Hay feeder for the corral

If you remember to back when I bought my current bull, I also bought a used - and slightly damaged - metal feeder.  The feeder was missing two of the uprights that prevent the cattle from climbing into the hay.  I still have pieces of an old broken feeder, and while they are of different styles, I was able to use two of the uprights on my newer feeder.

I screwed the pieces together then I had Curtis do some welds to strengthen their connection.  When I got the feeder back yesterday I also added bolts as the bottom to further strengthen the connection.

Today I brought a large hay bale into the corral for the three heifers and cow and the put the three feeder sections together around the bale.

To distract the heifers and cow I gave them a large bucket of apples in the wooden feeder next to the barn.    They were all over to the hay bale before I got all of the twine off the bale.  They dodged around the bale eating as I finished the work.

With the large bale I no longer have to put hay from the small bales out for the heifers and cow twice a day.  The cattle have already eaten up all the loose hay from this past Summer.  And with the above freezing temperatures the past few days and partial snow melt it got really muddy mucky next to the wooden feeder.

One section with a missing piece.

Replacement piece

Section with replacement piece screwed on.

After final weld and bolting.

After final weld and bolting.

All put together.

The cow likes to burrow her head into the bale to eat.

Tonight Kelly shot the buck he wounded last weekend.  This was the first time Kelly seen the buck come out of the trees since he first shot him.   The buck had a slight limp as the earlier wound was through the leg.  This time Kelly shot the buck through the heart.  When cleaning out the organs Kelly found the heart in two pieces.  Even though my help this time was only to help lift the buck into his pickup (Kelly's wife was with him during the hunt and helped clean out the buck), I still got a little blood on me.  It never fails.   I washed the blood off the coat but left the little bit of blood on my patched pants.  It just adds more 'flavor and style' to my pants.