Steve Osborne build some long before Bob and I did before Steve.

A fella named Bob Mackin, had some vaccum formed drawer cages somewhere in the late seventies. I built mine in the early seventies. STeve Osbornes cages were a great approach and well done. He built a hardwood wall of cages.

After I had used them for years, I was asked at a IHS meeting, what I had learned from this type cage. I said, you don't need the cage part. All you "need" is the drawer. The cage part, is the fun part. Now its all about the drawer, sans the fun part.

I have some old pics somewhere of three and four alterna heads sticking out of the hole at the same time. They would sit in the drawers and watch the outside world.

What I am hoping for with these cages is the ability to utilize the temps we see in the field. The average hog found crawling feels warm to hot. The hogs in my cages at aprox. 85F feel cool to the touch. I have recorded body temps as high as 106F with in situ hogs. Most are in the ninties. Once they cool from there, they go down. I will be able to mimic underground and surface temps.

I believe Bob did all manner of interesting cages, like tubes leading to other cages and to outside areas.

Just going back to our roots.

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