self-feeder

(Agriculture) any machine or device capable of automatically supplying materials when and where they are needed, esp one for making measured quantities of food constantly available to farm livestock

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

self`-feed′er

an apparatus that periodically discharges a supply of some material, esp. feed for livestock.

[1825–35]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

self-feeder - a machine that automatically provides a supply of some material; "the feeder discharged feed into a trough for the livestock"

feeder

machine - any mechanical or electrical device that transmits or modifies energy to perform or assist in the performance of human tasks

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References in periodicals archive

The hog will reach 250 pounds faster if free-feed--a self-feeder is installed in the pen and always available.

Keep a breeding pair of pigs: considering the breakdown of raising a pair, it's possible to more than break even while supplying your family with a year's worth of farm-fresh pork

By 1893, Parsons was living in Newton, Iowa, and had received his first patent for a self-feeder, assigning one-half to W.C.

From farm equipment to washing machines

They went into one of the compartments of the self-feeder. As I recall, they came in cloth bags, just like the flour and the chicken feed, and my mother and sisters were delighted to have that cloth to sew things out of.

Feeding rabbits in the 1930s: soybean meal was required; no cod liver oil, please

Grain can be placed in a self-feeder for pigs that have access to pasture or used to balance a diet that includes food scraps.

Makin' better bacon: raise your own pigs for better meat ... and porcine 'tiller power.'

They nosh grain from a self-feeder, which also has no moving parts.

Winter chore woes: learning how to light the cob-burner water-tank heater leaves a lasting impression on one farm youth

Two men stood on the platform and pitched the sheaves into the separator's self-feeder, which was a fairly easy job since the feeder was just below the level of the platform.

Threshing memories: looking backward at harvest time

A self-feeder for hogs requires less labor than the hand-feeding system.

Cold weather planning for pigs. (The pig pen)

Labor costs have been reduced by the use of the self-feeder and by letting the hogs husk their corn.

We're pretty good when we look ourselves over: Read this survey of farm progress and see another day comes to farming

Then take a bottom from a bigger pail hanging that pail off the little one and then hanging the whole thing from the ceiling - a self-feeder.

The five-gallon tool: it might look like an ordinary bucket ... until you take another look