A lot of farmers have begun purchasing automatic calf and lamb feeders to help with the labour-intensive work connected to feeding a high number of newborn animals. For those who cannot justify the spend, why not try your hand at building some yourself!
Some of the designs are actually pretty easy to make and there are many to choose from. Check out some of them below!
1) - For the majority of the simpler forms of these designs, all you will need is some two-litre plastic bottles with teats (3-4), a plank of wood and a drill, it's as easy as that!
Some simply use one plank of wood, with three to four holes bored in it so the bottles can be placed through them. This allows for feeding numerous animals at once, rather than painstakingly feeding each one individually.
Others like to build an open-top box design, again with holes bored into one side of the box to allow for bottles to be placed through. This design adds more stability to the process and helps prevents bottles falling out due to enthusiastic feeders etc. The pictures do show goats being fed, though these designs can also be used with calves and lambs also. It is also an option to add clips to whatever box-type feeder you build, as then you can hang it from a pen gate or fence (See picture below - top right).
2) For those who fancy themselves at the carpentry, there are other slightly more complicated designs.
As you can see from the design at the top of the below picture, one can build a feeder which allows for a high quantity of feeding at once. Larger space between bottles is advised when building for calves.
The other two designs are relatively simple to build also. The bottom left simply requires a standing sheet of wood with plastic ‘trays’, with holes bored into them, fitted onto it. The final design is a feeder, converted into a lamb feeder. Another simple design, carried out by boring holes using a drill to allow for4 bottles to be placed through.