steel cable for cattle yards

[lukem86]

Havent gotten a price on cable yet but thought it might be an economical alternative to using panels or continuous fence panels for winter lot. I like the idea of being able to take it down and move it relatively easily if need be....

Will be feeding hay out of a pole building and want to make a rectangular "loafing" area 40'x100' or so, to keep the cows off the pasture in the muddy winter months.

Those of you that have used or seen cable fencing for cattle...
does it work well? how do you space cables? (im cow/calf but calves should be 5 or 6 weights by the time they will be in the yard) Is it best to weld a pipe on the top 5 or 6' high? Do you run the risk of one getting tangled up?

Just curious what you think, dont see too much of it in these parts... except over a bunk feeder.

 

[Herefordcross]

A friend of mine got some cable from the state road about 1/2" diameter and the stuff worked great if you could ever find a way to stretch it. They make crimp bolts for on the end of the things but, the only place we could find them would only sell them by the thousand.

 

[Auburn_Ag]

Lukem86

The Cullman Stockyard uses cable and it works real well.
The spacing is every 6 inches and they run it through steel pipe. they also use pipe for runners at the top, middle and bottom. I wish I had a picture to show you. Hope this Helps

Auburn_Ag

 

[J. T.]

Welcome Auburn_Ag!! WAR EAGLE!!!

 

[msscamp]

Those of you that have used or seen cable fencing for cattle...
does it work well?

The feedlot just south of us uses steel cable, and it seems to work well. They never have cattle out that I'm aware of and, since they butt up to the south end of our propery right beside a corn field, I'm fairly sure I would know. :lol: :lol: :lol: It looks like they spaced it similar to how one would space barbed wire, and I believe they drilled holes in the posts to string it through. Make your corrals at least 6' high (7 is better), and no need for the pipe. I can't say for certain, but I would think it would be highly unlikely an animal could get tangled up. I hope this helps.

 

[Travis B.]

The feedyard 3 miles from us uses cable. My dad works there and they have very few cattle that get out. It is put together about like the one msscamp posted about. Every once in a while a few will get to running and bust the cables and get out but that is a rare occasion. Hope this helps ya.

Travis Bryan

 

[dj]

Take a look in the fence gallery here
http://www.gobobpipe.com/fenceGallery/p ... C00891.htm
I won't cut holes your uprights. They make a little hangers, you can see them in the picture.

 

[lukem86]

Take a look in the fence gallery here
http://www.gobobpipe.com/fenceGallery/p ... C00891.htm
I won't cut holes your uprights. They make a little hangers, you can see them in the picture.

Funny you posted this... that is exactly where I got the idea from, was just curious if anyone had any experience with it. Thanks

 

[eric]

I've got about 3 miles of pipe and cable fencing, 5' hi with (5) 7/16" cables spaced evenly apart. Some I had done by a contractor, but the interior fences and hay pens and such I did myself. It has worked great so far, I chose the pipe/cable route because I wanted to keep the rural look and have something as little better looking than barbed wire and T-posts. We used 2 3/8" pipe for the vertical posts with a 2 3/8" pipe top rail. The only drawback I have come across is with the weaning pen. The cables wont keep a weaning calf in, but that was easily taken care of by running field fencing around the 100 x 100 ft pen we use for weaning calves. We also used the cable stays to hold up the cable. The stay is just a piece of 1/4" steel rod bent with a hump in it. I bought mine from a fencing supplier for .06 each. Weld these at the proper heights and it makes for a much cleaner, evenly spaced look than drilling thru pipe would. Also allows the cable to be pulled with less resistance.
As far as stretching the cable, the way we did it was to attach it at one end with the afore mentioned cable clamps, available at any hardware store, then we attached a large spring (about 12" long?) to the other end post. Then I hooked a come along to the spring to stretch it out and pushed the cable into the middle of the spring. Then use another cable clamp to fasten the cable to the outstretched spring, release the come a long slowly and as the spring retracts, the cable will be stretched tight. It actually takes less time to do this than it took me to type it, so it's really no big deal at all after you've done a few.

Good luck, and if you have any ??'s I will be more than happy to share any knowledge I may have on the subject.

 

[Dave]

There is a lot of cable used around here. The logging industry uses lots of cable and old mainline and haul back can be had for free. They run from three quarter inch to inch and a quarter in diameter and comes in very long sections. Mostly it is tightened using large turn buckles. It does work great. I have yet to see a cow who could break one inch cable.
Dave

 

[dcara]

I run about a mile of 2 3/8 pipe and 3/8ths cable also (4 wires plus top rail) but fastened the ends with just turnbuckles, no springs. Also run a hot wire below top cable. Only problem I've had in three years is about once a year the bottom cable turnbuckle will get bent out of shape or broke somehow. I could probably use bigger hardware but it only takes about 5 minutes to put a new one on and retension it. I had thought about using springs back before I built it until a guy told me that he had a horse that somehow got his hoof twisted up in a couple of the cables while he was at work. Horse ended up losing the hoof and so he ended up losing the horse over it.

 

[6M Ranch]

We've used cable for about eight years. We get ours for free. If you live close to a larger city, cranes have to have the cable replaced periodically. They get rid of the old cables for free.