Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
LIVESTOCK FEEDER FOR CYLINDRICAL BAIES
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BAC KGROUND _OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a livestock feeder
for use in dispensing cylindrical bales to a group of
animals and particularly cattle.
As cattlemen well know, merely depositing a
large bale in a pen containing group of cattle leads to
significant amounts of waste which can amount to 50% of
the bale. This is because the animals tend to pick the
best parts from thP bale and to break up the bale while
so doing following which other parts of the bale become
trampled and soiled and are no longer eaten.
This problem has to some extent been reduced by
the manufacture of feeders which basically comprise a
cylindrical frame within which the bale is placed, the
frame including a number of bars which prevent the animal
from entering the frame while allowing the animal to
place its head thxough the bars to grasp the feed mater-
ial for eating. However, there remain significant losses
with a device of this type. The present inventor has
observed carefully the use of such apparatus and has
found that the reason for such losses is that the animal
tends to place its head into the frame arrangement to
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gxasp the best portion of the material and then tends to
remove its head from the frame to eat the material and in
some cases drops poorer material onto the ground around
its feet which again becomes trampled.
It is one object of the present invention,
therefore, to provide an improved livestock feeder of
this general type which yet further reduces waste.
According to a first aspect of the invention,
therefore, there is provided a feeder for receiving a
large cylindrical bale for distributing the bale to a
group of animals comprising a circular inner rail member
arranged and dimensioned to surround the bale and to act
as a confining member therefor, an outer frame arrange
ment surrounding the rail member including a plurality of
spaced bars arranged and dimensioned such that the bars
prevent the body of the animal from passing through the
frame to the inner rail while allowing the head and neck
to pass therethrough, and means interconnecting the frame
and the inner rail member arranged to support the rail
member in spaced position from the ground and to maintain
the spacing between the frame and the rail member such
that the head of the animal can be received therebetween
and such that the animal can reach the bale inside the
rail member.
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According to a second aspect of the invention,
there is provided a feeder for receiving a large cylin-
drical bale for distribution to a group of animals
comprising a cylindrical inner frame structure arranged
and dimensioned ~o ~urround the bale and to act as a
confining member therefor and compris ng an upper circu-
lar rail, a lower circular rail for resting on the ground
and a plurality of struts interconnecting the upper and
lower rails, an outer frame structure surrounding the
inner frame structure including an upper rail member, a
lower rail member and a plurality of spaced bars arranged
and dimensioned such that the bars prevent the body of
the animal from passing through the frame to the inner
rail while allowing the head and neck to pass there-
through, and means interconnecting the outer frame struc-
ture and the inner frame structure arranged to form an
integral, movable structure having an open base defined
by said lower rail and said lower rail member for resting
on the ground and arranged to maintain the spacing be-
tween the inner frame structure and the outer frame
structure such that the head of the animal can be receiv-
ed therebetween and such that the animal can reach the
bale inside the inner frame structure with i.ts body out-
sid~ the outer frame structure~
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The invention therefore has the advantage that
the animal is kept out of the area immediately surround-
ing the bale by the outer frame structure. In addition
and more importantly the animal tends to eat with its
head inserted between the bars of the outer frame struc-
ture so that when it grasps a portion of the bale, it
tends to retain its head within the outer frame structure
in the space between the outer frame structure and the
inner rail so that any material dropped from the eating
process collects between the outer frame structure and
the inner rail and remains untrampled and unsoiled.
Preferably the inner frame structure includes
the inner rail which engages the ground so that this
assists in confining the bale and if the apparatus is
moved by pushing by the animals, the ground rail tends to
move any material inside the inner frame along with the
whole structure. This prevents the material from working
its way out under the edges of the outer frame for
trampling and waste.
A further preferred feature provides a skirt
around the lower edge of the outer frame structure defin-
ed between a bottom rail and an intermediate rail and
formed of a sheet material so as yet further to confine
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the feed material between the outer frame structure and
the innex frame.
With the foregoing in view, and other advan-
tages as will become apparent to those skilled in the art
to which this invention relates as this specification
proceeds, the invention is herein described by reference
to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, which
includes a description of the best mode known to the
applicant and of the preferred typical embodiment of the
principles of the present invention, in which:
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
. _ . _ _ _
Figure 1 is an isometric view of a livestock
feeding device according to the invention.
Figure 2 is a cross sectional view of the
device of Figure 1 including a bale and an animal eating
from the bale.
Figure 3 is a top plan view of the device of
Figure 1 including the bale and the animal.
In the drawings like characters of reference
indicate corresponding parts in the different figures.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The device as shown in the drawings includes an
inner frame 10 and an outer frame 11. The inner frame 10
comprises an upper rail 12, a lower rail 13 and a plural-
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ity of upright~ 14. The upper and lower rails 12, 13 are
circular and of the same diameter so that the uprights 14
lie in the surface of a cylinder defined by the upper and
lower rails. The dimension of this cylinder is just
greater than that of the intended bale indicated in
Figure 2 a~ 1~. In practice the diameter may be of the
order o 6 inches to 1 foot greater than that of the bale
and thus of the order of 7 feet in one example. The
lower rail 13 is arranged directly at the bottom of the
frame so that it rests upon the ground. There are 6
uprights 14 spaced equi-angularly around the rails 12 and
13 so as to form the substantially rigid cylindrical
arrangement for qurrounding the bale 15 and retaining it
in position.
The outer frame 11 comprises an upper rail 16,
an intermediate rail 17 and a lowermost rail 18. Each of
the rails is circular and of a diameter greater than the
inner frame so as to form an outer frame surrounding the
inner frame and spaced therefrom. A lowermost rail 18 is
arranged in the same plane as the rail 13 so as to rest
on the ground in a normal position of the device. The
intermediate rail 17 is spaced upwardly therefrom at a
distance of the order of 18 inches and is interconnected
thereto by a number of uprights 19 which may again be 6
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in number and positioned at the same angular location as
the uprights 14. Covering both of the rails 17 and 18
and the uprights 19 is a strip 20 of sheet metal thus
closing the lowermost area oE the outer frame.
Between the intermediate rail 17 and the upper
rail 16 is positioned a plurality of bars 21. The spac-
ing between each bar and the next adjacent bar is arrang-
ed such that the head and neck of the animal can pass
between the bars but the shoulders of the animal and
therefore the body are prevented from passing there-
through.
It will be appreciated that the device is
designed for use with a particular size of animal and
particulaxly either a mature cow or a young animal and in
such cases the sizing of the bars can be different to
accommodate the different size of animal. In addition
the bars are inclined relative to a vertical line lying
in the cylinder defined by the rails so that the bar on
the righthand side of the animal tends to extend across
the top of its necX and the bar on the lefthand side
tends to extend across beneath its neck thus increasing
the tendency of the ~nimal to keep its head and neck
between the bars. In other words the animal tends to
feel that its head is confined within the area inwardly
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of the bars even though it can readily remove its h~ad
simply by moving slightly sideways to the right height of
the bars or by twisting its head to the required
orientation.
The outer frame is interconnected to the inner
frame by a plurality of cross members 22 which inter-
connect the lower rail 18 of the outer frame to the lower
rail 13 of the inner frame. Again the cross members 22
can be positioned at angularly aligned locations relative
to the uprights 14 and 19 and therefore in the example
shown there are 6 such cross members. In addition there
are 6 upper cross members 23 which extend between the
upper rail 12 of the inner frame and the bars 22 of the
outer frame. The angular position of the upper cross
members can again be aligned with the lower cross members
and the positioning of the bars 22 arranged accordingly.
It will be noted that the height of the upper
rail 12 of the inner frame is significantly lower than
the height of the upper rail 16 of the outer frame. The
height of the latter is arranged such that it is just
above the shoulder line of the animal so that the head
and neck can again pass readily beneath the rail 16. The
height of the rail 12 of the inner frame is arranged to
be approximately midway along the height of the bale.
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The length of the cross members 22 is of course
constant around the frames thus centralizing the inner
frame within the outer fxame. In addition the length is
of the order of 1~ inches to 2 feet which is ju t suffic-
ient for the animal to reach across the space to the feed
material of the bale 15.
The underside or base of the device is open
apart from the rails and cross members so that it is
relatively light and can be moved either by the animals
or by simple lifting by a front end loader.
In operation a bale is positioned inside the
inner frame either by lowering the bale from above into
the cylindrical area defined by the inner frame or alter-
natively by lifting the frame over a positioned bale on
the ground. The animals are then released to gain access
to the device in which case they will sort themselves
around the device at suitable positions between the dif-
ferent bars 22 with the number of animals being chosen
in dependence upon the number of stations available for
eating.
When the animals gain access to the device,
they can place their head between the bars 22 as prev-
iously explained to reach a position where their should-
ers engage the bars and prevent further movement into the
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outer frame. At that position the head can freely be
received within the area between the inner and outer
frames and yet the mouth of the animal can reach beyond
the inner frame to the bale. The animal thus tends to
grasp material from the bale and to commence eating of
that material with any waste dropping from the mouth of
animal falling into the area between the inner and outer
frames that is out of the area which the front feet of
the animal can reach. The animals can thus clean up
around the bale by eating the material deposited into
that area after they have eaten all the choice pieces in
the bale and are resigned to eating the remainder in
order to obtain enough Eeed. ~hey can access material
finally remaining in the central area inside the inner
frame by pushing the device across the ground until they
can reach the material from their position at the outer
frame.
The amount of waste therefore is significantly
reduced since the waste is collected within the outer
frame, as much as is possible, with the animal being
encouraged by the construction of the frame to eat with
its head remaining between the inner and outer frame.
Sin~e various modifications can be made in my
invention as hereinabove described, and many apparently
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widely different embodiments of same made within the
spirit and scope of the claims wi thout departing from
such spirit and scope, it is intended that all matter
contained in the accompanying specification shall be
interpreted as illustrative only and not in a limiting
sense.
