We've been having some problems with the feeder that we had originally with the boys in the corral.
For one, this is Saskatchewan. It gets cold. Pee freezes and any of the grass bales on the ground tend to freeze to the ground.
Right around our bale feeder it wasn't quite so bad but about 3 feet from the feeder it ended up being a massive pile of frozen yuck.
And I've noticed the moment the cattle knock their food to the ground they just pee and poop all over it essentially wasting half the feed then squawking for more.
This was getting really wasteful and I was getting fed up with constantly going outside to shovel only for them to waste it right away.
Just for it to freeze when it gold cold burying their feeder almost entirely.
Then on top of it, they stood all over their feeder and broke it because it was level with the pile of food they were wasting.
Husband fixed it then they broke it again and again despite attempts to shovel away.
So instead of engaging in insanity, we came up with this.
A couple pieces of board slapped together to build a box.
Our black bull Pepper had already smashed the board out of the corral side so they can poke their head through and eat the stuff on the ground left over from the bales we drag to the feeder.
Rather than patching his constant destruction we decided to roll with the punches and build a half assed box outside of the corral. This way we can just toss a bale in - they eat whatever they want. Whatever is left over after a couple day of putting new bales in that they don't want to eat anymore, we just pitch it out and start again.
We've gone from 4 square bales a day down to 2-3 and no more moo-ing an hour later for more or attempts to get out of the corral because it's not enough. And to top it off, there's always food.
Cattle are happy, we are happy.
Everyone wins.
All photos are mine unless stated otherwise