Free Choice Mineral Feeder

[@OZheathen]

Not being picky but When routing your slots do it in multiple passes going deeper each time, less stress on your router and bit. I found out this the hard way by burning out a motor on a router 😂

[@sandboxranch]

Yeah it was definitely hard on the router.

[@andreasherzog2222]

Should you ever add sheep to your operation, the feeder should have a gap between frame and mat, roughly the size of a lambs neck, or you might find dead lambs someday.

[@sandboxranch]

Interesting, thanks!

[@RobertScholes-py1cb]

How is your mineral feeder holding up? Do you still have the PVC on the bottom? Thank you for the video!

[@sandboxranch]

Thanks! I got rid of the PVC on the bottom, couple reasons, mainly that I wanted something heavier and less likely that they can move it or tip it over, also some concerns about it being able to just be crushed and broken by the cows hooves. Ended up replacing it with some pieces of leftover fence posts. After the changes I made in some other videos it's been holding up well, nothing broken or anything. The cows seem to like it a lot.

[@noahshinabarger]

Long-term how has this held up? Any changes you would make if you were to do it again?

[@sandboxranch]

So far it's held up fine, in later videos I changed the legs on it to steel pipe and that seems to have really made it sturdy. Only thing I would change if I did it again would be to make the compartments and the whole thing bigger.

[@Tbear37144]

Water proof wood glue is your friend!

[@sandboxranch]

In retrospect I should have glued it in addition to the screws, chalk that up to in a hurry and didn't have any at the time. I have it sitting out in the rain right now for a few days, I'll see how it holds up, long as it stays together I'll get some minerals in it.

[@jay8443]

Could you share the exact list of supplies needed to build one of these please and thank you!

[@sandboxranch]

So I used 2 2x8 back to back for the middle, 2 2x6's for the front and back sides, use the rest of those 2x8's for the ends. Then a 4x8 sheet of 3/8 plywood cut for the bottom and the dividers. Beyond that just whatever your favorite screws are. The top that I used in the video I'm not going to stick with in the end, same with the PVC pipe for feet. I'll do another video finishing it out and getting the minerals in it.

[@lynsey911]

Hey! What kind of mat did you use? I’m looking to replace the top of mine with something lighter but weatherproof.

[@sandboxranch]

Originally I tried using a simple workout mat from Amazon, but that didn't really work as it was too light and would flap in the wind and wouldn't be much good to keep rain out. I ended up buying some rubber belt material off eBay and using that, it's a lot more solid and doesn't move in the wind. Still have to try it with the cows though, don't know how they'll like it yet.