Calf creep feeders

[Forever Fendt]

Bloody hell. Never knew a badger could or would hop into a feeder standing 30 inches off the ground. Last thing in the world I would have expected. I’ve had two cows go down with TB in past ten years or so. Never a young animal.
Mind you I only feed what the batch will clean up in one session. They lick the trough bare and normally go straight to the water trough. Maybe stripey doesn’t get the smell or the attraction. These are screenshots from videos I took it surprised me , at one point there was 5 there and this carried on for 5 hour over night l have since fitted rollers to the creep feeders and they can’t get in what ever they try now , ideally the creeps need closing in at the bottom as cows make a habit of going down on knees and licking any spilt corn of the floor where badgers had been marking before , I put the video on a Facebook farming site and it’s surprising how many think it would be impossible to get in trough as they do , Tb advisors at apha have the videos and are using them to educate farmers who have affected by Tb but I think it’s a battle that’s presently unlikely to be won as things are at the moment

 

[Werzle]

Shutting up feeders for the night will cause problems with high numbers of calves trying to feed during opening time. Dont let the creep go hard in the troughs as calves will sort it abit and cause it to bridge and go sour, stir it abit every day .Move the feeders every few days to prevent poached ground and to prevent badger urine etc all in the same place. Best advice is to Shoot your badgers too.