According to agweb.com, about 75% of farmers spend about ten hours working a day. Some work fifteen hours or more! If you are spending a lot of time working and want to cut that time down, there are lots of ways to be more efficient. One way is by installing automatic animal feeders. Here are just a few ways that these feeders could help your farm.

Make Your Workday More Productive

If you have lots of animals, such as cows, horses, and chickens, you likely have to spend a good portion of your day making sure that they are adequately fed. Automatic feeders can cut back your work time since a lot of these feeders can be programmed to dispense food at certain times of the day. Instead of having to go to each pen and corral and refill feeders, you can continue working in other areas of your farm while the automatic feeders do the work. If you look online, you can find feeders that can dispense pellets, grain products, and even dog food.

Get the Right Portion Sizes

It can take time to portion out the exact feed if you have multiple animals with different health needs. Some automatic feeders have settings so that they not only dispense the food at certain times, but they will dispense a specific amount. For instance, if you have a horse with dietary restrictions or colic, you could set his or her feeder up with different portion sizes than the other horses in the barn. If you have a dog that eats too fast, then an automatic feeder could be programmed to release lots of very small portions so that the dog doesn't develop gastric dilation-volvulus.

Keep Pests Away

Squirrels, racoons, and other critters can wreak havoc on your animals' food supply if it is left out. With automatic feeders, you'll have more protection than you would with food bags. Because a lot of automatic feeders are mounted on to walls, they are off the ground and harder to get to. You could also build a metal or wooden lockbox around your feeders for added protection.

Combat Boredom in Large Animals

If your horses are in stalls most of the day, they can get bored and chew on wooden railings and other things in the stall to release anxiety. An automatic feeder can be set to release feed throughout the day, thus imitating a horse's more normal pattern of grazing. Your horse can turn to food when he or she wants instead of anxiously waiting for you to deliver it.

Some farms have large rotating brushes for cows that automatically turn on when animals push on them. These devices also combat boredom and provide a way for cows to scratch themselves. Studies have shown that these brushes increase milk production in cows. Some of these brushes can be installed on or near automatic feeders so that your cows can reduce stress before or after eating.

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