I'm convinced that nobody makes a bale feeder that'll last more than a month. I've been rolling and feeding round bales since 1979 and for the money I've spent on feeders in that time,I think I could have bought another 80 acres of ground.
Green River Gate used to make some mid priced feeders that would at least last an entire winter,but they went from a sheet metal band around the bottom,to putting four tubes there with a piece of strap iron tack welded to them every few feet to hold the tubes apart. The cows get up and stand their front feet on them,bend the strap iron or break the welds,then the welds at the end of the tubes break and before you know it you have a feeder that's two feet tall.
Forget the Tarters. It's like the tubes are pot metal and the slant bars are put on with chewing gum. It doesn't matter how much I spend of one of them,top dollar or cheapest ones they have,the best life expectancy for one is about three weeks. I knew better,but I bought two of them late last month. Middle of last week,the tubes were kinked on one panel on each of them. Next day,they were broken clean through. I brought both feeders up to the shop Friday,lapped them over to the next slant bar,laid a piece of rod down in the valley to have something to weld to and welded them back together. I just went and took some bales out. One of them has BOTH of the other panels kinked and cracked now. They'll be junk in an hour.
I've bought the super heavy Sioux feeders. The weld breaks where the slant bars weld to the tubes,they lift the tubes and break the welds at the end,then those are done for.
There are some on CL here locally that somebody's making out of oil field pipe,but those don't have a neck rail. I know what'll happen with those. They'll pull hay out,get a manure pack around them and start walking in to them and I'll ruin them trying to dig them out of the manure.
I went one winter not even using any. I had a heck of a big manure pack in the spring from them walking on it,laying on it and making a mess they wouldn't eat. Add to that,the ones that laid on the edge,rolled over with their feet in the air and died. This whole thing gets maddening.
Green River Gate used to make some mid priced feeders that would at least last an entire winter,but they went from a sheet metal band around the bottom,to putting four tubes there with a piece of strap iron tack welded to them every few feet to hold the tubes apart. The cows get up and stand their front feet on them,bend the strap iron or break the welds,then the welds at the end of the tubes break and before you know it you have a feeder that's two feet tall.
Forget the Tarters. It's like the tubes are pot metal and the slant bars are put on with chewing gum. It doesn't matter how much I spend of one of them,top dollar or cheapest ones they have,the best life expectancy for one is about three weeks. I knew better,but I bought two of them late last month. Middle of last week,the tubes were kinked on one panel on each of them. Next day,they were broken clean through. I brought both feeders up to the shop Friday,lapped them over to the next slant bar,laid a piece of rod down in the valley to have something to weld to and welded them back together. I just went and took some bales out. One of them has BOTH of the other panels kinked and cracked now. They'll be junk in an hour.
I've bought the super heavy Sioux feeders. The weld breaks where the slant bars weld to the tubes,they lift the tubes and break the welds at the end,then those are done for.
There are some on CL here locally that somebody's making out of oil field pipe,but those don't have a neck rail. I know what'll happen with those. They'll pull hay out,get a manure pack around them and start walking in to them and I'll ruin them trying to dig them out of the manure.
I went one winter not even using any. I had a heck of a big manure pack in the spring from them walking on it,laying on it and making a mess they wouldn't eat. Add to that,the ones that laid on the edge,rolled over with their feet in the air and died. This whole thing gets maddening.