Lane width for moving cattle to working pens

[IndianCreekcowboy]

Just curious those of you with bigger operations that are using lanes for moving cattle from one pasture to a central sorting working area. What is ideal width to allow cows to travel 1/4 to 3/4 mile, probably most of time will be pushed by ATV or SxS from rear occasionally horseback, but would also like wide enough for pickup and tractor, yet not too wide for cows to get back by you. 12 feet 16 feet 20 feet or other. Thanks.

 

[cowboy43]

From my experience if too wide it will always be a few that will turn back on you and before you know it the whole herd has run past you. My lane is 30 ft and it is to wide. If using horses it can be wider but on foot or 4 wheeler I think 12 ft would work better.

 

[highgrit]

We're not a big operation but 16` is as small as we go. My disc and seed drill is 14' wide and I need to use the alleys for roads.

 

[IndianCreekcowboy]

Yes, I plan to make double duty out of them as well for roads for truck and haying with tractor and bushhogging and other implements.

 

[dun]

12 to 16 foot, 10 if your gates are that narrow.

 

[Rniemann]

I like 24 ft. Good for equipment and cattle.

 

[TN Cattle Man]

I'm probably going to be the odd one out int his discussion, but our main alley that basically connects a majority of the rotation fields is 32' Wide. On both ends we have 2 18' gates that we can close off or direct cattle with. The cows get used to using it as this is where the feed bunks are as well. What makes it nice is the fact that we can drive any of our equipment in the alley as well. When bringing in a lot of cattle to be worked, the alley also works as a holding pen until we can work them in the corrals. We have a pretty unique set-up and you would probably have to see it to understand exactly how it works.

 

[Angus Cowman]

I'm probably going to be the odd one out int his discussion, but our main alley that basically connects a majority of the rotation fields is 32' Wide. On both ends we have 2 18' gates that we can close off or direct cattle with. The cows get used to using it as this is where the feed bunks are as well. What makes it nice is the fact that we can drive any of our equipment in the alley as well. When bringing in a lot of cattle to be worked, the alley also works as a holding pen until we can work them in the corrals. We have a pretty unique set-up and you would probably have to see it to understand exactly how it works.

I am with you mine were always 30 to 60 ft wide
I guess it depends on how many head your moving
I could move 200 pairs thru a 60 ft easily with 1 person behind and 30 ft was easy
If moving over 200 ft I would go NO LESS Than 30' that gives you enough room to get by a cow or also turn a truck around if needed

 

[dun]

With cows the width isn;t nearly as important. They know the drill and will come running if I yell and wave a white stick over my head. The yell is to catch their attention, the white stick is because we use white posts for the temp polywire and the think they're gonna be going somewhere new so they're in a hurry to get there first. Calves are just generally PITA, don;t know the routine, they get to that I'm gonna ignore mom stage and are always looking for some way to cause some devilment

 

[Stocker Steve]

14" for sorting lanes
24' min for equipment lanes, get a white PVC pipe if you are on foot

 

[cowboy43]

After reading all comments the answer is , each person operates differently so you select the width that works best for you, the main thing is to have a lane, I have a neighbor with 500 acres with no cross fences with pen sitting out in the middle, I have never seen how he does it but he works his cows each year and later pens all cattle to sell his calves . A sack of cubes works a miracle with cows.

 

[Angus Cowman]

After reading all comments the answer is , each person operates differently so you select the width that works best for you, the main thing is to have a lane, I have a neighbor with 500 acres with no cross fences with pen sitting out in the middle, I have never seen how he does it but he works his cows each year and later pens all cattle to sell his calves . A sack of cubes works a miracle with cows.

Alot of the different answers come from different sizes of herds a d the neccesity to move them different distances

If moving 50 hd of cows a 1/4 mile 20 ft is fine but if moving 200 pus pairs 1/2 mile or more a wider alley works better as you can keep the cows more bunched up and not as strung out and in the narrower alley they will feel more restricted and try and turn back and they will also put more pressure on the alley fences
You have to build it to suit your operation I have built several and never rebuilt one because it was to wide but have rebuilt several for people that were to narrow
Cattle will flow better where they feel the least restricted

 

[bird dog]

I don't really think it matters much. Mine is only 10' because that is as wide as the gate is that goes into the pens. The lane is about 500 yards long coming up from a 1/2 acre catch area. I let the cows roam through it freely ever so often so they are familiar with it. When its time to catch them, it just take one going up the lane and the rest follow. It works for me with about 45 pairs. I'm sure it would need to be wider with a lot more cattle but with it narrow, its easy to work with a 4 wheeler.

 

[Lucky_P]

16' here. Wouldn't go less; couple of angled turns are a tight squeeze for the lime/fertilizer truck to get through.
Hard right turn into gates is tight for some vehicles/implements.

 

[cowgirl8]

Wide enough to get a shredder through.. We have one alleyway to the corrals, but only one herd uses is, the rest use the road. That alleyway is also used for cattle who stay penned up for a while, we use it for grazing. Its pretty long, maybe 1/4 mile and is about 15 ft wide.