them, turn them over, move them as needed. One tire is too heavy for me to move with the little tractor, it’s heavier, I don’t know why- picked up the back of my tractor when I tried- our bigger tractor lifted it OK. When you approach your tire dealer to ask for a tire, tell them what your plans are for the tire, to cut the side wall, so that they can recommend the right tire for you, because some have reinforced side walls that you can not cut through.
“Reduce, reuse, recycle”.
My boarding barn uses hay huts and we love them. We haven’t had issues with mane rubs or climbing. The only downside to their lightweight build is that if it gets windy and the round bale is getting low, they will absolutely blow over. 
1 Like
I really want to get one of these, going to call and see what shipping is to MT…thanks!
I’ve got an AGI ring that I’ve had for well over 10 years. I don’t really use it now that my husband built me a covered round bale feeder, but I won’t get rid of it because it’s so handy!
Another option to attach a net to the AGI rings is to use conduit like in this video. :yes:
we made our own and totally wing’ed it. It was pretty easy actually.
We use large squares and so hay huts/bale barns aren’t an option, even if I didn’t have a draft mare that would break them in about 2 weeks…
I attached pictures of ours as it was built. If I were doing another, I’d make the roof less pitched so it had greater coverage area and wasn’t quite so low. However, we’ve had zero injuries or issues with it.
The horses did still waste some hay, but much less than they ever have with loose bales. This year I’ll put the whole thing on a pad of mats, and use a hay net over the bale, and see if that helps further.
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:10752869}[/ATTACH][ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:10752870}[/ATTACH][ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:10752871}[/ATTACH][ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“medium”,“data-attachmentid”:10752872}[/ATTACH]
1 Like
Check out Bale Condoms for round bales by Sherwood Equine Products. They are a sturdy hay net lashed to a heavy, flexible tube at the open end, fits over the round withe the ring on the ground. Much easier to use than your typical round bale net. Highly recommend!
