Livestock handling/feeding apparatus and method

A combination feeding/immobilizing apparatus for feeding feed including large round hay bales to a plurality of farm animals and for immobilizing the farm animals, comprising:

• (a) a frame having an understructure, a plurality of uprights, and a pair of parallelly spaced apart guide rails;
• said frame generally having four sides including a front end, a rear end comprising a selectively openable gate portion, and a pair of opposing sides;
• (b) side wheels having an axle, which are adapted to provide mobility to said apparatus;
• (c) a dolly-type front wheel arrangement having a tongue with a hitch adapted to be towed;
• said front wheel arrangement adapted, in conjunction with said side wheels, to provide stand alone support for said apparatus;
• (d) a pair of bale rails;
• said bale rails parallelly spaced such that the round bales spaced thereon generally will not roll toward said opposing sides;
• (e) a pair of troughs generally extending from said bale rails to said opposing sides;
• (f) a plurality of stanchions arranged in side-by-side relationship along at least one of said four sides, each said stanchion comprising:
• (1) a first sidebar;
• said first sidebar fixedly connected to said frame such that said first sidebar is generally vertically oriented;
• (2) a pivot support;
• said pivot support fixedly connected to said frame;
• and
• (3) a second sidebar having a sidebar upper end and a sidebar lower end;
• said second sidebar pivotally connected to said pivot support and said upper end slidingly connected between said guide rails such that said second sidebar:
• (A) has a first configuration adapted to allow the farm animal to pass its head through an upper portion of the apparatus;
• (B) a second configuration adapted to prevent the farm animal from passing its head therethrough;
• and
• (C) a third configuration adapted to allow the farm animal to pass its head through a lower portion of the apparatus;
• and
• (D) pivots between said configurations in a vertically oriented plane defined by said first sidebar and said second sidebar;
• (E) said second sidebar, when in said second configuration being in a center position, when in said first configuration being moved from said center position in a first direction and when in said third configuration being moved from said center position in a second direction opposite from said first direction;
• (g) locking means for automatically locking said second sidebars as said second sidebars assume said second configuration;
• and
• (h) deactivating means for selectively deactivating said locking means;
• and
• (i) said second sidebars are adapted to assume said first configuration when deactivated if the farm animal raises its head, and to assume the third configuration when deactivated should the animal be unable to raise its head, said second sidebar including weighting means which extends above and below said pivot support and which causes said second sidebar to continue to pivot in said first direction when it is initially moved off of said center position in said first direction and which also causes said second sidebar to continue to pivot in said second direction when it is initially moved off of said center position in said second direction.