Got the new fence up back in the woods(1/3 mile). It was a big project that I don't think I could have tackled without the help of my pasture leaser. He and I worked Wednesday, Thursday and Friday getting pull posts in place, t-posts driven and, top and bottom barbwire stretched and cattle panels hung. The wife and I worked 16 hours Saturday and Sunday tying it all up(really impressed she hung in with me for that long). 94 16' panels x 13 ties per panel = 1222 individual ties......my hands are just now getting back to normal.
The place will really look nice when you're done, and by staying on top of things, it'll lool nice for a long, long time! It looks like you are doing it right!!
That actually looks like a lot of fun to me. Especially that caterpillar bulldozer but I would have probably "accidentally" had to much fun ramming into things and would turn my property into a desert with it.
O.k. for the ignorant among us what is a "cattle guard" and how does it work? I have a guess but...
Awesome pics. Thanks for sharing! Interesting that the fencing is done differently than up here. At least the way my dad and I have done it. Here the fencing comes in rolls and we stretch it as we put it up.
And we use limestone and crushed limestone for our lanes up here. I guess it's depends on what is available.
Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 01/12/1510:59 AM.
If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.
A cattle guard is a grating with large enough openings that cattle won't walk over it but you can drive a vehicle or walk yourself if you step on the bars. A series of horizontal metal bars evenly spaced at a few inches with a space under it. They're used all the time in cattle country- the farm lane crosses a fence line but you don't want to put a gate, so you put in a cattle guard.
A cattle guard is a grating with large enough openings that cattle won't walk over it but you can drive a vehicle or walk yourself if you step on the bars. A series of horizontal metal bars evenly spaced at a few inches with a space under it. They're used all the time in cattle country- the farm lane crosses a fence line but you don't want to put a gate, so you put in a cattle guard.
Just to add.....over time, the hole under the guards fill in making them ineffective which is why Tbar is "cleaning out and resetting" his.
love cattle guards....no getting out to open the gate!
I'm with Cecil on the fence building also. I've never seen panels used for an entire run.
Last edited by sprkplug; 01/12/1509:03 AM.
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
love cattle guards....no getting out to open the gate!
I'm with Cecil on the fence building also. I've never seen panels used for an entire run.
I've never seen panels for a run either. We used them for pen enclosures. I guess they make sense from the stand point you can get by with all metal posts (instead of every other wood) as there is no need for rigid retention points to maintain a "stretch" as you would with woven wire.
O.k. for the ignorant among us what is a "cattle guard" and how does it work? I have a guess but...
Awesome pics. Thanks for sharing! Interesting that the fencing is done differently than up here. At least the way my dad and I have done it. Here the fencing comes in rolls and we stretch it as he put it up.
And we use limestone and crushed limestone for our lanes up here. I guess it's depends on what is available.
Cecil, the cattle guards are in the road at the cross fences that separate pastures. They keep the cows where you want them without the inconvenience of having to get out to open and close gates. The one at the front gate is just insurance in case the gate gets left open. Cows won't walk across them for fear of tangling their feet.
Regarding the fencing material cattle panels are not normally used for this application, the roll material is. In my case I chose the panels because they are much heavier gauge wire and I was putting t-posts every 8'. Also I didn't want to cut my trees back to the recommended 50' either side of the fence(I like my trees) so if a limb falls and damages the fence its easy to replace a panel.
What are the heavy, corner "pull" posts for then? Do you anticipate changing out the fence for rolled fencing in the future?
We never cut our trees back either. When the fence got damaged, we spliced in a repair.
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
I was guessing the corner posts were to pull barb wire and to provide some stability at the ends.
That would also be my thought, were rolled fencing to be used. That's the way we do it anyway. Just curious if Texans have a better way to build a fence....always up for learning something new!
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
We never cut our trees back either. When the fence got damaged, we spliced in a repair.
We did the same, but we always had a wood post at least every 16 feet so we did not loose the stretch on the entire run. The wood posts also gave us something to pull the patch against. We used single wire stretchers on each wire of the patch. Not perfect, but not too bad either.
Patching was something we did a couple times a year. We had a field that was along a highway and it seemed folks always choose our fence to drive thru!
A cattle guard is a grating with large enough openings that cattle won't walk over it but you can drive a vehicle or walk yourself if you step on the bars. A series of horizontal metal bars evenly spaced at a few inches with a space under it. They're used all the time in cattle country- the farm lane crosses a fence line but you don't want to put a gate, so you put in a cattle guard.
Thanks. Makes a lot of sense.
If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.
O.k. for the ignorant among us what is a "cattle guard" and how does it work? I have a guess but...
Awesome pics. Thanks for sharing! Interesting that the fencing is done differently than up here. At least the way my dad and I have done it. Here the fencing comes in rolls and we stretch it as he put it up.
And we use limestone and crushed limestone for our lanes up here. I guess it's depends on what is available.
Cecil, the cattle guards are in the road at the cross fences that separate pastures. They keep the cows where you want them without the inconvenience of having to get out to open and close gates. The one at the front gate is just insurance in case the gate gets left open. Cows won't walk across them for fear of tangling their feet.
Regarding the fencing material cattle panels are not normally used for this application, the roll material is. In my case I chose the panels because they are much heavier gauge wire and I was putting t-posts every 8'. Also I didn't want to cut my trees back to the recommended 50' either side of the fence(I like my trees) so if a limb falls and damages the fence its easy to replace a panel.
Again makes a lot of sense. Ya learn somethin' every day!
If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.
What are the heavy, corner "pull" posts for then? Do you anticipate changing out the fence for rolled fencing in the future?
We never cut our trees back either. When the fence got damaged, we spliced in a repair.
Think of the corner post as an anchor. It gives a solid point to hold the fence tight. Corner posts should never move or lean (ideally).
Yeah, I get that. That was the reason for my query...using panels doesn't require any stretching or pulling, so I didn't see the reason for braced double posts on the ends. Panels simply stand up and are fastened.
In the last photo, I don't see any stranded wire, just the panels. But if there is barbed wire used top and bottom, which must be stretched or pulled, then the braced corner posts makes sense. We always braced our corner posts, and they were usually heavier than the posts in the run. But, we were using barbed wire also, and pulling it tight as we went.
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.
Hey Tbar, I am also fairly new here. I just built a pond in Harrison Co. Are u adding the panels to help control the wild hogs? Do u have a hog problem in that area?
Do not judge me by the politicians in my City, State or Federal Government.
I wish those darn cattle guards weren't so expensive, me being a city-boy I told the guy leasing our grazing rights "hey instead of putting up a fence lets run that one side all the way down with cattle guards to make it appear as an "invisible fence". he said "boy you know how much dat would cost?"
I was kind of half-joking but wish I could do that. I need a 16 foot cattle guard for the front gate.
That's shocking Cecil had never heard of a cattle guard? I wonder if that has something to do with snow and ice in the winter? But heck they use them in Colorado.
They use em' in Indiana also. But, tongue-in-cheek, I will say that in the part of Indiana that I'm from, the philosophy on fence building appears somewhat different than what I'm seeing in Texas.
My family's take on the matter was that steel and concrete costs money, while sweat is cheap. And, I would imagine that the operations are larger in Texas than what we see here. To that end, not many around these parts have cattle guards....it's cheaper for the guy riding shotgun to get out and open the gate. As a boy, I longed to replace our gates with cattle guards. ......rode shotgun a lot.
"Forget pounds and ounces, I'm figuring displacement!"
If we accept that: MBG(+)FGSF(=)HBG(F1) And we surmise that: BG(>)HBG(F1) while GSF(<)HBG(F1) Would it hold true that: HBG(F1)(+)AM500(x)q.d.(=)1.5lbGRWT? PB answer: It depends.