“There’s no need for sophisticated equipment to distribute forage. To feed the four groups of goats hay and wrapped forage three times a day, we use a rolling platform made from a metal frame, a wooden plank and four wheels. The platform measures 1,2 m wide by 2,40 m long, the length of a square bale. It can hold a 500 kg bale of forage and travel above the central aisle on U-shaped metal rails.
Four wheels, a plank and scrap metal
The platform is made from two steel angle bars connected by two metal bars. The marine plywood board sits on top and can easily be removed if needed. The most expensive part is the wheels, and we paid about 240 euros per trolley in total. There are two in the building where the 500 goats are raised and two more in another building for the 700 ewes.
Regular cleaning of the rails
I make sure to position the bale so I don't have to pull the strings' knots out from under the bale. Once the bale is properly in place, I easily push it while making the forage fall with the fork on the feed aisle below.
If I were to do it again, maybe I would look at putting in some rails in L because the U-shaped rail can get dirty, and stones can get inside and block the trolley. Here, we clean the rails once a week. The width of the aisle was chosen so that a feeding mat could be installed there if one day we change systems and switch to a wetter ration.