Patent ID: 8360004

Claim:
A bale feeder, comprising: a support having a pivot axis positioned relative to a ground surface; a housing having a peripheral sidewall defining an elongated bale receiving interior cavity with an access opening providing access to the interior cavity, wherein the housing is configured to enclose all of a bale positioned within the interior cavity except for a portion that protrudes from the access opening in order to protect the bale from environmental spoilage due to sun and rain, the housing being pivotally supported by the support for movement between a loading position and a feeding position, wherein the loading position is substantially horizontal with respect to the ground surface and the feeding position is substantially vertical with respect to the ground surface, and wherein the interior cavity has a longitudinal axis that is perpendicular to the pivot axis of the support; and an elongated bale retainer positioned at the access opening to retain the bale when the housing is in the feeding position, wherein the bale retainer is connected to a periphery of the access opening and is configured to extend across the access opening and connect to an opposite periphery of the access opening, and wherein, when the bale retainer is connected to the opposite periphery of the access opening, the bale retainer retains the bale within the housing while leaving portions of the access opening unobstructed to provide animals with access to the bale for feeding; wherein, when the housing is in the feeding position, the longitudinal axis of the interior cavity is oriented vertically with respect to the ground surface, with the access opening being oriented downwardly toward the ground surface to allow a bale in the interior cavity to be gravity fed toward the bale retainer; wherein, when the housing is in the loading position, the longitudinal axis of the interior cavity is oriented horizontally with respect to the ground surface, with the access opening being oriented substantially horizontally for improved loading access; wherein the housing is stoppable in the loading position to stabilize the housing during loading of a bale; and wherein the housing is lockable in the feeding position to stabilize the housing during feeding.