Rotary livestock feeder with feed rate gauge

A feeder for dispensing feed to livestock, comprising:

• a hopper including a side wall and a bottom having a feed discharge aperture therethrough;
• a deflector mounted in said hopper in vertically spaced covering relationship over said aperture and having a lower edge extending outwardly of said hopper bottom aperture and inwardly of said side wall;
• a sweep member mounted for rotation between said deflector and said hopper bottom for sweeping feed to said aperture to discharge therethrough;
• an adjustment mechanism operably associated with the deflector for adjusting the vertical spacing thereof over said hopper bottom, the egress of feed from the hopper being limited to flow through the aperture, whereby the rate flow in response to movement of the sweep member is dependent upon said vertical spacing between the deflector and the hopper bottom;
• and
• a feed rate gauge operably associated with said adjustment mechanism, said feed rate gauge comprising a plate member containing visual indicia indicative of a feed rate setting, said plate member being arranged to provide a visual indication of the vertical spacing between the deflector and the hopper bottom.

A feeder for dispensing feed to livestock, comprising;

• a hopper including a side wall and a bottom having a feed discharge aperture therethrough;
• a deflector mounted in said hopper in vertically spaced covering relationship over said aperture and having a lower edge extending outwardly of said hopper bottom aperture and inwardly of said side wall;
• a sweep member mounted for rotation between said deflector and said hopper bottom for sweeping feed to said aperture to discharge therethrough;
• and adjustment mechanism operably associated with the deflector for adjusting the vertical spacing thereof over said hopper bottom, the egress of feed from the hopper being limited to flow through the aperture, whereby the rate of flow in response to movement of the sweep member is dependent upon said vertical spacing between the deflector and the hopper bottom;
• and
• a feed rate gauge operably associated with said adjustment mechanism, said feed rate gauge being arranged to provide a visual indication of the vertical spacing between the deflector and the hopper bottom;
• and
• said adjustment mechanism comprises a first threaded member extending through an opening in said cross-piece, and a rigid linkage connecting a lower end of said first threaded member to said deflector, said rigid linkage having at least one flat side extending along its length which is engageable by feed within the hopper to prevent rotation of said rigid linkage upon rotation of said sweep member.

A system for dispensing feed to livestock, said system comprising a plurality of feeders, each feeder comprising:

• a hopper including a side wall and a bottom having a feed discharge aperture therethrough;
• a deflector cone mounted in said hopper in vertically spaced relationship from said hopper bottom;
• an adjustment mechanism operably associated with the deflector cone for adjusting the vertical spacing thereof from said hopper bottom, whereby the rate of flow through the feeder is dependent upon said vertical spacing between the deflector cone and the hopper bottom;
• and
• a feed rate gauge operably associated with said adjustment mechanism said feed rate gauge comprising visual indicia indicative of the vertical spacing between the deflector cone and the hopper bottom, and a calibration means for adjusting a visual reading of the feed rate gauge while the deflector cone is maintained at a constant reference position, whereby each feeder in the system can be calibrated to provide the same feeding rate for a given feed rate gauge setting.