GB2433188A

GB2433188A - Horse Forage Feeder

Info

Publication number: GB2433188A
Application number: GB0525282A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Catherine Sally Hayward; Bridget Jane Smith
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2005-12-13
Filing date: 2005-12-13
Publication date: 2007-06-20
Anticipated expiration: 2025-12-13
Also published as: GB0525282D0; GB2433188B

Abstract

A horse forage feeder consists of a body 10 in the form of an open-topped box to receive hay or straw. Around the upper edge of the feed box is an inward facing lip 15 which serves to retain a grid device 30. The grid fits through a slot 20 in the side wall and is placed on top of the forage FRG and controls the rate at which it is taken from the box. A chamber 12 in the base of the feeder may be filled with ballast BLST, possibly in the form of water or sand, to weight down the feeder preventing its movement by the horse.

Description

1 2433188

HORSE FORAGE FEEDER

The present invention relates to the field of feeding horses and, more particularly, to the feeding of forage, notably hay and haylage, to horses.

Nutritionists recommend that adult horses should eat about 1% of their bodyweight in forage each day (e.g. 4 kg of forage per day for a 400 kg horse).

At certain seasons of the year this will be accomplished largely by grazing on grass, but at other seasons this will mainly be achieved by providing the horse with forage in some kind of feeder.

Many of the horse feeders that are in general use today for feeding forage to horses are designed to be wall-mounted. However, when a horse eats from a wall-mounted feeder it must hold its head and neck in a position which does not correspond to the natural feeding position for a horse. The natural feeding position for a horse is the position adopted when a horse grazes; in other words, when the horse's neck is extended down towards the ground and the horse's head is close to ground level. This position ensures good muscle development in young animals, as well as optimum jaw alignment and good respiration for feeding animals of all ages.

When feeding hay, haylage or the like to a horse it is undesirable to place the forage directly on the ground because of the risk that the horse may pick up undesirable soil-borne micro-organisms. Forage can be fed to horses using feeding buckets, baskets and troughs placed on the ground. However, the majority of free-standing horse feeders of this kind are lightweight and easily moved by the horse, particularly when they are close to being empty.

This makes it possible for the horse to cause damage at the place of feeding and/or injury to itself.

Moreover, when buckets, troughs and the like are used in the conventional way there is practically nothing that is done to restrain the horse from feeding too quickly, leading to health problems such as colic. Also, because horses are grazers they can become bored if their supply of food is exhausted, leading to them exhibit undesirable behaviours such as box walking and weaving.

One known counter-measure to prevent rapid eating is to place rocks inside the feeding trough or bucket so as to weigh down the hay. However, the horse may injure itself on the rocks and/or as a result of moving the trough/bucket and rocks.

When designing a horse feeder for supplying the horse with forage it is important to design the feeder carefully so as to ensure the horse's safety and the integrity of the horse's environment. More particularly, when designing a feeder of this type the following issues should be considered: -the horse should be hindered from feeding too quickly, -the horse should not be able to injure itself on the feeder (either by injuring itself directly on the feeder or as a result of becoming entangled in, or moving, the feeder), and -the horse should not be able to move the feeder in such a way as to cause damage at the feeding location.

It is also helpful for owners if they have a horse feeder which they can take with them when travelling with their horses, for example to a competition.

Known free-standing horse feeders include the one described in US patent 5,000,122.

US patent 5,000,122 describes an open-topped feeding basket which has sides made up of railings or racks which angle towards each other towards a base tray. The whole basket is supported at a height off the ground on legs that meet at a pivot point part way up the basket.

It is hard for a horse to adopt a natural eating position when using the feeder of US 5,000,122. If a horse inserts its head into the feeding basket of US 5,000,122 from above, the horse's mouth will still be an appreciable distance off the ground when the horse is eating; moreover there is nothing to prevent the horse from feeding extremely quickly. Even if the horse inserts its head into the feeder through the side racks or railings, the gaps between these are so large that the horse's rate of feeding will still not be restricted, moreover the horse will have its head at an unnatural angle. In addition, it may well be possible for a feeding horse to pull so hard on hay in the feeder of US 5,000,122 that it cause the feeder to topple right over, potentially injuring the horse and/or causing damage to objects in the vicinity of the feeder.

There is a need for an improved horse feeder for providing forage to horses while enabling the horse to eat in a natural feeding position.

Certain preferred embodiments of forage feeder according to the present invention enable a horse to eat in a natural feeding position and have greater regard for the safety of the feeding animal and the integrity of the animal's environment. Moreover, certain particularly preferred embodiments of the invention are portable.

The present invention provides a forage feeder consisting of a main body shaped generally like an open-topped box and designed to be placed on the ground or substantially at ground level. A restraining bar structure is placed inside the box, on top of any hay that is present in the box. The restraining bar structure defines spaces through which a horse can extract forage from the feeder. The forage feeder includes means for preventing a feeding horse from pulling the restraining bar structure right out of the box; preferably this is achieved using a lip around the top edge of the feeder box.

In preferred embodiments of the invention the restraining bar structure can be removed from the feeder body by a human user, for example through a slot in a side wall of the feeder.

In preferred embodiments of the invention the weight of the feeder body plus the restraining bar structure is set to a target weight that substantially prevents the horse from being able to lift up the feeder when extracting forage, or to push the feeder along or cause it to topple over, or at least significantly hinders the horse from doing so.

By preventing the horse from being able to lift or move the feeder there is a reduced risk that the horse can injure itself or cause damage when using the feeder. Moreover, an additional advantage is obtained in the case where the restraining bar structure is removable from the feeder insofar as it is possible to reach the target weight taking the weight of the restraining bar into account. This enables the weight of the feeder body when empty to be reduced, thus making the feeder body more portable.

Certain preferred embodiments of the invention include a weighted base, preferably provided in the form of a ballast chamber that can be filled and emptied. When the ballast chamber is filled, the combined weight of the feeder body, restraining bar structure and ballast material filling the ballast chamber is set to equal or exceed the target weight. This arrangement allows the feeder body's weight-when-empty to be reduced still more, and further improves the portability of the feeder.

In preferred embodiments of the invention the size of the spaces defined in the restraining bar structure is set so as to hinder a horse from extracting forage from the feeder at an unhealthy rate, notably by setting the width of the feeding spaces to a value from about 1 inch to about 3 inches, preferably around 2 inches.

The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become clearer from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, given by way of example, in which: Fig.1 shows the main body of a forage feeder according to the preferred embodiment of the invention, when empty of forage, in which: Fig. 1A is a front elevational view of the empty feeder according to the preferred embodiment, Fig.1B is a top view, Fig.1C is a left-side elevational view, and Fig.1D is a right-side elevational view; Fig.2 is a cross-section through the feeder body of Fig.1, taken along line X-X' in Fig.1B; Fig.3 is a schematic view, enlarged, of one example of a stopper useable in the feeder of Fig.1; Fig.4 shows a grating useable in the feeder according to the preferred embodiment of the invention; Fig.5 is a top view of the feeder according to the preferred embodiment, when loaded with hay and with the grating of Fig.4; Fig.6 is a cross-sectional through the filled feeder body of Fig.5, taken along line Y-Y'; and Fig.7 illustrates a grid-type restraining bar structure which can be used in the feeder of Fig.1.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to Figs. 1 to 6. The preferred embodiment of the invention relates to a hay or haylage feeder for a horse.

As illustrated in Figs.1 and 2, the forage feeder 1 of the preferred embodiment of the invention consists of an open-topped, box-shaped main body 10. It is preferred that the main body 10 should be sized so as to be able to accommodate several wedges of hay or haylage (egg. four wedges of forage FRG as illustrated in the example shown in Fig. 6). One example of possible dimensions for the main body 10 is, as follows: length 30 inches, width 20 inches and height 20 inches.

The main body 10 of the feeder is preferably made from a durable material that will not easily splinter, for example, a polymer material such as high density polyethylene (HDPE), a rubber material, etc. Moreover, the feeder body 10 is preferably manufactured (e.g. by moulding) so as to have no sharp edges.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the base portion of the main body 10 has an internal chamber 12, intended to be filled with a ballast material, preferably a material such as water or sand that will be in plentiful supply at locations that the horse and owner are likely to visit. If the feeder main body 10 has the dimensions given in the example above (30" x 20" x 20"), a suitable height for the ballast chamber 12 is around 3 to 6 inches and the chamber 12 occupies all of the lower portion of the main body.

There is a filler hole (not shown) through the wall of the main body 10 leading into the inside of the ballast chamber 12, so that material can be filled into or emptied from the ballast chamber 12 in order to weigh the feeder down.

Preferably the filler hole is provided in one of the long sides of the main body (as illustrated in Fig.1). This enables the contents of the ballast chamber 12 to be tipped out by lifting one side of the main body (the side labelled lOa for the feeder in the orientation shown in Fig. 1B) rather than by lifting one end of the main body (which would probably be more difficult in view of the weight of the feeder when the ballast chamber 12 is full). Preferably the filler hole is located through the sidewall of the main body 10 at a location towards the top of the ballast chamber 12. In this way it becomes feasible to fill the ballast chamber while the feeder main body 10 is standing on its base (i.e. it is in the orientation shown in Fig.1).

A stopper 13 closes the filler hole when required. Numerous different types of stopper are known. However, it is preferred to adopt a stopper design that will leave no protruding parts when the stopper 13 is fully inserted (i.e. stopping up the filler hole), notably a design in which the outermost part of the stopper 13, when fully inserted, is flush with the sidewall of the main body 10.

This ensures that a horse using the feeder will not injure itself on the stopper.

Moreover, it is preferable to adopt a stopper design that requires the stopper to be twisted in order to remove it from the filler hole. In this way it is practically impossible for the horse's movements to cause the stopper 13 to become dislodged.

One example of a design of stopper and filler hole that meets these criteria involves use of a generally cylindrical filler hole provided with screw-threading on its cylindrical surface. The stopper 13 has the form of a hollow cylinder with one closed end Cl, as indicated in Fig.3. The outer cylindrical surface 13a of the stopper 13 is provided with a screw-threading that mates with the screw-threading in the filler hole. The stopper 13 has a radial flange 13b extending across the hollow space within it. The user grips this flange 13b so as to turn the stopper 13. The positioning and extent of the screw-threading is such that, when the stopper 13 is fully-inserted into the filler hole, the open end of the stopper is flush with the sidewall of the main body 10.

The ballast chamber 12 is dimensioned so as to take a predetermined volume of ballast material. This predetermined volume of ballast material has a weight sufficient to stabilise the feeder 1. In other words, when the ballast chamber 12 is filled with the selected material (e.g. water), the overall weight of the feeder 1 plus ballast material (and a grating to be described below) is designed to prevent a horse from being able to knock over or slide the feeder, or from being able to lift the whole feeder up whilst pulling out hay, even when little hay remains inside the feeder 1. This feature serves to prevent injury to the horse using the feeder, as well as preventing damage to the feeder's surroundings.

It will be readily understood that some of the weight that serves to stabilise the feeder 1 during use can be removed by taking out the grating and emptying the ballast chamber 12. This means that the residual weight of the feeder 1 (i.e. the weight of the empty feeder 1 when the ballast chamber 12 contains no ballast material) can be kept relatively low. Indeed it can be made sufficiently low so that the feeder 1 is portable when the ballast chamber 12 is empty (either with the grating still inside the main body, or when the grating is removed). This provides the advantage that the user can readily take the feeder with him when travelling with his horse.

As can be seen from Figs.1B and 2, in the preferred embodiment of the invention the top inside edge of the feeder body 10 has a lip 15 all along its length, extending inwardly of the main body. This lip 15 serves to retain within the feeder body 10 a grating that will be described below. A slot 20 is provided through one end wall of the feeder body.

Fig.4 shows the grating 30 used in the feeder 1 according to the first preferred embodiment of the invention. The grating 30 is preferably made of metal, e.g. galvanised iron to reduce corrosion, and consists of a frame 32 and a set of bars 34 extending from one end of the frame 32 to the other. A support 35 can be provided part way along the length of the grating 30 so as to prevent the bars 34 from sagging midway along their length.

The grating 30 defines a series of rectangular spaces through which a horse can feed -this will generally be with the horse's head oriented such that the horse's cheeks lie against adjacent bars of the grating 30. It is preferred that the width of the feeding spaces defined in the grating (here the size of the gap between the bars 34) should be approximately 2 inches. If the width of the feeding spaces is less than 1 inch then the horse cannot extract forage from the feeder at a worthwhile rate. However, if the width of the feeding spaces is greater than 3 inches then the horse is not significantly hindered from feeding at an unhealthy rate.

By setting the width of the feeding spaces at approximately 2 inches, a horse can insert its mouth or teeth into the gap between adjacent bars, but cannot eat in an unrestrained way. Moreover, by setting the width of the spaces in this range, the horse cannot insert a hoof into the gap between the bars 34. Thus, the horse cannot become entangled with the feeder 1, avoiding injury to the horse and damage to the surroundings. It is believed that the same advantages can be obtained if the width of the feeding spaces is varied somewhat from 2 inches, notably within the range from about 1 inch to about 3 inches.

Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate the feeder according to the first preferred embodiment of the invention in its "ready-to-feed" condition. In this condition, the feeder body 10 is filled with hay or the like (labelled FRG in Fig.6), the grating 30 is located on top of the hay inside the feeder body 10, and the chamber 12 is filled with ballast material BLST.

As illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6, the overall dimensions of the grating 30 are set small enough to enable the grating 30 to be fitted inside the feeder body 10 but large enough so that, even if the feeder body 10 is turned upside down, the grating 30 will not fall out of the opening defined by the lip 15 at the top inside edge of the feeder body 10. In other words, the grating 30 and the feeder body lip 15 are sized so that the grating 30 is retained in the feeder body 10 bythe lip 15.

According to the first preferred embodiment of the invention, the grating can be inserted into and removed from the feeder body 10 via the slot 20 in the side wall of the feeder body. The slot 20 is located close to the lip 15 around the top inside edge of the feeder body, on the side of the 15 facing towards the ballast chamber 12. Advantageously, the size of the feeder main body 10 is set so as to allow a number of standard size wedges of forage to be stacked within it and yet the grating 30 placed on top of the forage will still be below the level of the slot 20. This reduces the already slim possibility of the grating 30 managing to slide out of the slot 20 in the unlikely event of the feeding horse being able to vibrate or tip the feeder 1.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to a currently-preferred embodiment thereof, the person skilled in this field will readily understand that various changes, modifications and developments can be made in the above-described embodiment without departing from the scope of the invention.

For example, in the first preferred embodiment of the invention a grille-type grating 30, defining elongate feeding spaces was used to restrain the horse's rate of feeding from the forage feeder according to the present invention. However, it is to be understood that the grille-type grating 30 could be replaced by a grid-type element 30a having bars running both longitudinally and transversely across the frame, as illustrated in Fig.7. The feeding spaces in a grid-type element of this kind could be square or rectangular. In either case, it is desirable that the width of the feeding spaces should be in the above-mentioned range of from about 1 inch to about 3 inches, preferably approximately 2 inches. In this case the "width" of the feeding space is the dimension in the direction that is widthways relative to the head of a horse feeding from the feeder (insofar as there will be a preferential direction for the horse to insert its mouth), or, more generally, the smallest dimension of the feeding spaces.

Furthermore, although in the above-described preferred embodiment of the invention the grating 30 was inserted into and removed from the feeder body 10 through slot 20, other approaches can be used to enable the grating to be inserted into and removed from the feeder body 10 -for example, there could be a removable panel in the wall of the feeder body 10, sufficiently large to allow the grating 30 to pass through. As another example, the lip 15 provided around the top edge of the feeder body 10 could be formed as a detachable element which can be removed from the top edge of the feeder body so as to allow the grating 30 to be inserted into or removed from the feeder body. If this kind of arrangement is adopted then it is preferable to adopt some measure to prevent a feeding horse from being able to pull out the grating 30 and the detachable lip.

Moreover, although in the above-described preferred embodiment of the invention the grating 30 was retained within the feeder body 10 by means of the lip 15 integrally formed around the top edge of the feeder body, other techniques could be used for retaining the grating 30 within the feeder body 10. For example, the feeder body 10 could be formed without a lip and the grating could be tethered by a chain, rope or the like to a fixing point at the bottom of the feeder body (although such an arrangement might well render filling of the feeder more difficult).

Further, although the preferred embodiment of the invention uses the ballast chamber 12 to provide extra weight for stablising the feeder 1, it is to be understood that other techniques could be used, for example, the feeder could be provided with a weighted base either integrally formed with the feeder body or, preferably, detachable from the feeder body. Nevertheless, the fillable ballast chamber 12 is preferred because it provides a simple yet effective way of weighing down the feeder 1 when desired, yet enabling the feeder to be

portable.

Finally, although not shown in the preferred embodiment, portable models of the feeder body may have a handle, or preferably hand-holds inset into a side-wall (or a pair of opposing side-walls), so as to facilitate carrying.

Inset hand-holds are preferred so as to avoid protruding parts that might injure a feeding horse.

Claims

CLAIMS: 1. A horse feeder for feeding forage to horses, the feeder

comprising: a main body (10) shaped generally like an open-topped box and having at the top edge thereof a lip extending inwardly; a restraining bar structure (30) dimensioned so as to fit inside the main body (10) but not to fit through the space defined by the inwardly-extending lip; and means for retaining the restraining bar structure (30) within the main body (10); wherein the restraining bar structure (30) defines spaces adapted to enable a horse to extract forage from the main body (10) when the restraining bar structure (30) is positioned on top of forage in the main body (10).

2. The horse forage feeder of claim 1, wherein the retaining means comprises an inwardly-protecting lip (15) around the top edge of the main body (10), and the restraining bar structure (30) is dimensioned so as to fit inside the main body (10) but not to fit through the space defined by the inward-extending lip (15).

3. The horse forage feeder of claim 2, and comprising a slot (20) in a sidewall of the main body, the slot (20) being dimensioned so as to allow the restraining bar structure (30) to pass through whereby to enter or leave the main body (10).

4. The horse forage feeder of claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the main body (10) comprises a ballast chamber (12) that can be filled with a ballast material.

5. The horse forage feeder of claim 4, wherein the weight of the main body (10) is set low enough to make the main body portable when the ballast chamber (12)is empty.

6. The horse forage feeder of claim 4, wherein the weight of the main body (10) is set low enough to make the main body portable when the ballast chamber (12) is empty and the restraining bar structure (30) is not inside the main body.

7. The horse forage feeder of claim 4, 5 or 6, and comprising a removable stopper (13) adapted to close a fill opening of the ballast chamber (12), the removable stopper (13) being adapted so as not to protrude outward of the sidewall of the main body (10) when fully inserted into the fill opening of the ballast chamber (12).

8. The horse forage feeder of claim 7, wherein the removable stopper (13) is adapted to require turning in order to enter into or exit from the fill opening of the ballast chamber (12).

9. The horse forage feeder of any previous claim, wherein the size of the spaces defined by the restraining bar structure (30) is set so as to hinder a horse from extracting forage from the feeder at an unhealthy rate 10. The horse forage feeder of any previous claim, wherein the size of the spaces defined by the restraining bar structure (30) is set so as to present a width having a value in the range from about 1 inch to about 3 inches.

11. The horse forage feeder of any previous claim, wherein the restraining bar structure (30) takes the form of a frame (32) and substantially parallel bars (34) extending from one end of the frame to the other.

12. The horse forage feeder of claim 11, wherein the restraining bar structure (30) has an elongate frame (12), the substantially parallel bars (34) extend longitudinally across the frame and a support bar (35) extends transversely across the frame whereby to inhibit bending of the bars.

13. A horse forage feeder substantially as herein described above and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.