Alfalfa Hay Bale Feeder

[careybirdwell]

I finished up my Alfalfa Hay Bale feeder. I had the legs, mounting brackets, and cattle panel, so I all had to buy was the barrel & hardware. I think it came out pretty good. I was going to do it with rebar but I saw one made with cattle panel.

My only question is, my height is about 43" to the bottom of the feeder. Will that be low enough for most deer to feed comfortably? I have read anywhere between 36" - 44"

[Corn Sack]

Your height is good. Only thing I can recommend is when filling it to not just drop the bale in. You'll want to break the bale apart and and drop it in a little at a time. If you just drop in the whole bale its own weight will keep the deer from being able to pull any out to eat.

[careybirdwell]

Yes, I was planning on pulling the bale apart to make it easier to pull out

[Backwoods101]

Looks good

[TTU TX Hunter]

Looks great! We made some this year and ours sit right at 36" to the bottom. Our deer aren't hammering it but they are eating it.

[timberking]

What does a bale cost? I saw a small chunk in Tractor Supply and it was $16 and weighed maybe 20 lbs.

[wilcox1088]

Be careful buying it if it's compressed in a vacuum seal looking bag. Most of the alfalfa like that is shredded pretty fine and it will pour out of the feeder. I made that mistake before.
The feeder I had was two barrels together but it was just too dangerous to climb that high whith a bale of hay. My deer and axis were eating about two bales a week so I built a bigger feeder that holds right at six bales that I can fill from the ground. I'll try and find a picture of it

[wilcox1088]

[locknload]

nice feeder

[bboswell]

Your height is good. Only thing I can recommend is when filling it to not just drop the bale in. You'll want to break the bale apart and and drop it in a little at a time. If you just drop in the whole bale its own weight will keep the deer from being able to pull any out to eat.

Hmmm

Maybe this is why my deer don't eat alfalfa.

[bfree]

Nice work

[Bearcat]

Brilliant

[careybirdwell]

Dude, you are slinging some corn!!!!

[wilcox1088]

Lol. I had left about an hour after the pic. I was filling feeders and was leaving that day and had a bag of corn left over

[Stick-Launcher]

Casey - Have you set up your hay feeder yet? I just put mine out this weekend in E. TX and was wondering what kind of results you were having... Let me know!