South barn feeder

I built a wooden hay feeder on the south side of the barn.  This will come in handy when I wean the calves and when I segregate the bull here next Spring.  The last couple of Winters I used a large metal water trough in which to place the hay when weaning calves.  It works... but is not ideal.  For example water from rain or snow collected on the bottom getting the hay wet, and once the calves tipped it over.  Who knows what the bull could do to a metal feeder.

In placing the feeder I had the problem of the windows.  I didn't want to block the windows with the posts and the space between the windows made too short of a feeder.  Posts on the outside of each window made too long of a feeder.  So I put the feeder off to one side instead of in the center of the wall.

The feeder is 8 ft long and 32 inches wide.

The only thing I paid for were the posts.  Everything else was salvaged wood, metal and nails.

Because the cattle are hard on things I needed to make the feeder solid.  I also wanted a roof over the feeder.  So I used a railroad tie and a 9" by 9" post.   Because the roof needed to have a slight slant and the lower end be a little over 6 ft tall so I don't hit it with my head the tie and post needed to be 8 1/2 and 9 ft tall before being placed into the ground.

I used a broken (shorter) railroad tie as the mid post.  The mid post served four purposes:

1. provided extra support for the cattle leaning against the 8 ft side,
2. allow me to use some of my many boards less than 8 ft long,
3. divide the feeder so the big cattle can't just slide along the side pushing the other cattle out of the way,
4. provide a scratching post just high enough so the cattle can rub their heads and under their necks against it.

The floor structure is notched into the posts for more floor strength.

I built a floor for two reasons:

1. keep the hay off the ground, and
2. provide more support for the outside posts.

I decided to put a sheet of plywood on the back and not take off the barn wood sticking out.  The wood sticking out covers the gaps in the pieces of wood behind them.  The old wood was not cut straight like it is these days.

For the roof I cut a thin line in the protruding boards.  I wanted to have the metal roof go against the barn wall.

The end result.  I made the "box" 27 inches tall as that is the height of the metal feeders I have bought.  I added boards partway up so the cattle can't climb into the feeder.

Daisy kept me company most late afternoons and evenings when I worked on the project.  By the end she didn't flinch when I used the power saw to cut wood.