It is difficult to keep animals in the first place because it is necessary to properly equip the premises for their finding, as well as to build everything necessary for feeding and drinking. Sheep require maximum attention and care from the owner. For their full nutrition, it is necessary to install special feeders, drinking bowls and nurseries for hay or straw in pens or shepherds.
How to make a sheep feeder for grain and silo yourself: size calculation depending on the number of sheep
Feeding animals is carried out constantly. Less commonly, feeding is done when animals are in the pasture. If the sheep are on a stall, you must constantly monitor their diet.
You need to make the right convenient feeding trough, depending on the type of complementary foods offered. Many are confident that hay is enough for the sheep, which can be thrown under their feet.
This is far from the case, because sheep need the following foods:
- hay;
- straw;
- concentrates;
- stern;
- roots;
- corn;
- juicy feed (vegetables), etc.
The amount of each feeding, depending on the age of the sheep, is distributed individually. Usually sheep farmers do not waste their time and buy ready-made drinking bowls, nurseries and feeders for keeping their livestock. It will be cheaper and more profitable to make such designs with your own hands. To do this is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance.
Important! The optimal size of the opening of the feeder for one sheep is 35–40 cm
A creche or a feeder should be created according to special drawings and calculations, which will not only allow sheep to eat comfortably in the future, but also reduce feed loss to a minimum.
This is very important, because the sheep breeder will not incur financial losses due to excess spending on the purchase of feed. To make the animal comfortable to eat hay or silage, it is necessary to take into account the correct size of the feeder per one individual.
If the sheep are intended for silage or crops, then the use of ordinary feeders will be wrong. Particles of such food are small, which means that the capacity for them should be appropriate.
An ideal option would be a small trough or rectangular box, firmly mounted on a small support. The structure should be placed exactly so that the animals could not overturn it and thus sprinkle food on the ground.
Toolkit, material selection: metal, wood
It is possible to build feeders used for keeping sheep from different materials:
- wood (bars and planks);
- metal (sections);
- playpen.
Important! The choice of material and design itself depends on where, what and how the feeding will take place.
In accordance with the choice of material, the necessary tools for work will also differ. In any case, tools for fastening are used - nails, staples, a hammer for hammering them.
If you have to work with wood, be sure to grab a file for cutting, an ax or other equipment. It is quite enough improvised conventional tools that are available for every man at home.
Metal feeder: material calculation
So that the grain does not spill out of the feeder, it is necessary to make it in the form of a small rectangular structure. To do this, with the help of special tools, a container of metal with sloping edges is prepared. This is necessary so that the animal eats away the food without any problems.
For an adult, a space of 40 cm is required. Apertures of this size can be separated by small tin rods. The total size of the structure will correspond to the number of livestock in the pen.
The advantage of such a feeder is its weight. Sheep will not be able to overturn her. Also, metal is more durable than wood, especially if the structure is in the open air and is constantly subject to weather conditions. Metal feeders are considered the most durable and hardy with a maximum life of several decades.
Wooden feeder: material calculation
Wooden feeders are not as durable as metal. However, they are no less practical to use. To make a feeder from a tree, you need to take a large board and bars, which will be placed on the sides, visually resembling a trough.
Did you know? Sheep are very stressed if they live alone. Herd life is natural for them.
The sides should be inclined. The calculation of the length of the entire structure is calculated in accordance with the standards for one head, similarly as for metal structures. If the size of one lamb is smaller, then the animal will not be able to eat comfortably, in cramped conditions, constantly encountering others.
Video: wooden sheep feeder
Nursery for sheep under hay and straw
For larger feeds in the form of hay or straw, special nurseries are used. Such designs are also made of wood or metal. Visually, they resemble feeders for wild deer, elk, which are left in the forest by the rangers. The size of such structures is determined by the number of livestock.
Sizing, material selection, tools
Material for a nursery is also selected individually, depending on the number of livestock and the conditions of detention. In order for such a design to be as comfortable as possible in operation, it is necessary to adhere to certain standards that will allow animals to feed without problems and not feel cramped.
If all the necessary tools and material are available, the construction of the structure will not take more than an hour of work.
Wooden nurseries for plain / roll hay and straw: material calculation
To build a manger for hay, you can use a combination of wood and material. For the feeder you will need wooden bars with a cross section of about 40 mm. The gutter can be assembled from galvanized steel. Fastening is done using self-tapping screws and nails.
Important! After carrying out all the work, it is worth paying attention to the presence of burrs on the structure. If any, they need to be ironed out.
Five steps are required for the construction of the structure:
- First you need to make 4 racks using wooden bars.
- A pre-made metal gutter with a semicircular section is installed on the resulting structure. The size of the gutter should be 15 * 12 cm (width * depth). At 10 cm above ground level, it is necessary to place the structure.
- Two rectangular grills running along the feeder must be made of boards. A pitch of 10 cm is provided for the slats.
- A sennik in the form of the letter “V” is placed over the trench on the vertical bars.
- With the help of the board, the grids are strengthened among themselves.
It is possible to simplify the work process even more if you construct a sennik from wooden planks. For this design, only two terms are needed - 7 pieces of wooden bars (section 60 * 60 mm) and 6 pieces of smaller blocks (section diameter 40 * 40 mm).
To make a sennik from such materials, you must:
- In pairs, in the form of a cross, knock down bars with a diameter of 60 mm.
- In parallel, at a distance of 130 cm, the resulting crosses are installed in the form of the letter “X”.
- Using the same bar (60 mm), the midpoints of the obtained crosses and the upper free ends are connected together.
- Inclined frames are formed between the crosses, onto which bars with a cross-section diameter of 40 mm are filled with a distance of 25-30 cm.
This design is very convenient to use, since the sheep can go up to the sennik at any time and get hay.
Nursery metal for simple / roll hay and straw: material calculation
The installation of metal nurseries is also simple. For its manufacture, it is enough to disassemble the old tin fence. By welding, two sections of the fence are welded together at the base in the form of the letter "V".
The structure can be strengthened as much as possible with the help of crossbars at the ends. Reliability and service life of such creches are very long. In addition, in such cases, you can fit much more hay, for example, a roll.
From the arena
Comfortable and practical will also be a nursery for lambs from an ordinary arena. The old design can be used very efficiently. To do this, it is necessary to install the playpen on the ground if the surface is dry, or create a packed stand with a height of 50 cm.The distance between the rods should be optimal so that the animal can get as much hay as it needs.
Important! If the distance between the vertical rods is small, it must be increased by knocking out excess partitions.
How to equip a sheep drinker
In addition to feeders and nurseries, it is also worth providing for drinking bowls for sheep. You can also make them yourself with the help of improvised means. Water for sheep plays a very important role, because in its absence, animals will feel bad and get sick.
For adult sheep
Depending on the number of sheep, it is necessary to select the optimal suitable container for filling with water. In this case, everything that you can pour liquid is suitable. The most unpretentious are considered adults. Alternatively, a truck tire cut along a jigsaw is suitable for them.
Such a drinker holds enough water to drink at the same time a small flock. The option of a drinker from the tire is only suitable if the number of individuals is small (up to 10 pcs.).
For young
Another good option for drinking is sawed along the pipe of large diameter. At the end of such a structure, you only have to solder the metal insert to hold the water inside (like a trough).
This option is more suitable for young animals, because the animal at this age is active and often needs water. The sheep farmer can determine the size of the pipe based on the number of goals.
Did you know? Among the peoples of Ancient Asia, ram horns were a magical symbol. In ancient Egyptian iconography, the main gods were depicted with a ram's head.
For lambs
Lambs are considered the most whimsical in everything. They need a special approach. In this case, bottles with screwed nipples are ideal. Similar parts are sold in almost every pet store.
This method is very practical, since it resembles mom's feeding. At the same time, in this way you can drink more than one lamb. To do this, bottles of water or milk are placed in small nurseries parallel to each other.
Do-it-yourself drinking bowls, feeders and nurseries for sheep will be much cheaper and more practical than buying factory versions. Such options are built quite quickly and at the same time practical for decades.
