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Your Opinion on Feeding Buckets?

5K views 24 replies 16 participants last post by  usandpets 
#1 ·
I'm going to be moving my horses to my backyard soon, meaning that we have to figure everything out for the barn set up. Anyway, I've been to many different barns and they all have different ways of feeding their horses. Some places use just regular water buckets, some use grain pans on the floor, and some use a triangular plastic bucket on the wall about the height of the horse's chest. What do you guys prefer?
 
#7 ·
Rubber pans on the ground is item to be destroyed by one of my horses, the other is ok with it. So I have resorted to using old leadropes and tying a bucket to the post so he can't grab ahold of it, stomp it and throw it over the fence.
 
#8 ·
I use a rubber pan for my gelding and just take it back and put it in the feed room when he's done eating. My mare has an over the fence feeder which unless tied down gets thrown all over the pasture b
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#12 ·
We use the rubber pans too. One likes to paw and stomp on them. Another likes pick them up and play keep away with the others. That's just in the geldings. The mares leave them alone once they're empty.

We've had to replace a few that cracked or were torn but they are pretty durable.
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#14 ·
I stopped using rubber pans on the floor years ago because I have two horses that paw at the pan.

My stalls are pipe panels so I bought 20 qt plastic feed pans especially for putting over pipe rail. I can place them at any level I want. I removed them after every feeding, take them outside and hit them with the water hose. The hard plastic also makes them easy to clorox whenever I can't remember the last time I did that.

My horses don't even get two pounds of supplements at each feeding so it isn't that critical they eat at ground level; their necks are still in a downward position for the few minutes their supplements last.

Two of the four have their hay in tubs. One never throws his hay out, the other one does. The other two keep their hay in place a lot better if I just pull the flakes apart in a big pile in the front corner of the stall.
 
#15 ·
I've tried everything with my gelding. Buckets tied to gate/rail/ etc... Get flipped and dumped. Rubber tubs on the ground get flipped. Metal pans, get flipped AMD knocked out of the way. He ends up eating his food off the ground no matter what, so I free it in the rubber tub on the ground so it ends up in a pile and not scattered.
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#16 ·
I have a little hard plastic 5g bucket (one of those "impact resistant" ones) that's Lacey's feed bucket.

I used to stick it on the ground and let her eat like that but I started noticing that there was a direct correlation between the bucket being on the ground and her not finishing her meal. She's 28 and mostly blind so I figure that there's probably some kind of combination of neck arthritis and "losing" the bucket going on.
Now I still use that 5g bucket, but I set it inside a corner feeder in her stall so it's up high enough for her to comfortably eat out of and not "lose".
She spends most of her day grazing, head down, in the pasture so I'm not too concerned about her having her head up to eat those two small meals every day.
She also gets a hay net every night which is not my favorite, but otherwise she wastes soooo much hay. I do generally feed a flake on the ground and put the rest in the bag so she has a choice. Interestingly, she prefers bag-hay!
 
#17 ·
Mine are fed their grain along the fence outside. The tubs are indestructable rubber with small tie rings. A small diameter rope is run thro the rings and tied to the fence post. That way the tub is always there, not off across the field. The rope is long enough that the pan can be dumped by me or a horse.
 
#18 ·
I have used rubber pans on the floor, but they get pawed at and flipped over wasting feed, and when empty they become toys and poop catchers...eewwww.

Then I went to buckets hanging from eye hooks with snaps, but they tend to cause rub marks on faces just above the eye from the metal handle they hang from. And they get flung around when almost empty and waste the last bits of feed.

So next payday I'm going to buy a triangle corner tub. I used them at a barn I boarded at years ago and seemed to work really well. But, I was trying to save money since I already have tons of buckets and a few rubber pans. It's taken me 8 months with Fayde to get tired of fighting the buckets and pans and going back to what I know works. :)
 
#21 ·
Mine get fed in buckets hung up on the fence....if they had rubber pan things the 2 would for sure have their grain spilt all over because the pan/tub would be a big toy :)

Buckets have always worked best for us.
 
#22 ·
Interesting hearing what everyone does!

I feed mine in rubber buckets. I bring them all in to a small section, an divvy out. I like working them every day and use the time for groundwork/dominance. They hardly ever spill their feed. It's a good time to work with my mare standing without a rope and listening to verbal cues/posture to wait with me till the boys are done!

Playing with buckets? MY BUCKET!
 
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#24 ·
many of those ground round pans are designed to set inside a car or truck tire to prevent alot of the flipping and running around problems you guys are haveing. Like this one, will set right inside a 15 inch tire.
Fortiflex Feed Tub - Horse.com

but yeh I use the hang on fence feed tubs, and just stand there when they eat. I have one that gets rambunctious, I wave my hat and yell NO ! he gets the hint. I have chickens and a goat so any food that hits the ground gets ate. Hes knocked it off before than stood there and looked at me all sad while the other horses ate. Too bad so sad there genius.
 
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