Goat Feeder

[EddieWalker]

When we got our first two goats, it was easy to feed them, along with the horses and chickens. When we where up to 10 goats, it was still easy to feed them and the other animals. But somewhere along the way of having 50 goats, things got out of control. They swarm the food, climb into the feed troughs and poop on everything. They are psychotic at going from place to place while eating, and pushing each other away. Even worse, since they are always testing my fencing, they are always finding ways to get into the chicken area to steal their food. Usually it's the young ones that can fit through the tinniest openings, but once they get the taste of chicken food, they never stop trying to get into the chicken area. This has been a losing battle for me that's been going on for several years. I keep adding "junk" to my fence to block them, and they keep finding ways to get around it. Recently, the pond is down from Summer, and they have been getting around my barrier into the pond, so I've been extending it with every piece of "junk" that I have to stop them. I'm too embarrassed to post pictures of how ugly it's become in that area!!!

I finally came up with a solution that I think might actually work. My goal was to keep the goats on their side of the fence, and us on the other side. The goats will have to put their heads through the fence to get their food, and they will not be able to get around the fence, over the fence, under the fence, or through the fence.

To make sure they cannot get under the fence, I built up the ground with concrete. Where I had erosion issues, I built up the ground with busted up concrete and poured dry concrete into the openings with some water to lock it all together. Then I ran Goat Panels into the pond. The pond is about 3 feet down right now because of Summer. It can drop another foot before the goats can get around it. If that happens, I'll buy another Goat Panel and extend it into the pond even farther.

We've only fed the goats twice now with the new feeder, and it's working better then we had expected. They stay in one place and focus on getting the food right in front of where they are at. No more running around from trough to trough, or fighting with each other to get to the food. They all line up, they all eat at the same time, and it's all done in about five minutes.

I used 5 inch aluminum gutters from Lowes for the trough. It's 48 feet long, so I used 5 gutters and started at the lowest point, then placed the next one over it a few inches so water would flow through it easily. I left the ends open for drainage when it rains, but also for easy cleaning. I have a hose at the barn that can be used to flush out the trough if we need to clean it.

 

[EddieWalker]

While I was working in that area, I put two plastic milk crates over my drain for the pond. I used wire before and that was just a mess. I anchored the milk crates with rebar into the ground and pipe clamps. My thinking is that if the sides of the milk crates get plugged up from debris, the top crate should still allow water to flow into the pipe. I had to clear a lot of branches from the trees to build the fence, and this also gave me really good access to get to the pipe if I need to clear away debris after a big storm.

I've been removing T posts and a couple of wood posts from my electric fence pasture that I'm replacing with 2x4 horse fencing. I used the old T posts for this, and I broke off the concrete from the wood posts to use on this project too.

The wood posts have been in the ground since 2013. When I installed the posts, I used dry concrete with a little water poured into the hole as I dumped in the sacks of concrete. Then I mixed up some concrete with water and built a crown up above the ground so water would shed away from the posts. Ten years later, there is only a small amount of discoloration at the area of the post where it normally rots. Posts rot at ground level, but in my experience, if you can keep the water away from the post at that area, they will not rot.

I've also learned that a post set in dirt is just as easy to pull out as a T post, but a post set in concrete is much, much harder to pull out. I was not able to pull out the wood posts with my 65HP Deere. I had to use my 80 HP NH Loader/Backhoe to pull them out, and it strains to pull them out.

I used the busted up concrete to build up the area under my fence that has an erosion issue.

 

[Torvy]

Thanks, Eddie. I'll make sure to show this to the Mrs. next time she says she wants goats.

I need to borrow or rent some once I get my place fenced in. Lots of Greenbriar and other underbrush that could eat.

 

[EddieWalker]

I knew that goats would help clear my land, but it was still a surprise when it happened. That pond was surrounded by blackberries that I couldn't get any closer to the pond to mow. It was ugly, and just about impossible to get through. I didn't even see the goats eating them, I just realized one day that they where all gone and I had a clear view of the pond!!!! That was when I just had a dozen goats. The same thing in the wooded areas. They where so thick that you couldn't see into them. Then one day, I realized that I could see all the way through the wooded areas, and it was perfectly manicured up to about four feet. They do a little every day, all over the place. They love to eat and walk, constantly moving from place to place. The results are very impressive!!!!

 

[2manyrocks]

Most of the goat feeders and fencing I've seen could be described as hacked together. You built something that actually looks good.

While revisiting the issue of whether to get goats to clean up some hillside brush here, there were a couple of different people who said goats are grazers and want to go where the grazing is the best. That's when they start testing fences. 50 could test anything.

Food is a powerful motivator.

 

[EddieWalker]

Turned out that I made the opening too big for the goats to get to the food. Two days in a row I found several goats that had jumped through. My wife watched it happen, so I added a 2x4 to the top that made the opening smaller. That seems to have worked.

They still have plenty of room to get to the feed