I put the large hay bales in the rounder feeder and somehow the cattle pull some of the hay down and spread it around the base of the feeder and then step on it.
Also four or five cows have figured out how to step up into the feeder. They stand with their front legs in the hay and their back legs out of the feeder. Again this doesn't help the hay when the cows have muddy or manure covered feet.
Today I drilled holes near the top of the feeder and strung a wire through the holes and around the feeder. I left one space open to allow me to easily step in and out of the feeder. The wire should stop the cattle from stepping into the feeder and hopefully the wire prevents the cattle from pulling hay down to the ground. I'll see.
The feeder has twelve loops. Each loop has two parts of the loop to drill through. Each part is hollow so I had two sides of metal to drill through. Let's just say I was very happy once I had all the holes drilled.
I strung multiple electric cords from the barn across the corral and out to the feeder so I could use my electric drill. The calves were all interested in the orange electric cord. Once I had to go back as a cow snagged the cord in her leg and when she stepped she unplugged it from the outlet.
After I was done with the feeder I had to fix the corral panels. As you can see below the cattle unhooked a few of them and pushed them out. Initially I was going to fix only the north side but I ended up redoing all the corral panels making the area the cattle can be outside the corral a little smaller. I'm not ready to let the cattle out on grass quite yet.
Once everything was fixed I let the cattle out of the corral and to the latest large hay bale. The calves also had been cooped up in the corral all afternoon and they were ready to run. Zoom! Zoom! Large groups of calves were running here and there all over the place. They were racing one another and following the leader.
The pregnant heifer is still pregnant.
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