Cattle Panels & T-Posts Quick Question

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I use the hog panels, same as the cattle panels but they are only 36" tall I believe.

I have mine hung up on the T-posts so that they are off the ground by about a foot. I'll have to get a picture.

I use bailing wire on every second horizontal crossbar of the panel and attach to the t-post. I check the wires once a week and replace the ones that need to be replaced, which isn't often.

My hog panels are 16 feet long and I have a t-post at each end, and then one t-post every 6 panel squares.........does that make sense
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I'll get a picture for you hopefully tomorrow, it's raining right now.

We decided to put our panels up off the ground because I have a bunch of horses who like to paw at the fences at feed time, and with a fence on the ground, feet can and will get stuck.
 
I am enjoying this thread as I have a lot of fencing to do, and was considering going the panel route for at least part of what I have to do. I like that it keeps larger unwanted animals out and the little ones IN!

We've had some panels around here that have stood up to a lot of abuse, including a few sections that have been run over by a drunk driver (same one times two!) and another person that ran off the road and drove through it, tree limbs falling on it and it does have a few bent areas, but still usable.

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Liz M.
 
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hi,


I use hose clamps. You can use fence clips but sometimes they arehard to tighten down. The hose clamps open up and then you use the screwdriver to tighten. Linda
 
Margo

I may have used the wrong terminology......rebar is not the right word....

Again, this tip was just give to me this week and have not found out yet if it is valid.

It is concrete reinforcement mesh, supposed to be in SHEETS that are 8 x 20 feet? But has the same exact square spacing as a cattle panel and is non-galvanized.
 
I use cattle panels and T posts and I love them. I can put a fence up by myself in a day (I'm SORE the next day from pounding posts, but I CAN do it! LOL)

I've never been able to get the clips that come with the T posts on though. They just don't seem to fit ... they seem to be designed more for flexible wire than for cattle panels. I use nylon baling twine.

And I learned the hard way not to put the posts at the end! The hose clamps are a great idea - I think I'll use it next time.

I've never had a horse get a foot through the panel (though I can see how it could happen) but I did have a miniature foal get it's head stuck through a square. I have no idea how long she was there, but she was in bad shape when I found her. She was fine after a few visits from a chiropractor, but it was a scare!
 
We also use cattle panels and t posts. We try to put a post in the middle and at each end, allowing for an overlap of fence panels. However...we have so darn many rocks in our area we are just happy to get t posts in wherever we can. We pound a rod into the ground first, then take it out, to see if we will be able to get a post in or if there is a boulder in the way.

To fasten panels to posts and each other we use baling twine (it will rot so watch it) and galvanized wire, and nylon zip ties.

I had a friend lose a foal in a cattle panel fence. It stuck its head through and choked. I don't think any fence if perfect but this keeps our minis safe from coyotes, wolves, dogs, etc. It doesn't work so well for moose though.
 
Great advice on the use of T-posts to panels. We've always done the posts on the end, but what everyone has said makes much more sense!

Now to figure out what a hog ring is . . . ?
 
Thanks everyone for the tips. You all made this a very informative thread. I said we used safety ties before, but I think reading here they are correctly called Zip Ties. I still think the heavier duty version of those would work well, but since they come with clips, that's an obvious thing to use (even though I was dumb enough to pitch them before).
 
You know another thing, if you were to move, the cattle panels or hog panels should be pretty easy to take with you!
 
Michelle,

Next time you go to Tractor Supply Company or other farm supply store, ask them to show you the hog rings.

They are in a little box and cost about $2 for about a hundred of them.

They are little copper/brass C-shaped clamps that would be used to pierce a hog's nose!!!!! Very barbaric if you ask me!!!!

We bought 10 boxes of hog rings at TSC for fencing and the guy helping us said "Gee lady, you must have alot of hogs!" LOL
 
Lauralee-

Sheets of concrete reinforcement mesh are something I've never seen-maybe a newer form of the rolls? The stuff we have(my late husband made tomato plant supports and, with a lightweight chicken wire tied onto the outside, protective "covers"-against the rabbits!-for our row of Ponderosa pines when they were tiny, and I still use them to put over where I have a gopher trap placed, to keep the dogs away from it!)out of this stuff. It came in a roll, probably 4' high, with openings of a uniform 6" square. It definitely DOES "want" to maintain the roll shape, as Susanne noted(Susanne, you are lucky that stuff didn't seriously injure you-it can be WICKED to handle!!) Maybe that's why it (also?now?)comes in sheets...?? I do think that cutting it down might be a bigger, harder job than one might think...and as I said, in my experience, it is made of a somewhat brittle steel, which I fear wouldn't last well in a fencing situation(as, when something puts pressure on it, it will bend and stay bent, instead of "giving", then springing back.) It would likely also have the same major drawback that cattle panel(and to a slightly lesser degree, hog/sheep panel) has-that a miniature foal "can" get its head caught in the openings. If using cattle/hog panels in relatively small areas,and where foals are likely to be, I might try placing them upside down, AND mounting them 8-10" or so off the ground(harder to do, as the panels are HEAVY, and will sag without the support of resting on the ground, unless you use closely spaced support posts,and frequent, snug ties of panels to posts.)

Tip: Get the little specialized "pliers" made for closing hog rings! It surely makes the use of them easier! I still have some hog rings out in the barn, from some fencing project in the distant past. They do come in different sizes, and the "pliers" are surely helpful; it can be very difficult to "hold" the rings to close them with ordinary pliers. Hog rings are too small to use to fasten fencing to T posts, though-they work well to fasten wire to wire. If you're using T posts, get the heavier weight ones, at least for where panels will overlap(you could then use lighter weight ones for the "in-betweens".) Be sure to ask for the clips that are the right size for the T posts you get. We used the clips with no problem when we built some fencing out of cattle panels, but if you can't get them to work, use a medium weight galvanized wire-I wouldn't recommend using twine of any kind, as exposure to weather will do it in, and, you cannot snug it up as it should be! The nylon ties would work, but will also be subject to deterioration due to exposure to weather.

Also-IF you want to be able to move fencing, it is best to use some sort of panel-type fencing. Though it generally costs a bit more, unless you are very knowledgable about fence building(which is an art in itself!), you will likely do better/be happier with cattle panels or other type panel fencing(which still needs to be put up 'properly', as noted in other posts on this thread!) to hold up well. Field fence,V, or diamond, mesh, 'non-climb'(the 2"X 4", tied, 'horse'fencing'), and other kinds of wire fencing-barbless wire, etc.-even lightweight galv. wire for electric fencing- all need to be STRETCHED when put up. IF you just "stand it up/unroll it", and staple it(to wood), or wireclip it(to T posts),it will sag as soon as the first horse rubs on it, and soon be neither safe nor very attractive! Properly constructed(for your local soil conditions!)stretch panels are needed on all corners, and on the straight, if there are LONG straight stretches. Steel wire contracts in the cold, stretches in the heat, BTW-which is a factor in how much it should be stretched.

It is VERY true that no fencing material is completely safe; however, over time, wire fencing that is good and snug has proven to be safer than that which isn't....even with panels, those that are upright, well-supported and well-fastened to their supports are proveably safer for your horses than those which sag and droop, with minimal supporting uprights.

(You CAN get welded rod(what cattle/hog/sheep panels are)panels, with 1" x 2" openings. VERY heavy, and horrendously expensive--but, it would probably be the BEST for fencing for miniature horses!)
 
Can someone post a picture of what the cattle panels with the t-posts looks like?

The only thing I could find out about cattle panels on the net looked like the pipe fencing like a round pen.Is this what you are talking about?
 
I will get pictures of my fencing tomorrow morning. I intended to today, but my batteries were dead
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They are in the charger now, so i'll post pics in the morning
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