Goat Feeder with Video

Anybody who feeds goats alfalfa hay, knows that if you simply put the bale on the ground, about 25% of the hay goes to waste. OK, maybe not anybody; but nobody told me. I had to learn the hard way!

I decided to make a raised goat feeder out of pallets (what else would I use?). After some quick research, saw what a basic feeder looks like and went to work. 

It is important to work with pallets that are all the same size. I can't stress that enough. If one of your pallets is a different size that all the others, your project won't turn out properly. Also, be sure to use heat treated pallets. For more info on this topic, click here. 

So I gathered all my pallets, screws and screw gun. I used the pallet with a plywood surface as the "bottom" of the feeder so less hay would fall through. I laid this pallet on it's side on top of one of my "side pallets" and started screwing it together. I then flipped it over and repeated the process. The hard part was getting the pallets to balance as i screwed them together. A spare pallet came in handy. Not only did it brace the pieces for me, but since it was the same size, it was the perfect measurement. 

 
 

















Once I had my "H" shape, I laid it on the side to insert the 2 pallets that would hold the hay in a "V" shape. I used a whole bunch of screws and screwed the whole thing together. The screws I used were the exterior drywall screws and deck screws. This would help ensure that the feeder stays here for a while. 

I ran out and got a bale of alfalfa and stuck it in the top. The goats were thrilled. I did have to remove a slat from each side so that they could get to they hay. Once i did that they went to town! I also added a sheet of masonite on the bottom so that less hay would fall through. 

Goat Barn Tour

Here's a short video tour of the goat barn I made from pallets & reclaimed plywood. 

The goal was to give the goats a shelter to get out of the weather and use as much reclaimed materials as possible.

Enjoy!

A Word on Building with Pallets

If you choose, like I have, to build with pallets; there are a few things you should know. First of all, pallets are very sturdy, and usually hard to break. That's why they are used for shipping. Many times they're build out of a hardwood like oak. When you are selecting pallets for building,please consider the following:

1. Always ask for permission to take pallets from the place you are taking them from. Many times, companyies contract with other companies to come take their pallets and pay them a fee. The store basically sells their pallets back to recoup some of their costs. 
2. Never use pallets from a grocery store. Remember the e coli outbreaks? That stuff can seep into the pallets that all the tainted lettuce is on!
3. Get all of you pallets the same size. Standard pallets are 40" x 48". If you have all the same sized pallets, the chances of your project turning out square is better. If you're not building a structure, but just using them for the slats, this is still important to make sure all your slats are a uniform length. 
4. I once read that, in order to use the pallet slats, you had to cut along the side stringers and rock the piece from the center stringer to get a usable board. This works great except, now you're left with a shorter piece of re-usable lumber. I break down my pallets with my trust pry bar and big-ol-hammer. I'll do a video blog on how to break these down. It's not that hard and you get more usable lumber from the pallets. 
5. All pallets are treated for pests. Bet you didn't know that. The international export standard, ISPM 15, requires that all wood packaging material be heat-treated at a core temperature of 56 degrees Celsius for a minimum of 30 minutes or that it is fumigated to a prescribed specification with methyl bromide. This regulation eliminates the presence of pests found in wood thereby protecting crops and forests in other parts of the world. NEVER use the chemically treated pallets. Most pallets have a stamp on one of the runners (thicker pieces usually a 2x4). If the stamp reads "HT", that means "heat treated", you're cool. If it reads "MB", stay away. That stands for "methyl bromide". 

Methyl Bromide is some serious shit. If you uses the MB pallets, and you have other animals around that may chew on wood (my dog does, the goats...), they can be seriously harmed. For more info on MB read here. In my opinion, it's best just to stay away from MB treated pallets. 

Here is a stamp showing that the pallet was heat treated:

Well, there you have it; everything you didn't think you wanted to know about using pallets as a building material. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below.