This invention relates round hay bale cradles specifically designed for ease of loading. A person can roll the round bale into the feeder without the use of any equipment.
Round hay bales are a convenient and economical feeding option for farmers' and livestock/horse owners. They provide constant food for the natural grazing animals, which is essential for healthy stomach functions and therefore healthy animals. However, many people opt to purchase the more expensive square bales because the round bales have some major downfalls, even when using a round hay bale feeder.
Often, prior art round bale feeders have a stationary frame design that requires heavy equipment to load the hay by either lifting up over the side rail and into the container or by spearing through the center of the bale to load through a removable side gate.
This apparatus is specifically designed for ease of loading. A person can roll the round bale into the feeder without the use of any machinery. Many horse or livestock owners do not have heavy equipment at their disposal, especially the smaller farms and recreational horse owners. Therefore, this design is ideal for both the large-scale farmers and backyard horse owners alike. With the prior art, the hay would need to be lifted with some form of tractor or other machinery to be loaded into the feeder. They are stationary with no moving parts to assist in loading the hay. Whereas, the main design point of this invention is the feeder's ability to tilt in order to manually load. This is a main difference between the designs. The older designs require the round bale to be lifted. Whether it would need to be lifted over a side rail in order to put it in the cradle or speared through the middle and lifted and slid in from a removable end gate. With the inventive design there is no need to lift the bale at all. It is rolled into the tilted cradle allowing the operator to rotate the cradle into the upright locking position.
This cradle style hay bale retaining apparatus comprises a manger shell structure positioned within a structural frame and pivotably mounted to the structural frame and moveable between a first bale retaining position and a second bale retaining position; and wherein the manger shell structure comprises a plurality of curved shaped ribs being spaced apart to form a cradle framework providing longitudinal support for a horizontally positioned round hay bale.
Round hay bales are a convenient and economical feeding option for farmers and livestock/horse owners. They provide constant food for the natural grazing animals, which is essential for healthy stomach functions and therefore healthy animals. However, many people opt to purchase the more expensive square bales because the round bales have some major downfalls, even when using a round hay bale feeder.
The apparatus has a mounting platform for elevating the manger shell above ground wherein the mounting platform comprises a pair of parallel spaced apart skids. The mounting platform further comprises a cross member connected to the parallel spaced apart skids. The cross member is perpendicular to the parallel, spaced apart skids. In one embodiment, the cross member is rotatably connected to the manger shell. The fixture is permanently affixed to the cradle framework of the manger shell.
In one embodiment, the skids are longitudinal bars. In another embodiment, the skids are elongated rods.
In another preferred embodiment, the sides of the hay cradle have a taller arch, to prevent the horses from pulling the center of the bale out. Unanticipated behavior. The locking mechanism is a metal bar that spans from one base to the other on both sides of the cradle. When the cradle is in the upright, locked position, the bar sits in a notch on the top of the base. The cradle is “cradled” between the bars. To load a bale, a user will flip the bar forward to allow the cradle to rock forward. Then roll the bale on and flip the bar back over the top of the base into its notch. This results in a loaded hay cradle. The weight is better distributed with this locking mechanism.
Cross member 16 is rotatably connected to manger shell 10 with fixture 18 that allows manger shell 10 to rotate. Fixture 18 is permanently affixed to the cradle framework of claim shell 10. Skids 14 may be longitudinal bars or elongated rods.
The following shoes the advantages of the invention.
Problem:
Solution:
The round hay bale cradle keeps the hay off the ground allowing for proper water drainage to minimize mold and deters rodents and other nuisance creatures from nesting and burrowing beneath the bale. The upright design keeps water from collecting in and around the metal tubing to help in the prevention of rust, therefore minimizing replacement frequency.
The design of the manger shell structure may have a shallow arch, may have a steep arch or may have a tall arch.
The present patent application is based upon and claims the benefit of provisional patent application No. 62/723,652 filed on Aug. 28, 2018.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20200068806 A1 | Mar 2020 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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62723652 | Aug 2018 | US |