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 No Tune in a Bucket
Posts: 2935
       Location: Texas | Has anyone ever seen or used anything like this ? |
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
      Location: Arkansas | That would be great if everyone ate at the same rate!! We have 1 guy that would run 3 others off their feed; my big "boss" gelding would be the only 1 that wouldn't move . A butt bar would fix that maybe. . . |
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 No Tune in a Bucket
Posts: 2935
       Location: Texas | I had never seen anything like that but the owner of a local feed store said his son had been hired to feed for a neighbor and this was the setup that he had. AND it worked. I have a 3yr old that is thinner than I would like but he lets everyone else in the pasture run him away from his feed. There is a pony in his pasture than doesn't get a lot of feed but he finishes his then helps the colt with his. There isn't an easy way to separate him at feeding time and I thought this was interesting if it would work. |
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
      Location: Arkansas | Our barn flooded in '18, and we desperately needed something like this to be able to feed at the front of the pasture. We talked about it but just ended up taking the 2 big boys out and holding them while they ate (they get the most feed on top of being slowest eaters) and then spread the other 3 out and stood guard! It worked but was a pain the whole time--next time (and I'm SURE there will be a next time) we will try a variation of this. |
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 No Tune in a Bucket
Posts: 2935
       Location: Texas | Yes, I guess I could catch everyone to separate them while eating but it would be such a pain. The agressive eaters always create problems. The young horse must of been somebody's baby and never learned to fend for himself. My son is reworking our pens so I am hoping to be able to separate them soon. |
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 The Vaccinator
Posts: 3810
      Location: Slipping down the slope of old age. Boo hoo. | When I was a little kid (under 12!), we had one of these type of feeding setups in our pasture. All our horses were in the same pasture and I was responsible for feeding -- yikes! This system, however, kept me safe. When we first began using it there was some shuffling and 'carrying on', but after a few days, they settled in and would peacefully enter a slot. The slow eaters did not have much of an issue since their butt was outward -- they just kicked the he** out of anyone trying to bother them. Everyone learned quickly. As I recall, we had 8 to 10 head and the feeder would accommodate 12. IMO, it's not ideal to run everything together, but back then (in the time of dinosaurs), we did lots of that and never thought much of it. Of course, these days, I would NEVER run a bunch a horses together! LOL! My two have their own private pasture, run and stall. With all that said, I've seen similar setups these days for weanlings and yearlings that seems to work well on breeders' properties. Once they get past yearling, I'm not so sure I'd try it. Just MO. |
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
      Location: Arkansas | Delta Cowgirl - 2020-04-16 10:06 AM
When I was a little kid (under 12!), we had one of these type of feeding setups in our pasture. All our horses were in the same pasture and I was responsible for feeding -- yikes! This system, however, kept me safe. When we first began using it there was some shuffling and 'carrying on', but after a few days, they settled in and would peacefully enter a slot. The slow eaters did not have much of an issue since their butt was outward -- they just kicked the he** out of anyone trying to bother them. Everyone learned quickly. As I recall, we had 8 to 10 head and the feeder would accommodate 12. IMO, it's not ideal to run everything together, but back then (in the time of dinosaurs), we did lots of that and never thought much of it. Of course, these days, I would NEVER run a bunch a horses together! LOL! My two have their own private pasture, run and stall.
With all that said, I've seen similar setups these days for weanlings and yearlings that seems to work well on breeders' properties. Once they get past yearling, I'm not so sure I'd try it. Just MO.
We have 5, and they get along but at feeding time Lynn (Sean's youngest gelding) will take more than his share from everyone except my big boy. I think this could work for us. . . Even our most timid I think would protect his backside!!! |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 599
   
| I feed in panel stalls and have to close their gates because my gelding inhales his food and then will push the mares off to eat theirs. So he gets locked up. The others I can leave their gates open and they're fine. |
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