Calvin Bishell decided there had to be a better way to feed cattle after getting knocked around by hungry cows when he carried their feed in five-gallon pails.
Wanting to haul more feed and also avoid being trampled, he invented a portable feeder that he calls the Nifty Feed Dispenser.
It is the same size as a large round bale and carries up to a tonne of pellets. It is attached to a truck-mounted bale handler so no new equipment is required to carry it.
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After he installed his invention, he knew he was on to something good.
“I had the herd fed easily and I hadn’t lifted a finger.”
The drum can be adapted to any operation and can be used to feed other species like elk or deer. It has also been adapted to mix complete rations containing minerals, grain and pellets.
“You don’t need feedlot-type equipment to feed range cattle,” he said.
He has found that the apparatus, painted candy apple red, is a good way to train his cattle to follow.
As soon as they see the dispenser, they follow him anywhere.
With more ranchers working off the farm to pay the bills, chores often become the responsibility of women and children.
Rancher-designed and tested tools like Bishell’s feed dispenser and improved handling facilities make the work easier for one person.
“Manufacturers are becoming very aware that it has to be safety first for the animal and the handler,” said Bishell, who sells a full line of livestock equipment.
He tries out every product on his cattle.
“We don’t sell it if we don’t use it.”
Besides the feed dispenser, he sells a free-standing steel squeeze chute and curved corrals. The system can be easily moved.
The sides leading to the chute are closed in so cattle do not become confused by outside stimuli. The squeeze chute has openings for neck injections and treating feet, udders and testicles.
Manufactured in Calgary, it is a parallel-axis squeeze chute that gently squeezes animals into the middle of the chute and doesn’t knock them off balance.
The manual controls work on both sides, so animals can leave in two different directions for easier sorting.
“In my experience, the average rancher does not need an elaborate system with hydraulics,” he said.
He also sells water bowls, cattle oilers and his newest product, a floating fence post.
They are designed to float in wet areas so marshy spots, sloughs or dugouts can be fenced off without the posts heaving and being lost within a year.
