Looking for an Idea.

[laxdal]

I'm in the proccess of cross-fencing the home 1/2 into 30 ac pastures with electric fence and can't seem to come up with a good idea for all of the gates (there are lots of them!). I burry Galagher lead line inside a 1" pipe under each gate and would like to have the gate electric as well but so far I've put up conventional 4-barbedwire gates. Any ideas?

[pandiana]

I use the same technique for underground gate, encasing it in poly pipe, but with the addition of laying some old boards on top in high traffic areas. These high traffic areas are buried 12-15 inches below ground. Lighter use pasture gates use staight coated wire buried about 6 inches.

For gates, we started out using a single strand of Gallagher poly wire(9 strand) run through an insulator on the post from the fence. This is very adequate for cows. Calves may need two strands initially. For rotational grazing small paddocks, we use single strand high tensile (the paddocks are also single strand for the most part). The benefit of high tensil over poly wire is that the calves don't chew it. The disadvantage is that it is not as flexible. For gate handles, we use the black or yellow wire gate handles. We could get them at Peavey mart or our local Coop. They are about a third or less than Gallacher handles although not as tough. We tend to go through a few of these as they can be sprung fairly readily but I think they are still cheaper than the Gallagher version. These gates range from 14' to 24'. We use broken 'step in posts' for droppers on long gates.

The major advantages of electric over barb wire: 1. very easy to close 2. easy to open. 3. step over without ripping cloths. 4. cows are already trained to electric fence and tend to respect the gates as well. Disadvantages: 1. calves are a little less respectful and take some time figure them out so may have to put baby calves back in a few times. 2. When your fencer is shorted out so are your gates. 3.Pressured and panicky cattle will run through the gates fairly readily but with less injury than crashing a barb wire gate.

We have used both live gates and non-live gates. Each have their advantage. Live gates remain on when disconnected to the fence, therefore, must be kept off the ground when open. Dead gates, must be closed to be on, and don't create a short when on the ground but calves will chew the wire and destroy it unless it is tied to a live wire.

[bbattist]

Another Gallagher product that is a good
possiblity is their spring gates.They are easy to install and use.they can be connected to be either live or not when open.They are designed to be used on a 16'gate but can be extended a bit further.If the cattle are used to an electric fence,they won't bother the gate any more than any other part of the fence,the trick is to make sure you maintain sufficient power on the fence at all times to get the cow's respect for the fence.On internal fences one gate per opening is enough but on boundary fences two or more should be used.Sometimes an animal will run through a closed gate if pressured but the gate is forgiving and stretchs
without injuring the animal,probally
ruining the gate but this is not often.

[pandiana]

Here is another trick we use to address the problem of low visability. A single strand of fence is hard to see, even for people. Any new fence or gates we put up we attach fluorescent plastic marker tape every meter or so. This makes the gate more visable and because the calves are curious, it also gives them an opportunity to 'taste' the wire before they try getting under it.

[laxdal]

Thanks for the ideas. Guess I'll just have to get a little braver and string that one wire. The cows respect the electricity but I'm still a little insecure when it comes to gates, think I'll us a length of wide electric tape.
Your right about the calfs getting out, getting them back in once the've been zapped can be a chore!