05/09/2026
Today I am reviewing the Mountainview Machine Round Bale Feeder. Goats are notorious hay wasters and I am always looking for the holy grail of hay feeders. I was using traditional cattle round bale feeders. The goats would climb on them and waste literally tons of hay. My test cases: A calm pasture with 5 mature bucks and a bustling pasture with 37 mature does and 61 two month old kids. The feeder in the doe pasture rests on concrete with a pallet to keep the hay off the ground and dry. The feeders two sliding sides pass over the pallet with about an inch clearance. A roll of hay would last me 7 days and now I get 9 days and very little hay waste on the ground, a net hay savings of 20-25%. Less hay to buy and less to clean up is a definite win. As with most things, it is not perfect. When about 20% of the hay is left, the bottom of the sliding panels gets stopped by hay bits stacking up at the bottom making it difficult for the goats to reach the hay. The fixed side panel get eaten back quickly, making only the two moving panels for hay access. The fixed sides are easy to fill in with hay by stripping a thin layer off the top of the round bale and sliding it down to fill the sides. This takes literally a minute, simple. When the sliding panel gets stopped by hay at the bottom, it takes a few minutes to slide the panel away and pitch fork/hand pull the bottom hay away so the panel can slide over the pallet and continue compressing… a nuisance but not awful. When the hay is almost gone, I just grab it and put it in my small inside hay feeder, no waste. The feeder in the buck pasture sits on uneven ground and requires adding blocks to the feet to raise the panels above the pallet. Under the lighter load, the wasted hay now is almost nothing, saves at least 30% in hay, and a lot of time/waste in cleanup. The construction appears to be fairly heavy duty and should be durable long term. I give these feeders an overall thumbs-up. They should pay for themselves in about 18 months of hay savings and save me a lot of cleanup time.
