# Feed Pans



## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

I use the black rubber ones. Well, actually I also have the plastic buckets that hang over a vertical surface like a stall bar.

For feeding on the ground, I only want rubber. I'm afraid the plastic would make shards if they ever stepped on it.


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## marymane (Feb 2, 2020)

Use a rubber feed pan on the ground. I don't know about worrying about stuff getting stuck because my horse literally licks it clean so even if something did get a bit stuck on a blemish it wouldn't stay there for long. I second that I don't like using plastic stuff on the ground because it might get broken. If they step on the rubber ones it just collapses but the plastic ones might break or flip up and hit them. I'd worry about them eating the thready bits on the rubber if it got degraded. At that point it might be time to replace it.

I've used an over the fence feeder before but the ones that just hang and aren't clipped get knocked off all the time. If the ground is suitably hard I just put their feed on the ground.


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## BGnMe (Nov 1, 2021)

ACinATX said:


> I use the black rubber ones.





marymane said:


> Use a rubber feed pan on the ground


How long do those last for you? Mine is only a couple of years old and is already shredded. Or, how do you make them last longer?


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

My horses destroy the plastic ones. I mean, 2 days tops and they're missing parts. The rubber ones take longer to disintegrate, though they will eventually destroy them too, but it's more like years than days. I buy the black Fortiflex ones, they make a small one that's about a 1 quart size that sounds like it would work for you.


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## lovetolope (Nov 20, 2021)

I have these plastic barrels that are cut in halves- they are super thick and strong and last forever. I've seen my horses bite on it, step in them, and they still won't bust. I absolutely love them. 
Then I also have some rubber tubs. My horses don't really get them that messy (they get every last crumb), and they are easy to clean. The con to those is, like you said, after awhile it starts to get "thready", but it does take a couple years for that to happen.


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## ACinATX (Sep 12, 2018)

BGnMe said:


> How long do those last for you? Mine is only a couple of years old and is already shredded.


Mine aren't more than a couple of years old, so that might be part of it. Also I board, and they are "easy keepers" so they only get feed when I see them, maybe 3-4 times a week. They get the feed, they eat the feed, then I put the feed pans away. They don't really get a chance to play with them.


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

I used rubber years ago and do not like how the rubber breaks down over time.

I have pipe rail panels for stalls. I use these feed pans. We have been on this farm 18 years and only replaced one because it cracked where the bracket is.



https://corroshop.com/products/10804?variant=29607574503469&utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=g-us-ss&utm_adgroup=Ad-group&utm_term=&utm_content=393481206859&matchtype=&network=u&mobile=&search=&content=&creative=393481206859&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItezLg57a9AIVFUqGCh2nzQZCEAQYBCABEgLzZ_D_BwE



They get rinsed out after every feeding and cloroxed every Sunday.

My horses only eat a couple pounds of supplements and timothy pellets daily. Nobody has ever thrown their meal out of one of these.


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## Caledonian (Nov 27, 2016)

Plastic ones that go on the ground, but they eventually split. 

Heavy duty plastic ones that hang over stable doors, they're undamaged after many years. 

My rubber ones last longer, although they are a bit misshapen.

(And ceramic sinks. It wasn't by choice. The yard had them fitted into each stable, raised to head height and in each field on the ground. They were a nightmare to clean. I doubt many people would come into contact with similar. I'm sure an antique dealer got them when the yard closed.)


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## ClearDonkey (Nov 27, 2016)

Rubber.

The only experience I've had with plastic feed pans was a bad one. I had a deposit put on a horse and got a message that she had put her foot through a plastic feed pan. I am so thankful that she wasn't injured, but plastic can and will shatter, and she could've easily gotten a nasty injury around a vulnerable part of her leg. Legs can't go through rubber feed pans.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Caledonian said:


> Plastic ones that go on the ground, but they eventually split.
> 
> Heavy duty plastic ones that hang over stable doors, they're undamaged after many years.
> 
> ...


I've seen people around here use old bathtubs for stock tanks. I don't care how clean you keep 'em they look NASTY. And my horses would dismember them.


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## Knave (Dec 16, 2015)

I only use rubber. It is funny though, because my dog loves rubber feed buckets, and she steals all the neighbors’! I have to do occasional phone calls and returns.


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## rambo99 (Nov 29, 2016)

For feeding supplements I use a rubber feed pan. I've used the hang over fence plastic feed buckets,they get destroyed within a week. 

If it can be broken ice will break it anything plastic gets busted into pieces. For hay cubes I use old lick tubs in a big tire. Had many empty lick tubs like 15 of them down to 5. Ice kills one almost weekly.

So rubber is my choice for feed pans can't be busted up. Buckets like one pictured below last maybe a week. Will be split into pieces an handle ripped off.


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## avjudge (Feb 1, 2011)

We use the Tubtrugs (and similar, I think at least one is a different brand) shallow pan - looking at what's available it must be the 15 liter/4 gallons size:








However, I picked up a Tuff Stuff Flex Tub 4.2 gallon at Tractor Supply so I'd have an extra for my horse, and I prefer it for her as she only gets a half-pound of ration balancer plus a few supplements and the smaller diameter seems more suitable. 








I used to use the rubber buckets but I much prefer the lighter weight of these. They've stood up for a couple years now with no visible damage (except when the dog got hold of one, and chewed a handle off).


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Rubber on the ground though they do get played with and flung around quite a bit. I did have to go to a plastic placed in a tire for one that would fling while there was feed in the tub. All have lasted years. The plastic is kept in the shade.


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

Rubber ones on the ground. Mine play with them, but they have held up for many years in our brutal weather extremes (and I usually leave them out). I scrub them weekly - sometimes more often when the horses decide to poop in them...

Plastic will break. I did install a plastic corner feeder for my senior gelding who is now stalled at night so he can get a little more food without the others stealing it, however, in the summer, I will not use it. The problem with the corner ones is that feed gets in the edge that mounts onto boards in the corner, and it goes bad when it's hot. This time of year we are below freezing until April or so, therefore I don't care if feed gets dropped in the cracks and stays there. But in the summer, they get really gross, and are not as easy to clean as the rubber pans I can just throw behind the barn, fill with water and dish soap, soak for a bit, then scrub clean. I use a toilet brush for that purpose (never used in a toilet obvs) to get into those corners.


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## BGnMe (Nov 1, 2021)

Guess I'll just buy another rubber one.

I'd like to buy one from TSC or Southern States.
Here's what's available:
Duraflex
Fortflex (not Fortiflex)
Tuff Stuff
Double Tuf
"No-Name Generic" (whatever that is)

Any experiences with any of those brands?


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## secuono (Jul 6, 2011)

I use these from TSC. They have different sizes.
Hard plastic breaks and cracks. One step or butt rub or drop away from being trash. While the rubber I've driven over with my tractor, oops, and they're no worse for wear.


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## avjudge (Feb 1, 2011)

Acadianartist said:


> Plastic will break. . .


I agree when you're talking about rigid plastic. But the ones we use (shown in post 14) are flexible and so far (up to 2 years? maybe the oldest for longer) have maintained that flexibility even in winter cold. 

When you carry them, both handles are in one hand, with the tub flexed so they come together. I will admit that the large flat ones don't immediately open up/flatten out completely when you put them down, but they've always opened up enough for the horse to eat comfortably and they open wider as the horse eats.


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## Part-Boarder (Aug 17, 2019)

We use buckets that is suspended or held while the horse eats or the black feeder pan on the ground. At my barn, they typically only have access while they are eating so they last pretty long.

Horses seem to like to paw at the buckets so I could see them not lasting very long if they were left out on the ground unattended with multiple horses.


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## Knave (Dec 16, 2015)

I am just surprised to hear anyone say they don’t last. I have never thrown one away, which would make my oldest pan 18 years old. I don’t think my parents have thrown any away to my knowledge, and I do know they have one a bit torn up, but that thing has to be super old. Junie B drags ours and the neighbors everywhere, and she hasn’t even hurt them.

They are not in a corral however. They sit outside at the tack room and are used for graining. As far as actual feeding goes we have a big feeder and a big feed bunk.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

I only use rubber ones and feed from the stall floor.
Best is no sharp edges, and if stepped on you can stomp it back into shape easily.
I bought mine at Tractor Supply...about 6+ years ago when I got fed up with flat-back bucket or angled buckets my horses literally scraped their teeth on the bottom so much they made holes, cracked and leaked.
I feed mushy, wet feed so choose to not have weeping pans that wet my bedding.
These are what I have..
Smaller and shallower is 2 gallon or 8 quart size. The deeper one is 6.5 gallon and with the deeper sides my horses feed does not slosh as I mix it or carry into their stall with a warm slop made..















_


https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/fortex-rubber-pan-2-gal-capacity-black?cm_vc=-10005




https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/tuff-stuff-products-heavy-duty-feed-pan-7-gal?cm_vc=-10005


_You can buy them in nearly any store, not just feed supply places.
Both of these have been living a hard life with my goons stomping on them at times and so far....no issue and not experiencing that "thread" thing either. 
I do find the smaller pan I have seems to have a thicker bottom/base part...
🐴...


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## Colt17 (Aug 7, 2017)

ACinATX said:


> I use the black rubber ones. Well, actually I also have the plastic buckets that hang over a vertical surface like a stall bar.
> 
> For feeding on the ground, I only want rubber. I'm afraid the plastic would make shards if they ever stepped on it.


My horse at age two flipped a plastic feeding pan up side down then stepped on it. The pan cracked like a pair of chinese fingers with his front leg stuck in the pan. Lucky he did not panick as there was no way the pan would come off. He could have really injured himself. When I got home he was standing there and looked at me like "I could use a little help". When I saw the problem, I was concerned he was cut or had tendon damage. I got the pan off and he was fine. I would stick to the rubber.


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