Another fence question regarding highway guard rails?

[Bambi_terror]

I would like to thank you all who have responded to my earlier post. I did a search on this site and came up with a 52 inch height for a pasture fence but not much on above topic. I will be fencing a small section for a corral with some highway guard rails and wanted to know what height, spacing is required to make sure that it will be escape proof. This is going to be a small corral that I will put any new cattle or cattle that need to be worked and not worry about escapes. Otherwise the rest of the pasture will be high tension with electric charger. I am just not sure if two guard rails (my plan) will be adequate and would appreciate any input of those that do use guard rails in their set up as to the height, spacing, and number of guard rails required. I believe the peices that I have are about 12 inches wide by 13 1/2 feet long but not 100% sure on width. By the way, the plan is to lag these to the inside face of railroad ties except for one section that faces the road. I think that I will drill through the railroad ties and bolt the guard rail on the outside edge. Bad area since I have had two cars miss making the curve and drive into my yard in less than two years so far. I think this section would hold up better if another driver loses control and runs into the guard rail if they are mounted on the outside face of the railroad ties.

Thank you in advance for your responses.

 

[msscamp]

I did a search on this site and came up with a 52 inch height for a pasture fence but not much on above topic.

52" = 4.33' tall - not tall enough in my honest opinion. All fences should be at least 5' tall, and 6' is better - unless you're running high volt hot wire and your cattle are already fence trained.

I will be fencing a small section for a corral with some highway guard rails and wanted to know what height, spacing is required to make sure that it will be escape proof. This is going to be a small corral that I will put any new cattle or cattle that need to be worked and not worry about escapes.

We use the highway guard rails for our alleyways and most of the exterior fencing in one of our corrals. I can't give you the exact spacing without measuring, but we use 3 guard rails (I believe they are 12" wide) spaced apprx 6" apart (bottom rail is maybe 3-4" above the ground), the rails are welded to the inside of the posts, and topped with a iron pipe (probably 3" in diameter) spaced apprx 6-8 inches above the last guard rail. All posts are iron and are sunk to a depth of about 6-8' and the corner/end posts are cemented in - I'm not sure if the in-line posts are or not, I think some of them are. Final height of the fence is probably 5'6" high. Corner/end posts are apprx 8" in diameter, in-line posts are probably 6" in diameter. It's not cheap (hence only one corral as of now), but we've never had a cow (or bull) test them (please God, that is not a challenge!). We have, however, had a few cows try to go over the gates. I hope this helps!

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[backhoeboogie]

It's not cheap (hence only one corral as of now), but we've never had a cow (or bull) test them (please God, that is not a challenge!).

It is always cheaper to do it once and be done with it. No fire is going to take that corral out. If you have to hold an animal in a pen, you can do it. That is often life or death situations. You've done well.

 

[msscamp]

It's not cheap (hence only one corral as of now), but we've never had a cow (or bull) test them (please God, that is not a challenge!).

It is always cheaper to do it once and be done with it. No fire is going to take that corral out. If you have to hold an animal in a pen, you can do it. That is often life or death situations. You've done well.

Very true! Determined bulls cannot be held in these pens (they are 'penned' in the stock trailer until they can be delivered to the salebarn) because they can work the gates and usually win, but holding cows is not a problem! I wish I could take the credit, but I can't - it belongs to Dad - thanks anyway, though.

 

[CowpokeJ]

I would like to thank you all who have responded to my earlier post. I did a search on this site and came up with a 52 inch height for a pasture fence but not much on above topic. I will be fencing a small section for a corral with some highway guard rails and wanted to know what height, spacing is required to make sure that it will be escape proof. This is going to be a small corral that I will put any new cattle or cattle that need to be worked and not worry about escapes. Otherwise the rest of the pasture will be high tension with electric charger. I am just not sure if two guard rails (my plan) will be adequate and would appreciate any input of those that do use guard rails in their set up as to the height, spacing, and number of guard rails required. I believe the peices that I have are about 12 inches wide by 13 1/2 feet long but not 100% sure on width. By the way, the plan is to lag these to the inside face of railroad ties except for one section that faces the road. I think that I will drill through the railroad ties and bolt the guard rail on the outside edge. Bad area since I have had two cars miss making the curve and drive into my yard in less than two years so far. I think this section would hold up better if another driver loses control and runs into the guard rail if they are mounted on the outside face of the railroad ties.

Thank you in advance for your responses.

I'll try to miss the guardrails this time.

 

[Bambi_terror]

Thanks Msscamp for your reply, that is what I was afraid off. I think you are right, 52 inches is too low and I need to have at least three rows of rails to feel better. I do not think that you can do it with just two rails since I think they can either crawl under it, or the gap will be too big between the pair, or it will be just too low and they can jump it. I have to go now and get more rails or cut the overall length down and use cow panels along the high tension pasture. At least if they jump the panels, the electric hopefully will stop them. Wyoming is a beautiful state, been NW of Douglas once and been about an hour north of lusk and twenty miles due west along the cheyenne river after bambies.

CowpokeJ... I sure hope so, I think you've had enough practice by now!! :lol:

 

[msscamp]

Thanks Msscamp for your reply, that is what I was afraid off.

No problem.

I think you are right, 52 inches is too low and I need to have at least three rows of rails to feel better.

52" is not enough of a physical barrier to discourage jumping, and once they know they can jump it your problems multiply exponetially.

At least if they jump the panels, the electric hopefully will stop them.

I'm not sure if you're talking about electrifying the panels or not, but you need to remember that electric fence is more of a psychological barrier than a physical one. Once they know they can go through it, they will usually keep doing it unless they are pulled into a corral and fence trained with a solid fence behind the electric wire (been there, done that this past spring with a bunch of coming 2 year olds). Do yourself a favor and don't give them the opportunity.

Wyoming is a beautiful state, been NW of Douglas once and been about an hour north of lusk and twenty miles due west along the cheyenne river after bambies.

Thank you! It's been a lot of years since I was in Lusk but, if memory serves, it's maybe an hour and 1/2 northwest of where I live. I wish you the best of luck with your cattle!