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I have to admit Farmer Steve is a fairly talented builder and woodworker. But I come up with some pretty neat ideas too. Together we can make wonderful things happen. When we first brought our alpacas home we needed to solve some basic problems. How/Where do we put the hay? At first we used two old clawfoot tubs. Unfortunately this design did not allow for a way to keep the elements off the hay. Also, alpacas seem to love to rub their heads in their hay, often resulting in hay being spread all around the feeder and not in the feeder. Not to mention their topknots being completely inundated with timothy seeds and knotted up with sticks of hay. So we had to come up with another plan.
We had seen and considered purchasing commercially built hay feeders, but being yankees, we could not see spending the money on something when we knew we could come up with a fairly decent replica. Steve is a bit of a packrat. I get on him sometimes about it, but so far, most of the items he collects and brings home have come in quite handy.
As usual we had a surplus of discarded lumber. Within a few hours a couple of 2X4's and some plywood became the frame for this hay feeder. When desigining it we wanted to be sure the alpacas couldn't get their heads over the top of the feeder, but we also had to be sure that I, at only 5'4" tall could get flakes of hay or an entire bale into the top. Another design element was the roof height, it needed to be high enough to allow the alpacas to get under it, but not so high that it neglected to prevent weather from getting to the hay. Lastly, what would we use to line the hay bin so the alpacas could get their muzzles in to grab the hay and pull it out to eat it.
We had seen a few ideas, some folks use wire mesh, 4"X4" squares that would be stapled or nailed along the inside. That is a great idea. But I did not want to buy the wire mesh panels. We had just finished wiring our garage and had about 20 feet of metal conduit left over. This stuff is really quite cheap and easy to handle. I cut the conduit to length using pipe cutters, then we used a hammer to flatten one edge, that we then attached to a 2X4 bar along the top. Along the bottom we drilled holes into another 2X4 through which we threaded each conduit pipe. These pieces of pipe are set about 3-inches apart and run along each side of the hay feeder.
The base of the hay feeder has a tray made of plywood with a 2X4 apron to catch any hay that is pulled out while they are feeding. The whole structure is about 6 feet in height and 36 inches in length. It has worked very well for us and we plan on making a few more when the new barn is complete. I believe the whole thing, because we used mostly scrap lumber cost us around $15.00.
We used this same method for hanging wall feeders. We again used conduit pipe and the same basic structure of the hay feeder, simply mounted to a wall. These feeders have a flat back then an angled bin, big enough for a single flake of hay, lined with the conduit pipe. Conduit is easily shaped and is a fairly inexpensive durable material.
If you would like actual dimensions and a parts list, please email us. Steve would be a much better person to talk with as he he could actually tell you how much wood you needed to purchase, how many hours it took and the pros and cons of our design. Also, once I figure out how to add more than one picture to this blog, I will be sure to include better pictures of the design. Email me at Karrie@abenaquialpacas.com if you would like more information.
Aside: When my younger sister had renovated her bathroom they designed a rounded soffit to go around their tub and shower combo. She had a heck of a time finding a rod to hang a shower curtain. Yep, I suggested conduit! She was able to spray paint it to match the wall color after shaping it to match the curved soffit. You woudln't know the difference.
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