Homemade cattleguard?

[PahRah]

Have any of you ever built a cattleguard? I hate having to open and close the gate across my driveway (and my GF can just barely do it). But the range cows seem to have some sort of psychic sense that brings them in from miles around if I ever leave the gate open.

It'd have to take the weight of the propane truck, and not injure any cows - Their owner is a bit of a SOB, and I'd hate to have to buy one of his critters.

I've thought about just leveling out the area and laying some 4x4s on the ground with a 2" or so gap between them and nailing a couple of 2x4s perpendicular across the tops to keep them from moving around. Any thoughts?

[egon]

Best buy a properly manufactured one and install it. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[PahRah]

I probably should buy a real one, but I need to set my mind at ease that there isn't a cheaper way before I drop the cash.

What worries me is that I'd have a nice cattleguard but a junky fence, so I'd have to replace that ... Once you start doing things right, who knows where you'll end up.

An old friend bought a nice new fishing boat, and then decided he couldn't tow the nice new boat with his junky old truck, and then realized his old camper looked silly on his new truck so he got a new camper too. I'm suprised he didn't end up with a new wife after all that.

[egon]

Hey, it all depends on where you wish to keep the cattle. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Pat]

You can build your own cattle guard but IF you don't weld and haven't got a cutting torch or plasma cutter or at least an abrasive cut off saw then youi will have a harder time building one yourself. Forget a few boards, you need steel. It isn't enough to just have a cattle guard, you have to install it properly or it just doesn't work. I have been there done that a couple times. You need to dig out a good sized trench under the guard. Just a guard a few inches in the air stops few cattle. I tried laying guards on top of RR ties and making graveled dirt ramps to match.. Looked great. Gave my wife and mom fits crossing them on foot but didn't deter calves or more than 1/2 the cows. It isn't trivial but doing it right once is still easier than doing it wrong and having to redo it to get it right.

Price a good strong solar fence charger (unless you have AC close to the gate. You can make an entry gate fixture (like you see at big ranches but doesn't have to be that big and it can be PVC or wood it you want. You dangle wires with rubber coated weights from the horizontal and all the wires are hot. You can drive through in a car or truck and not feel a thing but a cow will get a training shock tht will train them to avoid your gate. The wires need to come down to a couple feet of the ground.

There is also a system that has wands on either side each 1/2 the gate width. They are hinged so they self close but are so light you can drive through and they will be shoved out of the way by a vehicle. They are typically light weight fiberglass with soft rubber tips so they don't mar the vehicles finish. These are wired to the solar fence charger. It will keep stock from wanting anything to do with your gate.

These solar charger options can be way cheaper than a good commercial cattle guard.

Pat

[PahRah]

Thanks for the advice Pat. I'll look into the wand thingy. The winds out here are pretty brutal, so I think the dangling wires would swing back and forth a lot and be at the least pretty annoying to have to look at.

I re-hung the gate this weekend to be more plumb, which helps a lot.

What I really need is a better breed of cow that knows the difference between a weed and stuff I planted on purpose, and won't step on the irrigation system. In general I'm all for anything that turns flammable stuff into poop.