Pens

[icandoit]

Learned something the hard way this past winter with all the rain weve had. When I bought this place, all the pens were in at the back of the barn about in the center of the property. Well, with the rain, it was and still is darn near impossible to get back to the pens. I'm weaning some calves right now and I really can't get back there to get them and take them to another pasture. Soooo, this summer I'm going to rebuild the pens closer to the road to get better access. That ought to do the trick. Live and learn.

Dick

 

[dun]

I'm an advoacte of using temp pens the first few years when first taking over a place. I hate putting the time, money and effort into permanent facilities that may not be ideal. You gotta live with a place for a while before you can determine the optimum lay out.

dun

 

[KenB]

Learned something the hard way this past winter with all the rain weve had. When I bought this place, all the pens were in at the back of the barn about in the center of the property. Well, with the rain, it was and still is darn near impossible to get back to the pens. I'm weaning some calves right now and I really can't get back there to get them and take them to another pasture. Soooo, this summer I'm going to rebuild the pens closer to the road to get better access. That ought to do the trick. Live and learn.

Dick

If you have good pens now why not grade or gravel the access to them? I would think having the pens near the barn, and in the center of the property would be ideal. (plus more secure)

 

[Dap]

You might find out that there's a reason all the pens were located where they were. I know at my place I would wonder why gates were in certain locations, or why cross fences went one way and not another. After about 5 years of working cattle there it all made a lot more sense. I've made a few changes, but not a lot.

 

[Cowdirt]

I'm an advoacte of using temp pens the first few years when first taking over a place. I hate putting the time, money and effort into permanent facilities that may not be ideal. You gotta live with a place for a while before you can determine the optimum lay out.

dun

I agree dun. You'll find after moving cows around on a place that they have preferred moving habits. It's much better to use their preferences to your advantage. Otherwise it's like trying to push a rope.

 

[Arnold Ziffle]

Dick, do you mean that you are unable to drive your truck & trailer back there to load the calves, due to the constantly wet conditions? Do you have a tractor? If so, why don't you just put a ball on a drawbar and then use the tractor to pull the trailer & calves to your weaning pasture ? (granted, it might rut up your pastures a bit)

And remember that the closer to the road the pens are, the more inviting your place and cattle might be to thieves.

 

[icandoit]

First, thanks for the responses. I see the wisdom in keeping your pens in the center. The problem is I have to go over about a 1/4 acre of my hay patch to get to them. Your right, the ruts are deep at that point. I guess I could give up that 1/4 acre and just make it for access to the barn and pens. Fence off from the barn to the cross fence on the patch might just work out. Bring in some good road base ( i have access to it cheap), spread it around and kind of firm things up.One other problem is that the hay patch slopes from back to front up to a creek that crosses the property and when it rains heavy, it turns into a river going straight through my pens. Up at the road I could leave a couple of rows of trees between the road and the pens to deter the thievery. The house we built is within about 75 yds of where I would put the pens. Sorry this is so long but I thought I should try to explain the situation.


Thanks
Dick

 

[dcara]

I had a simialr problem getting hay rolls to my cows. Soooo... while it was wet I used temp panels to build a hay alley out in the pasture. Reinforced with with a few Tposts. 10 ft wide and 100 ft long. First dry spell we had I moved 10 rolls of hay in to it. Now, once a week I just remove a couple of side panels, and move the end panel down to expose another couple of rolls, and set the rings on them. Tie the extra panels to a nearby tree until its dry enough to move them out with the tractor. Takes me less than 15 minutes by hand. The cows are busy with range cudes to keep them out of my way in the process.