How to Make a Tractor Tire Hay Feeder

When tractor tires crack or get holes in them, they are no longer useful on the tractor. Most farmers pile them up in a location in the barn or send them to a place that will recycle them. Why discard an expensive tractor tire when you can make it into something useful? Old tractor tires can be given a new life as hay feeders for cattle, and garden tractor tires make great hay feeders for smaller animals. Tire hay feeders last for years and are convenient because they can be rolled to new locations. Have the wheel and inner tube removed from the tire before making a hay feeder.

Things You'll Need

  • Tractor tire
  • Leather gloves
  • Hacksaw
  • Dish soap
  • Towel
  • Drill
  • Drill bits
  • Carriage bolts
  • Nuts
  • Plywood
  • Concrete
  • Scissors
  • Utility knife or tin snips
  • Hay
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Instructions

    • 1

      Put on a pair of leather gloves. Remove the sidewall from one side of the tire with a hacksaw. Remove and discard the cut-out section.

    • 2

      Scrub the inside of the tire with water and dish soap to remove all residues. Rinse the tire with water and dry with a towel.

    • 3

      Drill 6 holes around the wheel hole of the uncut side of the tire. Thread a carriage bolt into each hole so the bolts point toward the center of the wheel hole. Secure the bolts to the tire with nuts.

    • 4

      Set the tire on top of a piece of plywood with the cut side of the tire facing up. Mix concrete to the manufacturer's instructions. Fill the center wheel hole of the uncut side of the tire with concrete so that the ends of the bolts are covered in concrete. Fill only up to the lip of the wheel hole with concrete. Let the concrete dry, then move the tire off the plywood.

    • 5

      Remove all rough edges from the cut edge of the tire with a utility knife or tin snips to prevent snags.

    • 6

      Place hay into the center of the tire.