Building a Pen. I need Suggestions (Photos?)

[backhoeboogie]

Alaska, any grass?

There is tons of it in the warm months. You've never seen it grow so fast. Thick bladed grass too. As a Kid climbing the bluffs at Kenai, I cut my hand many times grabbing blades of grass until I finally learned not to do that. Now that I think about it, it is amazing that grass of that type grew on the slopes of the bluff.

 

[Horticattleman]

what scares you about barbed wire?

I would use barbed wire, but an easy way is also to use electric. Cheap, easy, but I wouldn
t know how snow could affect it. It only snows for a second or two every 5 years down here.

also, if you are using grass clippings, make sure the grass hasn't been treated with insecticides, fungicides, etc. you guys sound very "earthy" so I assume you don't use that, but make sure it wasn't sprayed in the past.

p.s. how does a lawn mower make the grass gros?

 

[ToddFarmsInc]

One acre of pen for one cow will be a dry lot in a short amount of time. ( dry lot = bare ground) Electric fence will work fine. As for the preformance in the winter time, KS is pretty well known for having some cold wet winters, and they work well with snow, and with frozen ground. Also, cattle learn quickly with electric fences, and they don't spend a lot of time testing them once they've been bit. I will go for days sometimes not even running my electric fence. They just don't challange them if they have been bit before.

With the comments about the grass clippings, it sounds like you are organic orentated. That's fine, but you will need to feed your cow more than grass clippings, or she will soon become mal nurished. She will require suppliments and a higher protien content supliment. I recomend a molasis lick tub. Also rock salt is important as well.

Cattle don't "crib" like horses do. (if you have ever pryed their mouth open, you will find only one row of teeth in a cow, the bottom, horses have two rows, uppers and lowers. Thats why cattle don't grub pastures down as badly as horses do.) If you decide to put up lumber for a fence, they won't chew it. However they lean with all their bodily weight against something if they can maybe reach a little bit of grass on the other side. (with the exception of new barbed wire, and electric fences) I would be concerned that a 2X4 wouldn't be substantial enough. 2X6 maybe. Also make sure that when you place the boards for cattle you place them on the inside of the posts, so when they are pushed against, they push on the posts, and they don't just pull the nails out.

You also mentioned not wanting to spend a lot of money on the containment. People here mention buying treated posts for fence, sounds expensive. My area, lot of Hedge (osage orange) trees are used for posts. They will last 50 years easliy in the ground without being treated. Also I have seen Railroad ties used for corrall posts. They are heavy, pretreated with creasoat, and will last 20 years without too much problem. You might be able to find them for free, or cheep.

 

[J. T.]

Barbed wire would be sufficient to hold your cow. As already stated, cows don't require room to play. Breeding and eating is all that's on a cow's mind. Barbed wire goes up fairly quick and easy. Brace it properly and place line posts about 12 feet apart and the fence should give you satisfactory service. Set your brace posts 4 feet deep and tamp the dirt in real firm. If using concrete to set the posts, coat the lower part of the post with roofing tar. Concrete, when in direct contact with treated lumber, will cause the wood to rot. Drive in steel posts as your line posts. Four to five strands of wire will work just fine. Wish I could come lend y'all a hand! Never been to Alaska.

 

[Irishred]

Just to chime in on a little something here. I believe paulandashia's reluctance to use barbed wire are younger kids that would be playing near the cow's pen on the back yard, yes?

I understand where the fear is coming from. We have a line of barbed wire across the back of our yard. The owner's use the field behind our house for corn and wheat but will use it for cows when they have a severe problem in another field. This has happened once in almost 4 years and that was because we had an abundance of rain one month that flooded one of the other fields. Anyway, When the kids are out playing we do have to keep an eye on them and how close they get to the wire, especially the 1.5 year old. My DH has a tendency to panic a bit but he does that with the kids about other stuff a lot more than I do, LOL. I am actually teaching them what fences are electrified (they bite), and where to touch both powered (handles) and non powered (watch the pokies) AND that they should not play next to either of them.

A suggestion if you are worried about kids and barbed wire. Not sure about your configuration but could you run barbed down the sides and back and the part that would be near the kids playing area/towards the house be the cow fence? That would be just a few panels of the fence and the rest would be less expensive with wire then. May be easier to put in a gate when dealing with multiple lines of wire too.

(Been keeping up with this for when we can get a milk cow )

 

[chippie]

Our children (all 5 of them) grew up with barb wire fences (from birth until now - the youngest is 15 and the oldest is 23). Our yard had a barb wire fence because the house sat in the middle of the pasture.

We have never had any problems other than shirts getting torn when crawling through the fences occasionally.

I would hope that toddlers would be supervised and not turned loose to play outside.

 

[paulandashia]

Hi Guys.
It's been a few days, and I have some bad news.
Something terrible has happened, and our New addition will not be joining our family after all.

The place that was keeping her for us had a butcher come in to "do" one of the older cows, and she was "accidentally mistaken" for her.
I spent 2 hours crying my eyes out, I am SO upset and angry over this.

So, again, we are cowless.

Since it has taken me well over a year to find this one, and I never even got to bring her home, I think I'm done with Cows.
I'm afraid we're going to end up going with Goats after all.


*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
I wish I could just find a GOOD family Milk-Cow..!!!
WHY IS THAT SO FLIPPIN HARD..????
All I want, is a young, mellow, halter-broke Jersey!!!
I wouldn't even mind if we had to buy her down in the states somewhere.
I would be willing to pay for her to be trailered up here.!!!
Does anyone have any idea if there IS a place, perhaps in Washington or Oregon or something that I can do that?
I'm sorry that I'm ranting. I'm just a bit upset, dissapointed, and hurt right now.

 

[T-Bro]

paulandashia, don't get discouraged. Bad things happen sometimes.
I'll share a true story with you about a co-worker of mine.
We'll call him Jeff.
Jeff's family had two pet dogs. One of these dogs was very old, going blind, sick, etc.
All the old dog had done for several days was lay down in the garage. Of course, the other dog was young, energetic, and loved to play with Jeff's kids.
Jeff's wife had been on him to do something about the old dog because she felt he was suffering, but Jeff had a golf weekend with his buddies set up.
So he called a friend (not me) who got him in contact with the county animal control officer. Jeff told the ACO that the old dog would be in the garage when the ACO arrived. The ACO told Jeff not to worry, he'd take care of the old dog.
Jeff left on a Friday morning for his golf trip. The ACO arrived a Jeff's house to pick up the old dog. Prior to his arrival, though, the old dog had managed to get up, walk around to the back yard behind the shed, lay down and die. When the ACO got to Jeff's house, he picked up the dog that he found in the garage... the young dog with no problems.
Jeff's wife called him and told him that the ACO had picked up the old dog (because she didn't see it in the garage anymore).
They didn't notice that the young dog was missing until the next day.
When Jeff got home, he found the old dog behind the shed, deduced what had happened, and frantically tried to get ahold of the ACO.
When he finally reached him, it was too late. The young dog had already been put to sleep.
I have other Jeff stories for another time.

 

[jonbri55]

I totally agree with the galvanized cattle panels and hot wire-it works great! Also, unless you keep her pen really clean all the time (kind of hard in the winter, I know), you might lose your trees due to too much fertilizer-changes the pH of the soil and kills the trees. ***Watch out for those grass clippings too. They can ferment and be too hot for the cow. Horses have a harder time, I know, but I would still be concerned with the cow. Have fun with her! Nothing like fresh milk!

 

[jonbri55]

Oh, wow, I'm sorry, I guess I didn't read all of the posts! That is too bad about the cow it's never easy to lose an animal. I use cattle panels for my goats and it works great. They are so easy to put up. You probably won't need the hot wire. But you will need at least 2 goats-they get REAL lonely if left by themselves. And goats really need a little shelter-they don't like to get wet and won't fare as well as a cow in the weather. Good luck with everything.