A Sheep Feeder

Albertus Nicolaas Jansen van Rensburg , South Africa

A Sheep Feeder

Why is innovation interesting? I have no idea or maybe I do. The frustrations of finding something amiss, then the feelings of stupidity (the more I learn the dumber I get) and finally bloody hell it’s actually working, eventually.

Experience? What does that include? the successes and the disasters. I find both fascinating.

Well to me, my best innovation must be my sheep feeder. The story started when I decided that I would like to learn how to make cheese. I thought a big yard in the South African rural areas would be big enough to keep a cow, they say so in storybooks, and then learn to make cheese. A couple of months later and many kilometres of dirt roads I found what I thought would be the place.

Being able to get away from the city only once a month and hating lawn mowing, the place soon became overgrown and the neighbours were rightfully complaining. Not being able to buy a big cow I ended up having five sheep of the DAMARA breed, wild like hell but clever beyond believe. Within a month one of them managed to break into the food store, ate a whole bag of corn and died.

Three months later, the neighbour who volunteered to feed them regretted his generosity and no whiskey bribes worked all that well anymore. Then like usual at 2 am one morning (oh why oh why at that time) the idea of the feeder struck. Like usual the idea was riddled with flaws but a month later with the help of two friends and the input from a couple more I had a feeder.

It consists of a hopper equipped with a worm gear, driven by a cars wiper motor, because it has a gearbox. If only I had a greater knowledge of what is available on farms already I would have improved on the loading. Climbing a ladder with a 50 Kg dead weight is no fun quest; it is naturally easier to climb the ladder twice with 25 Kg at a time but using the reverse capabilities of the motor I could have refilled the thing with my feet safely on mother earth.

The sensor used to indicate low levels was also a bit daft. An infrared sensor to indicate low levels can also be triggered by sunrises and sunsets at certain times of the year as well as lightning strikes at certain distances away. This leads to unnecessary phone calls and the resultant unnecessary drive and the unnecessary playing sick from work.

To rig the phone was also a bit of fun. To find a spot on a phone of which you have no circuit diagram, to cause a short circuit is a daunting quest. With the help of a cars solenoid and some strange arrangements in a box you can use the speed dial system of the manufacturer.

All of this got eventually powered with solar energy, thanks to sunny South Africa's climate and a rather unreliable electricity provider who can really stuff up timing devices of the more mechanical type. Using a PLC makes it a lot easier to adjust the feeding quantities related to a few factors like birth and death rates, seasons etc. Don't forget the sheep was suppose to mow the lawn and if you give them a choice they will only eat corn or what ever boss is capable of letting supplement there diet through the machine.

The machine doesn't work however if you have geese. Those creatures get a kick out of electrocution or something like that, because they eat the wires and consume other electronic devices, such as infrared detectors. Their heads are capable of bending in strange ways, almost like a mechanics arms. Their skills at lawn mowing is much better than those of sheep and their re-fertilizing (shitting) abilities is beyond believe.

The lightning wiped out my flock of then six sheep. Being desert animals, preferring stones to grass, they must have lacked the instincts of not huddling under a tree during a thunderstorm.

The service provider for the SIM (nasty but MTN) that I used decided that my sheep didn't phone me for at least 3 minutes during a three-month window period and canceled the SIM. Even though at one stage I bought Receive a Lot recharge vouchers that entitled me reception for another two years after the date that they chose to cancel my SIM because they have changed their company policy. If only they returned the money left on the phone I would have been less peeved.

I now have a white elephant (literary white, made from white plastic since I wanted to learn the technique of plastic welding) standing in my yard. Five years ago it cost a little under R5000-00 to build, booboos included. Then you had to divide by ten for US$ now it is by seven. Since I can't patent the idea, only the design I don't mind sharing the concepts. If anybody sees a market for it, I'll be useful because of my knowledge of the booboos.

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