Metal or wood corral

[CKC1586]

Before everything is graven in stone (and set in concrete) use your setup a couple of times even if it's just to mess around a little with the cows to see how everything works. Once it's finalized if you find something you want different it's pretty much too late. Continuous fence from some place like GoBob or even heavy duty (or if your cows are calm) medium weight corral panels work for getting things right

Great advise! I have gone down the woulda coulda shoulda road!!!

 

[backhoeboogie]

My first were wood. Mostly because of cost. It all went up in smoke during the brush fire of '90. I've gone metal everything since then. Good thing too. Couldn't have afforded to do that back when. It is one of those pay me now or pay me later type of things IMHO.

 

[Brute 23]

Either or... There have been plenty of cattle ran thru both. An option is to have a trap or lane to hold some of your cattle. It could help keep the size down.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Made mine out of drill stem years ago still just as stout.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Made mine out of drill stem years ago still just as stout.

It's too bad I didn't buy ten miles of drill stem back when. Couldn't afford it back then. Now it has to be checked for radiation and most goes to Mexico.

 

[Kingfisher]

I suggest using steel guard rail on rr tie posts. The guard rail gives you the benefits of steel but the opacity of wood boards. But buy real guard rail not the light weight immitation and put rr tie posts every 6'-3" to Match std hole spacing on rails. Makes life much easier. Good luck. Jim

Where do you get guard rail? Wait..........where do you buy guard rail?

 

[stockbub]

I saw one out of guard rails. It was cool, but do not kow where they got it.

 

[Kingfisher]

I saw one out of guard rails. It was cool, but do not kow where they got it.

We use to Porsche club race with some dudes that were from Co I think. That is what they did, They owned a guard rail manufacturing plant. I don't know what it costs but I know they ship it by the train car load..........

I have another friend that's dad bought him a plant in Junction that makes the reflectors you see on the road bed. They make em out of recycle glass. They ship them by the train load too..............

 

[alisonb]

How about steel cabling and pipes - has anyone tried that? I have seen it at work at our local auction and it seems to hold back the wildest of animals. My one concern about it though is possible injuries?

 

[BRYANT]

I run a welding business and have built some working pens . What no one is saying about guard rail is it will cut cattle up real bad if the spacing is to wide or they can hit the sharp side in any way I DON'T LIKE IT !!!

 

[alisonb]

I took a couple of pics at the local auction today. There is not much that is going to get through or over this holding pen. Apart from being strong it is neat and low maintainence. Can anybody see any problems with this set up?

 

[Caustic Burno]

I wouldn't use that set up with Tigers, I would think to many injuries from them trying it. Not that it wouldn't hold them, I would worry when fight or flight kicked in.

 

[BRYANT]

Can anybody see any problems with this set up?

I never would cut holes in the pipe like they did ,I would use clips, it makes for a rust problem and wasp problem. Also I would not build working pens with cable in Okla. where our tempture can be -30 then in a few days be 110 you need to put springs or the cable will break . Then if you have springs if a bull hits them hard enough he can bust through. I have built a lot of working pens with 4" corners and gate post ,2 3/8" line post ,top rail, middle rail, and bottom rail then weld the heavy wire stock panel on that, I always go 6' tall . New pipe no oilfield pipe that has had salt water in it , it will rust out from the inside out. In the long run I think this is the best deal for the money.Just how I do it others will have their way but this works for us and we have Brahman and Brahman cross

 

[novatech]

Keep in mind that it is what the cattle perceive as being impenetrable, not you. That wire may stop them but an excited animal cannot see it and may end up causing injuries. I have seen many old rotten wood corals hold cattle only because the cattle did not know they were rotten. I have given height to corals, stopping jumpers, with the addition of PCV pipe at the top.
Going back to the original question; Metal has it's advantages but only if it is heavy metal. By heavy I mean oil field pipe. The stuff made today and sold at TSC and the like, in my opinion, is junk that will rust out in no time. Oil field pipe has enough thickness to last. My pipe pens were originally erected in the 60's. Except for needing grease they are as good today as the day they were first erected. The draw back to pipe is that it has no give. When cattle hit it hard it can cause injury. The other thing is that it can become hard to climb quickly when you get cow crap on the bottom of your boots. If you make a mistake in design pipe can be expensive to change if you do not do it yourself.
Wood corrals do not have the longevity of good drill stem. Wood is much more elastic and easier on the cattle when they hit it. Wood because of it's width looks to the cattle that it is more substantial so they resist the urge to hit it. Cattle strange to the corral seem to work easier in wood corrals, in my experience. Wood is also easier to get over when the need arises, running from the cow or just needing to get over for what ever reason. Wood is also much easier and less expensive for the average person to redo if you find out you need to change something.

 

[BRYANT]

Metal has it's advantages but only if it is heavy metal. By heavy I mean oil field pipe. The stuff made today and sold at TSC and the like, in my opinion, is junk that will rust out in no time. Oil field pipe has enough thickness to last.

You had better know your "oil field pipe" its not all good, with new structal pipe you know what it is when you buy it. Some oil field pipe ,the cheap junk , I will not even do a job with. A lot of it has liners or parafin [ may not have spelled it right] in it or salt will eat it from the inside. I have seen it look good on the outside that was so thin you could hit it with a chipping hammer and knock a hole through it. I can get some pictures of some that was used on a fence that looked good but now ever few feet it is missing a couple feet of top rail cause it rusted out from the inside. All pipe is not the same trust me this is not my first time down this road

Keep in mind that it is what the cattle perceive as being impenetrable

Very important less they can see through the less they will try to go through.

 

[Brute 23]

There are several things that seperate good and bad oilfield pipe. One is if its rod cut.... came off a pumpimg unit and the rods wear thin spots in the pipe. The other is H2S and CO2. You get carbonic acid and it will eat thru production equip and your down hole pipe. There is also a bacteria that can be transmitted like as STD from well to well that can do damage to pipe.