Early in 2018, my husband and daughter began talking about a new type of self feeder they had seen in a farm ad. That feeder was an Advantage Feeder. They seemed very excited about the feeders and wanted to give one a try. At the time we were a bit hesitant because we used a texturized feed for our 80 plus herd of Boer goats, and we refused to stop using a feed that had been working so well for us.
We shelved the idea for a while until we saw on Facebook that a fellow goat producer had switched from a pelleted feed to the same feed we used. I immediately got in contact with that individual and found that the texturized feed worked very well in the Advantage Feeder. Needless to say we were very excited at the prospect of adding a time and labor saving feeder to our farm. I was referred to Marty Overholt, a 3 in 1 Feeder dealer from Ohio, who quickly returned my message. After a few phone conversations, my daughter and I met Marty to pick up our new 1200 HD feeder which will hold 800 pounds.
We had the feeder in the pasture with the brood does before the next day was over. Before placing this feeder in the pasture, feeding was a nightmare! As any Boer goat breeder knows, those does have the innate ability to find the most tender part of a leg and can always seem to rake a horn across the back of a thigh. My daughter and I were constantly covered in bruises from the twice a day feeding. To make matters worse, there were those "bully" does who were constantly running from one feeder to another just to keep the less dominant does from eating. We always had the "fatties" who took all the feed, and the "skinny minis" who never managed to get enough to eat regardless of how much we fed. We were feeding over 50 pounds of feed to this group each day, and while some does looked outstanding, others looked like our Midwest winds would blow them into the next county. To make matters worse, we battled pregnancy toxemia and ketosis since we had no way to separate the dominant does who always ate too much from the does who could not get enough to eat. Everything changed when we installed the Advantage Feeder! All of our brood does now are at an ideal weight. We do not have does who are too fat or too skinny. We are well into our kidding season, and, unlike other years, we have had no kidding problems; the majority of the does who have kidded thus far this year have done so completely unassisted! This kids were vigorous and up within 7-10 minutes, ready to eat! We certainly attribute this to the change in eating habits the 3 in 1 Feeder has enforced in our herd! And have I mentioned ease?
The Advamtage Feeder has cut the chore time in half! Instead of slogging through all weather, we simply check the feeder to be sure it is flowing freely and go on about the day. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WASTE with this feeder! Previously, we used feeders that hung on the fence. When the does begin to jostle for position, inevitably one would hit a feeder and spill the feed. Sometimes more than one feeder would be spilled during the course of one meal! This excess waste did have a monetary effect on our feed budget. Now, we put several bags of feed in the feeder, and those does will stand out in any weather (rain, snow, sun, whatever!) so they can eat. They almost seem to have a time schedule, and there are goats at that feeder 24 hours a day! They cannot spill the feed, and they cannot flip it out with their noses. It has saved us a lot of money!
We loved our big feeder so much, we recently purchased a 200 HD to use with our weanlings. We had been using a homemade feeder, and they could stand in it and rake it out with their noses...but not anymore! The goats learned to use the feeders very quickly. We could not be happier with the purchase, and for the size and efficiency of the product, the price is VERY reasonable! If you are in the market for a more efficient feeder or have simply been toying with the idea of making your feeding day easier, we would certainly recommend talking to Marty Overholt to get your own Advantage Feeder!!Doug, Karla, Hannah & Noah Darr
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Here at Liberty Farms and 4-J Farms we have had the pleasure of purchasing two of the 1200 HD Advantage feeders. We use these feeders to feed around 120 head of registered and commercial boer goats. Since buying these feeders we have seen a tremendous amount of growth and improvement in both herds.
We have found that the smaller goats, who would typically get pushed out of the way when bucket fed, actually have a chance to eat at the feeder. This allows the smaller goats to gain more weight and grow to their full potential. Every goat gets an equal amount of time at the feeder without being pushed around by the more dominant goats.
We usually feel the feeder up once every few weeks. This saves us a lot of time every day since we do not have to feed the goats by hand. We could not be happier with these feeders or with the customer service that we have received. Anytime anyone asks us about these feeders we are so happy to share our amazing experience with them in hopes they will too buy a feeder.Tucker WestLiberty Farms, Georgia
I got this feeder in October right before kidding season. My does have kept their weight on, produced plenty of milk for their kids, the kids even figured it out, and it saves me a lot of time and labor hand feeding every day!!!!
I love my little Advantage Feeder so much, that I am planning on getting another one in the future. These feeders are awesome!!!! The kids in this picture are just coming 8 weeks old and still with their dams. They all take turns in the feeder. We have saved a lot of time, money, and feed by using this feeder.Melissa JacobsHawk Shadow Farms, Missouri
Graham Farms purchased an Advantage Feeders 200HD and 1800HD with mineral attachment in December 2018, and we are loving them. The goats are keeping excellent body condition and I can control how much they eat each day. In our 1800, we use 2 different mixes. One is a pellet and one is a whole grain mix both flow very well. The convenience and advantage of not having measure feed and haul it to the goats every day have been amazing. We have much more time to spend watching and observing the herd doing our other farm chores. It’s much easier to find someone to watch our stock when we are away and gives me peace of mind knowing they are fed while we are gone.Graham FarmsMyotonics, Arkansas
Our new Advantage Feeders have been a great addition to our farm. It is an equal opportunity feeders.
Since it is a “Lick feeder” and depends on the saliva production to get the grain stuck to the tongue, and all goats of the same age have basically the same size tongue and ability to product goat spit; feed intake is limited regardless of dominance or age. The goats will lick and eat until they get “cotton mouth” with grain no longer sticking to their tongue. They then leave the feeder to browse and get a drink of water.
The bottom line is, the bossy goats get just enough grain, no more or no less, before their tongue dries out and they leave the feeder to the more timid goats. The end result is a more uniform feed ration. The more aggressive goats are not over conditioned and the more timid goats are not under conditioned. Both of which are associated with pregnancy complications.
It is a well built and well engineered product, that works as advertised.David GilliamGillliam Boer Goat Farms, Tennessee
Okay folks, I am going to say I was a sceptic! Brian wanted this feeder so I agreed but secretly didn’t think it would work. Today, while Brian is at work, I went to the barn to feed the pens, and secretly to feed the rest of the herd (Brian would kill me but I thought maybe they are starving) I made sure I got enough individual buckets. Filled them up with 1 cup each (a snack). Guess what? They didn’t want the feed! What?
Okay Brian, I publicly admit it, the feeder is the real deal! No more fighting, no more work separating, no more individual buckets….oh well, more time for snuggles! Love my goats!
If interested and in the area contact Brian, so he can get you on the next shipment and save $$$ on shipping!
— feeling shocked at H & C Boer Goat Farm.
Brooke HardyH&C Boer Goat Farm“We are extremely pleased with the grain feeders. No wastage and great for the goats because they can't climb into them. Best feeders we have ever had and the palm kernel flows through them nicely.”
Debbie Fox
"Over the past few years I had been feeding my ewes 3 times a week for 5 months of the year. My Advantage Feeders Grain Feeders allow me save this expense. They also give me the flexibility of putting stock in containment areas with out the down-side of feeding them daily due to the lick restriction of the dual adjustment system."Mick Cameron
“My Advantage Feeders Grain Feeder is a key component of my lamb finishing system:
it’s big enough to not need frequent filling; there is minimal waste; I can easily see how much feed has been eaten and relate that to measured weight gain by viewing the volume scales. Plus they're good people to deal with.”Graham Holdaway
“I chose Advantage Feeders because they were the best value for the size of them and the adjustment system was the most advanced going around. The functioning of the lid makes checking the feeding outflow easy. We bought 8 of them in flat-pack form and they were straight forward to assemble with the manual.”Scott Barr
“I am running around 4000 ewes in drought times. I wanted to feed the sheep faba beans and thought the feeders were a good way to regulate the supply over weeks with no need to go out every few days. I found they work well with the sheep not using them when other feed is available, and starting again when they are short of feed; at the moment (5/08) a 46 bag feeder full of faba beans is lasting 600 ewes around two weeks (was one month) I got rid of the seconds from seed cleaning no effort this year! The lick feeding design of the troughs work very well. The sheep have kept condition and I am hoping they keep their lambs better as feed is scarce.”
Geoff Parker
“I had several other self feeders before I bought some Advantage Feeders Sheep Feeders and only used them for finishing lambs. With the double adjustment system of my new feeders I can also put them with my ewes and make them work like hell just to get a bit when they are on dry feed.”Noel Cocking
“The regulation system on our Advantage Feeders has meant that we know our sheep are getting the right amount of nutrition. This year we plan to increase the lambing percentage in our twin bearing ewes by placing Advantage Feeders with them to reduce mis-mothering associated with trail feeding.”Kim and Colleen Parson
“We use Advantage Feeders in our prime lamb production business in two different ways. Firstly they are used to back-ground lambs then we incrementally increase the quantity of feed output (by way of a simple adjustment on the feeders) up to ad lib feeding of grain. Secondly we use them to supplementary feed our lambing ewe flocks. These feeders are an ideal size and they minimize the need to use a trailer feeder therefore our sheep are much more settled.”
Peter and Wendy Bessell-Browne
“We can see a lot of potential with the Advantage Feeder feeding a pure lupin ration to keep a protein source available while utilising stubbles and dry feed.”
Perry Corker
“Advantage Feeders have allowed me to reduce my labour inputs while increasing my production from my ewes. The information and service provided has been exceptionally good.”
Adrian Veitch
“I think the Advantage Feeders products are exciting and revolutionary. I have all my ewes running on them. I value having the peace of mind knowing that our ewes are constantly accessing a safe feed source with low labour requirement.""Michael Page
“We breed stud Boer goats and mainly feed weanlings on. As a smaller operator we previously fed pellets out daily into troughs but as the goats get bigger and pushier it becomes difficult to feed this way. There were also issues with waste as the goats would stand in the troughs and any rain would also spoil the expensive feed.
Since getting the Advantage Feeders all of the above problems have been resolved. The pellets stay dry in all weather, the goats cannot climb into the feeders and we are not tied to a difficult daily chore. Also with these feeders it is easy to adjust the amount of feed that the goats get so they do not overeat. Great Feeders!Bev Szolkowski
“Advantage Feeders have changed the way we run our sheep. We are able to set the feeders up for exactly what the sheep require and know they are getting the correct rations for two to three weeks at a time while getting on with other seasonal jobs like seeding and harvest. The feeders have also stopped the wastage involved with trail feeding and contamination in our grain crops”Cameron White
“From my experience, Advantage Feeders can provide labour-saving delivery of supplements for efficient nutritional management of sheep and cattle.”Dr John Milton
“The stud purchased 12 Advantage Feeders to reduce the amount of time spent trail feeding and to provide constant access for sheep to supplementary feed rather than trail feeding every other day. Initially we found it difficult to believe that sheep could access grain through such a restricted outlet. However after monitoring grain usage over the first couple of weeks it was clear that the feeders were indeed capable of controlling the consumption of grain, at a predetermined rate. A further 14 feeders were purchased to provide enough feeders in paddock so they only require filling about once per month. Each month the sheep are condition scored and the feed rate adjusted to suit their supplementary feeding needs. Once set up, it’s too easy.”Harry Wilson
“My grain feeders from Advantage Feeders are used to virtually eliminate mis-mothering. We have also been using the feeders for weaners with the following benefits:
- They cannot gorge themselves on the grain,
- There is no wasted feed,
- As they hold over 2 tonne of grain, the time saved over trail feeding is very welcome during seeding, and
- With feed available to them at all times they are maintaining their condition much better.”
