And whenever I had difficulty, or thought it would be useful (always before nailing in a staple), I drilled a part-way through hole. I used double-barbed staples when I needed staples. (You’ll need two different bits for these two different screw sizes, which is a bit of a pain, but worth it in the long run, IMHO.) In some places, (like to secure the plywood grain-feeder base to the bottom of the feeder from underneath) I used 1 1/2″ stainless steel roofing nails with a nice big, flat head. I used GRK screws (expensive, but they work really well, the 9×2 1/2 inches, and the 8x 1 1/2 inches.So when I made the 4-foot feeders, I eliminated the double horizontal barrier at the top, and cut the legs down to 42″. However, I have far fewer sheep now, and I have only one goat. I had eight 24×48″ feeder insert panels, and I followed the instructions on pages 2-4, “Premiere Double-Sided Feeder for Large Sheep and Rams,” ending up with two separate 8′ feeders. (Photos of this on page 2 of the Premiere instructions, the directions for making the feeders for “large sheep and rams.”) This was how I made my first, 8′, feeders. If you have the 24×48 panels, you can either lower the legs to a 42″ length, or you can keep them at 48″ and use the double horizontal struts backed with plywood to prevent the creatures from getting into the feeders. If you have or use the 30×48 panel, you’ll need to make your feeder legs 48″ long. There are two sizes of Premiere panel.(I had old panels and I used them.) If you don’t have those, or don’t want to use them, you can use 2x4x35″ horizontals as the end braces and put a couple of vertical 2x4s on them to hold the hay in, or if you don’t need the sheep to be able to feed from the ends, you can use a solid piece of plywood to finish the feeder ends. IMHO, you can get away with cutting hog or goat panels for the end pieces. You might save a bit of money doing so, but they won’t be as sturdy (the Premier panels seem to be indestructible), and you’ll very likely end up with pointy bits of sharp and nasty panel that will stab you or the animals, or which you have to figure out how to secure. I do recommend using Premiere panels for the feeder inserts (no, they’re not paying me to say that), rather than trying to cut your own from hog or goat panels.Herewith, my adaptations and supplemental notes for the Premiere instructions, if you’d like to make the 4′ long feeder: They are not exactly light and agile, but I can move them around myself, and, most importantly, when I need to get them out of the barn, I can tip them onto the front loader of the tractor, put a strap around them, and take them wherever I like. They are full-size feeders, for my full-size sheep, just half the length of the original. Most of the lumber was too old and degraded to re-use, but I removed all the panels, and the hog-wire ends I put on the originals, bought new lumber (sadly, far more expensive than Premiere’s instructions ( which are available here) would indicate, but still a bargain overall), jiggered the instructions to suit myself, and went to town! I dismantled both feeders, and I’ve rebuilt the two eight-foot long feeders as four four-foot long feeders. So, I am ashamed to say, the lovely feeders spent two years on their sides on the ground, outside the barn, while I figured out what to do.Īnd this year, I did!! (Figure out what to do, I mean.) And the time came when I really couldn’t.) (I know that in the best of all possible worlds, I’d have a barn the size of the local WalMart, and I could install stationary feeders I wouldn’t need to move. Not so much with them, as with me.Īnd it became increasingly difficult for me to move the feeders on my own, or even to drag them out of the way with the tractor and a chain, when it came time for me to clean out and shovel out the barn. They won the hay-feeder lottery! Not only did they do double-duty as grain feeders, they were sturdy, would not tip over, and, as I had goats at the time, they were high enough that the goats couldn’t get inside them, pull all the hay out, and generally make a mess (as goats have a tendency to do). Several years ago, during my quest for the perfect hay feeder for my sheep and goats, I built two 8′ long, 4′ high, and 35″ wide hay and grain feeders using Premier’s wire panel feeder inserts.
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