Techniques for building pipe corral?

[ohiosteve]

I am planning on building a working corral out of old oilfield pipe. I can get strings of 1.5" or 2" tubing and 4 5/8" casing (or bigger if neccesary) and 1/2" or 5/8" sucker rod. I am looking for advice on size and spacing. I am thinking 10' spacing with 4 5/8" posts with 5' sides and 1.5" horizontal rails, not sure how far to space them. If anyone has a corral or fences built from pipe i would love to hear your opinions.
Thanks, Steve.

 

[dun]

Ours is 10 inches between each rail and 6 foot high but we use it as a bull pen.

 

[ohiosteve]

do you know the diameter of posts and rails? also to attach rails to posts I was thinking of torching holes through posts then I could slide 40 ft joints through and weld them to the posts and use tubing collars to join the rails, that seems easier to me then cutting and welding each rail between posts.

 

[dun]

Sections are 20 feet long, posts 10 foot on center. To fasten the pipe to the posts (3 inch diameter) we used a clip that sort of looks like an Omega symbol welded to the post. The line pipes are 1 inch inside diameter to fasten them together we used a sleeve that is 1 inch outside and slid it into the line pipes and tack welded them in place. That way each line pipe (rail, wahtever you call it) is basically one continuous piece from corner to corner. The posts are sunk 3 foot into the graound and the hole is filled with concrete.

 

[ohiosteve]

Thanks dun, I'm trying to utilize what I can get a deal on, I'd rather go overkill then build it too light. Do you like the 10" spacing on 10' centers ?

 

[dun]

The spacing works real good, little calves can get their heads through it but it's never caused a problem.
There is a stay kind of deal about every 5 foot that all of the pipes are welded too so they stay in place.
gobobpipe.com has pictures that are the way ours are built.

 

[sackshowcattle]

Mine is 4inch posts with 2 3/8 pipe for the runners 6 foot high with 6 rails. I would stay away from the sucker rod don't know why but the couple times I tried using it it always snapped by the welds not the weld its self but the rod right behind it tore out. I finally fixed those issues by putting a sleeve over the rod but if they flexed enough the could probably pull out of the sleeve. Maybe someone on here has had better luck with it but I sure didn't.

 

[Angus Cowman]

Mine is 4inch posts with 2 3/8 pipe for the runners 6 foot high with 6 rails. I would stay away from the sucker rod don't know why but the couple times I tried using it it always snapped by the welds not the weld its self but the rod right behind it tore out. I finally fixed those issues by putting a sleeve over the rod but if they flexed enough the could probably pull out of the sleeve. Maybe someone on here has had better luck with it but I sure didn't.

it snapped because the sucker rod is tempered if you heat it before you weld it it looses its hardness and will hold
I always sleeved mine with 8" long pipe that slid over the sucker rod that way if a weld did give it was still held
I have built miles of pipe fence with 3 and 4" pipe and 1 1/2 pipe rails on alleys and pressure points I went with 10" between the horizontals and 8' between the vertical post
I don't like sucker rod for pressure points but it makes good holding pens
I always used 3" post spaced 10ft apart and topped that with a 2 3/8 od pipe then spaced my sucker rod at 10"s and I also drove a 1" pipe into the ground welded it to the toprail and then welded the sucker rod to it in between every post

 

[Caustic Burno]

I am planning on building a working corral out of old oilfield pipe. I can get strings of 1.5" or 2" tubing and 4 5/8" casing (or bigger if neccesary) and 1/2" or 5/8" sucker rod. I am looking for advice on size and spacing. I am thinking 10' spacing with 4 5/8" posts with 5' sides and 1.5" horizontal rails, not sure how far to space them. If anyone has a corral or fences built from pipe i would love to hear your opinions.
Thanks, Steve.

Mine is out of drill stem and cattle panel it is shaped in an octagon so there are no corner's.
The pen can be divided by gate's to seperate and force down the sweep to the chute.
I am alway's working behind a gate. My pen is seven feet tall with a drill stem top rail, drill stem is concreted in the ground every eight feet on the vertical run. It has a bottom rail and a center rail of drill stem on the horizonal run's. Cattle panel is welded to the drill stem. The top rail and bottom rail run continously so it is all welded together as well as concreted in. It has held some pretty rank Tiger girl's over the year's.

 

[JSCATTLE]

I have about 2500 foot of drill stem fence . I'm not sure how old it is but it's rotting from the inside out . I've desided to use rough cut pressure treated wood to build my next set of pens .

 

[Caustic Burno]

I have about 2500 foot of drill stem fence . I'm not sure how old it is but it's rotting from the inside out . I've desided to use rough cut pressure treated wood to build my next set of pens .

That is the reason I bought new reject drill stem.
Some of the used stuff has seen some pretty rough service.

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

I am planning on building a working corral out of old oilfield pipe. I can get strings of 1.5" or 2" tubing and 4 5/8" casing (or bigger if neccesary) and 1/2" or 5/8" sucker rod. I am looking for advice on size and spacing. I am thinking 10' spacing with 4 5/8" posts with 5' sides and 1.5" horizontal rails, not sure how far to space them. If anyone has a corral or fences built from pipe i would love to hear your opinions.
Thanks, Steve.

Steve, we currently have panels to put up that came out of a now defunct feedlot, and it sounds much like what you want to build. These panels are built from sucker rod horizontals (3/4" diam.), with heavy 3" top rails, total of 5 rails high at 1 ft. apart, and sinkable 3" diam. steel posts (every 8 feet). If we sink the posts the 3 ft. depth they were at before, we'll still have 5 ft. tall panels. Some of the panels also have (extra) sucker rod welded vertical between the big verticals. The sucker rod against the 3" pipe is welded, and has welded U-shaped holders/reinforcements as well -- there are elongated 3" ends off each of those u-shaped holders that are welded to the heavy pipe.

These panels were cut off with 4 ft. tag ends of sucker rod off the end posts (saving material, I guess). There was a thread on here a few months back (mine) about how best to attach those panels to 8 ft. RR ties -- we'll have the RR tie posts, plus the 3 ft. posts on the panels. Granted, the ties won't last 100 years, but neither will we.

Here's that thread, from when I asked what the heck to do to mount the panels. There were lots of good/helpful ideas.
http://www.cattletoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=73827&hilit=attach+rr+ties+panels

 

[JSCATTLE]

I have about 2500 foot of drill stem fence . I'm not sure how old it is but it's rotting from the inside out . I've desided to use rough cut pressure treated wood to build my next set of pens .

That is the reason I bought new reject drill stem.
Some of the used stuff has seen some pretty rough service.

That's the way to go . Used isn't worth the price of scrap iron .

 

[novatech]

:help:

quote]
That's the way to go . Used isn't worth the price of scrap iron .

My pens are built from second hand drill stem. They were originally built in the 60's. They are as good today as they were when first built.
It is all about what was run through the pipe.
I space the pipe closer together on the first couple off the ground to keep baby calves in. Upper pipe can be spaced up to a foot apart.

 

[houstoncutter]

Have you thought about using used highway guardrail. Makes a darn nice corral, and it's a easy design and build.

 

[ohiosteve]

Thanks for all the advice. Novatech is right, condition of the pipe depends on the well and what has been run through it both up and down. I get to see the pipe go in new and come out and know what goes down and comes up the pipe, I have seen tubing so corroded it comes apart when pulling it out and also tubing that looks good as new after 10-15 years. There is also some quality difference between manufacturers especially with sucker rod. Luckily I get to pick and choose.

 

[bigbull338]

my corral is built out of 2 7/8 in drill stem.an i put a 52in wire cattle panel between the top an bottom drill stem rails.the only place i used sucker rods is the loading chute.an i also used boards on the bottom sides of the chute.reason being if a cow or calf goes down remove the boards an dragg/pull them out.i would not use sucker rods on any of the corral,because the welds will break sooner or later an cause probs.not to mention cattle getting their feet an legs hung in them.

 

[fatcattle]

You can get clips to go over the sucker rod. They look like cable clips but are bigger. Holes in your posts to run the rod through is certainly the best, but a PITA to do. But if you use good pipe it could last for a really long time so probably well worth it. 10" spacing on rods is fine, if you can find 1" rod you can go to 12" centers and use one less rod. 10 feet on your posts seems a little far to me, I prefer to be 7 to 8 feet, but if you will use two stays between posts it should be fine.

 

[J&D Cattle]

Several corrals built around here with old Hwy guardrail. Does a real good job. I'm not sure how they got a hold of it though?

 

[ffamom]

If salt water ran through it, then it will be gone in 5 to 7 years. We are replacing fence post for that reason. Stupid decision we made to save a few bucks. Never again though.