Patent ID: 8015944

Claim:
An animal feeder comprising: a first end wall and a second end wall arranged in a spaced apart relation to form a pair of end walls; a feed hopper including first and second side walls interposed between an upper portion of said pair of end walls at an upper end thereof, said first side wall having a ledge region extending from a first lower edge thereof and a second side wall having a second lower edge thereof terminating at a position above and spaced apart from said ledge region to define a feed gate opening; a feed gate positionable relative to said feed gate opening said feed gate having a first end adjacent said first end wall and a second end adjacent said second end wall; a gate linkage having: a first indexing mechanism; a first connecting member interconnecting said first indexing mechanism and said feed gate to selectively locate said first end of said feed gate relative to said feed gate opening in a first set of discrete feed gate positions; a second indexing mechanism; and a second connecting member interconnecting said second indexing mechanism and said feed gate to selectively locate said second end of said feed gate relative to said feed gate opening in a second set of discrete feed gate positions independent of said first end of said feed gate; a feed trough including third and fourth side walls and a bottom wall interposed between a lower portion of said pair of end walls; and an agitation mechanism disposed within said hopper, said agitation mechanism having an agitation element loosely supported adjacent said feed gate opening and an actuator extending through said feed gate opening into said feed trough above said bottom wall.