In a polite animal kingdom, a creep feeder wouldn’t be necessary. The adult animals would allow the young ones to eat precious supplements in peace! However this is far from the case and a separate feeding environment needs to be created so the little guys can eat in a stress-free, noncompetitive environment away from the adults. This is what the creep feeder is designed to do.
Calf Creep Feeder – Single Sided
Almost all young animals need minerals to supplement their diet and facilitate early growth. This targeted nutrition promotes early overall health and growth. Once established as adults, they typically don’t need the same type of dietary assistance and can eat with the other full-grown animals.
Stress-free feeding
The creep feeder is nothing more than a dedicated feeding area that only allows access to smaller animals. The idea is to keep the larger and stronger adults away from the trough to ensure the smaller animals get the special early growth nutrients you provide.
Feeding young animals in a non-stress environment allows them to consume more and that results in stronger gains. The larger and more aggressive adults are separated by the front bars of the cage surrounding the feeder. They prevent adults from competing for food at the trough and create a calmer area for babies to feed in peace.
Creep Feeder Designs
The typical design of a traditional creep feeder includes a set of vertical bars set at a width small enough to prevent larger animals from entering. There is usually an adjustable horizontal bar that can be moved up as the young ones grow in height. These bars form an outer sentry that keeps an adult from entering the protected area and away from the trough.
Feeder capacities can range from as little as 400 pounds all the way up to a large double-sided 1,200 pound feeder shown below.
This design is simply a single-sided feeder put together. The central feed bin in the middle dispenses to the troughs on each side. This can be a great labor-saving feature when feeding large groups as refilling is done less frequently even with very large numbers of eaters!
Selecting a Feeder
Capacity is certainly a consideration when selecting a feeder. Smaller feeders mean more labor and filling. Larger feeders can be more expensive and less maneuverable but provide longer times between filling.
Below is an example of a large trailer pasture feeder that can be wheeled into place and provide 1,200 pounds dispensed on each side simultaneously. This combines portability with a tremendous amount of capacity!
You’ll also want to make sure the outer bars are set for the type of animal you are providing entry for. As an example, the bars on a calf feeder are usually wider than the front bars on a goat feeder. The same would apply to a sheep creep feeder and below are examples of both.
Goat Creep Feeder Sheep Creep Feeder
Deer Creep Feeders: Non-traditional designs are available for feeding ‘in the wild’. Deer and other smaller animals that aren’t confined, but roam over large areas freely don’t require the gated entry configuration that large confined groups do.
These feeders don’t have a gated entry to separate adults and are used to provide and protect supplements in an outdoor environment. The center bin keeps the nutrients safe from mother nature while the covered trough allows for free range feeding.
This type of feeder is very popular for providing nutrients to deer and others in the field.
Nutrition is the key for strong health early
To give your young animals the best start to their new lives, proper nutrition is a must. These creep feeders are designed to allow them to get those nutrients away from the larger adults in a stress-free environment. Your precious (and expensive!) supplements are protected not only from the hungry mouths of your larger livestock, but also from the elements.
The time-saving design of dispensing storing a large amount of minerals that are then self-dispensed just to the animals that need it is also a real money saver.
High-density nutritional supplements can be very expensive and these feeders are designed to protect it from the elements and hungry adults.
Make sure your animals are well cared for and have early and healthy weight gains so they may become as strong and independent as quickly as possible.
See our entire selection of creep feeders by clicking here and let us know if you’d like a quote for any of them the shipping rate to your address. Will be happy to email quote for your review.
Barn World | Sales@BarnWorld.com | (720) 238-2190
