Feeding cottonseed on the ground

[TXBRASS]

I see a lot of y’all building the baskets and cadges for the cotton seed. Have even seen the commercially available feeders that elevate it. Is there that much wasted that just pouring it on the ground wouldn’t be the route to go?


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[Bassbuster]

They will waste a pretty good amount cause it will get scattered across the ground. Those basket are very cheap to build and take very little time to do it.

[deerwatcher51]

I think there would be a lot of waste if it were just dumped on the ground. I use the metal grids that come with totes to put mine in. You can get a lot more than the traditional wire baskets and don’t have to fill as often.

[mrduxs]

I think there would be a lot of waste if it were just dumped on the ground. I use the metal grids that come with totes to put mine in. You can get a lot more than the traditional wire baskets and don’t have to fill as often.

Do you happen to have pics?

[EastTexasMan]

We use the field fence wire baskets, but we dumped 200# on ground at two locations and they ate it all just fine. They just spread more across ground and seem to leave a little more than with cages. Cages just keep it from getting spread all over place and wasted


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[Royal21973]

We use plastic bed liners for trucks. We have then on a tilt where the water drains out. We put cotton seed once a week and if it rains it dries out pretty fast. We usually have zero waste.

[Aggieivy06]

For us, the main reason for keeping cottonseed "off the ground" is to prevent deer from defecating and urinating on the feed. It's not that big a deal with corn feeders because there is very little corn thrown out and quickly eaten (by comparison to a free-choice protein or cottonseed feeder). An added benefit of keeping cottonseed in a feeder is that it doesn't get scattered around and wasted. There are many cheap ways to make a cottonseed feeder. We use basket feeders--made from 60" tall mesh fence wire, held together buy hog rings to make a cylinder-shaped feeder. If you buy a 125-foot roll of wire and cut it into 75-inch pieces, you can get 20 feeders with a diameter of about 22 h(after overlapping a couple of inches to crimp your hog ring. You can also use tie wire if you don't have hog rings or crimps.