Metal feeder break

The cattle broke the heavy duty metal feeder.  I guess I shouldn't be so surprised after hearing the feeder groan numerous times when the cattle pressed against it when eating.

Here you can see where both the top and bottom rings were broken.  Another section had just the bottom ring broken.

This was more than just drill and bolt a piece of metal to patch the breaks.  Wyatt, my neighbor, is an excellent welder and he fixed the feeder for me.  First I had to take the feeder apart to get it over to his house.

Here is the section with only the bottom break after it was fixed and reinforced. A few other support areas had cracks and Wyatt welded them too.

I had to get a new bale for the feeder, then bolt and reattach the three sections around the bale. You can see where the ice remained from where the previous bales sat in the feeder.  The rest of the corral is starting to dry up.  One doesn't need to use the pickup's four wheel drive to cross the corral now.