# Using cattle panels



## dosthouhavemilk (Oct 29, 2004)

Some of you have been asking about the use of cattle panels as fencing. I thought I would share this picture series with you. We used 10 16' cattle panels for this pen.








Arcs, according to dad, are the best shape when trying to keep it standing without using T-Posts. We didn't use any T-Posts in this pen, but the fence was fastened to trees in three places, fastened to a piece of equipment in another and leaned against a large round bale in another section. The reason it needs to be fastened is your goats will quite likely do this;









We put 12 dams and 13 kids in that 10 panel pen for less than 24 hours. There was one 5 months kid and all the other kids were April and May kids.
This is what the pen looked like after we ran them back across the road to their main pen;
















There is a still another couple of hours left in there while they eat down the stems but as much work as it is to get them back and forth, the pen will be shifted first.


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

I agree with your Dad. I always put temporary cattle panels pens in a round shape so I have to use less posts. Great pics.


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## prairiecomforts (May 28, 2006)

Dumb question - how do you fasten them together? Twine? Cable ties?


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## dosthouhavemilk (Oct 29, 2004)

We use the orange twine used to wrap round bales. For easy to open sections you can use the carrenbiners (sp?). They can be had fairly inexpensively at TSC.


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

Hay rope is good. We also use electrical wire. My Dad is an electrician so we always have scraps of that around.


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## Mavors (Mar 30, 2007)

The only problem with cattle panels 16' long is the getting them home part of the deal. Least for me. LOL

I'm planning to use some of these at the start of getting a couple goats as I plan to move them around a bit until I can figure out a good layout for my property

I was always wondering if you needed to use something more durable to attach them together, but I guess the goats ignore the knotted twine as you all seem to use it without problems.

Thanks for the pictures and information.


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

Mavors said:


> The only problem with cattle panels 16' long is the getting them home part of the deal. Least for me. LOL


Do you have a pick-up?? Usually we buy around 6-7 at a time and haul them home in the bed of the truck, in a U-shape with a strap over the top and attached to both sides of the bed. Works great, just be careful unloading them as they can flip on you unless you unload one at a time.  

If we buy a really large load we use the flatbed.

The string works very well for adult goats.....I prefer wire with kids as they tend to chew and even eat strings. And of course the string is used because it is a temporary pen.


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## Mavors (Mar 30, 2007)

ozark_jewels said:


> Do you have a pick-up?? Usually we buy around 6-7 at a time and haul them home in the bed of the truck, in a U-shape with a strap over the top and attached to both sides of the bed. Works great, just be careful unloading them as they can flip on you unless you unload one at a time.
> 
> If we buy a really large load we use the flatbed.
> 
> The string works very well for adult goats.....I prefer wire with kids as they tend to chew and even eat strings.


Yeah I have a truck...well a wannabe truck...I've got a ford ranger with the long bed. Ah ok so you bend them over to make like a tunnle shape in the bed of the truck. That's a good idea. I'll have to take a look at that as an option.

Thanks


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

Mavors said:


> Yeah I have a truck...well a wannabe truck...I've got a ford ranger with the long bed. Ah ok so you bend them over to make like a tunnle shape in the bed of the truck. That's a good idea. I'll have to take a look at that as an option.
> 
> Thanks


Yep, thats it. Its the most common way to haul cattle panels so the guys at the feedstore didn't even ask, they just load them in like that.  
By the way, they also make a really decent goat/calf shelter in a pinch. Along with some nails, some wire, a little wood and two tarps we made this:










Its great for calves, goats, or other smallish animals. Sorry about the calf being in the way...but after all she *was* the focus of that picture.


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## Honorine (Feb 27, 2006)

We bought 10 of them, and have an S-10 pickup with a utility cap on it. We strapped a 18 foot ladder to the cap, then put the panels on top of the ladder and tied it all together and cinched it down tight. Worked great, its about a 40 mile trip, even on the turnpike nothing shifted. I was worried, I think that each panel weighs 38 pounds, thats a lot of weight to be bouncing around on top of your truck.


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## Vicki McGaugh TX Nubians (May 6, 2002)

I put them together with zipties for temporary (less than 10 years  pens, trick is to overlap them by one square. Permanant they get staple/nailed to end posts and clipped to T posts just like wirefence. Love cattle panels. Vicki


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## elgordo (Apr 9, 2005)

Here's a question: just what is everyone paying for a single cattle panel these days? In my area they are going for $20 - $15 on a really good sale.


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## nehimama (Jun 18, 2005)

They're running about $15.00 to $16.00 here, but still a good investment. They last forever, just about. I wouldn't be without them, and always have a few "spares" lying around - just in case.

NeHi


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## prairiedog (Jan 18, 2007)

We bring ours home tied to the top of our full size van.


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## mawalla (Oct 28, 2002)

I haul my panels home in the F150. To get them out I back up to a tree, unlatch the tail gate, then slowly drive forward until they "unspring" from their upside down U. When they are flat I just pull them out and drag them to where I need them. We get wire tied square bales so we always have lots of wire to use to tie those suckers together. Sometimes the lambs do get their silly heads stuck in them but I haven't had any casulties due to that....yet.


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## Aintlifegrand (Jun 3, 2005)

What size pen would ya'll recommend for two doelings ( nubians) to begin with...eventually I can add any space that is needed but i need to get that part cleared...what is the min. I can get away with for now and still have happy goats...I can buy whatever they need to eat etc. until the two rotating patures will be complete but I don't want them to feel cramped or a need to escape for more browsing room...


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## TulleyJohnMyers (Mar 14, 2007)

well i use cattle panels on my calf pens I use hose clams the small kind and a screw driver...with them you fold the three together with out un screwing any of them.......


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## Happy Utahn (May 19, 2007)

I recently discovered cattle panels, too. At $17 each they're great! (I borrowed a flatbed trailer to haul them.) I use t-posts for the permanent pen walls, and wire which has held up pretty well so far, though I can see how arc-chaped temporary installations would work too. For an easy-open gate, I nailed a 2x4 with two "teeth" to an existing corner post. My wife did me one better: she used a couple of extra padlocks.

We have a 16' square pen for a doe and her doeling, and it seems to be plenty (plus their stable). They've got stuff to climb in inside. But we let them out to wander so they can forage. 

It seems to be hopeless to try to fence them in a forage area, so we just fence off everything we don't want them to get to: the front yard, the garden, the fruit trees, the saplings that we hope will someday be windbreaks... everything else is fair game.


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## Idahoe (Feb 4, 2006)

Happy, that is the same conclusion we came to, fencing the house and outbuildings/shop in to keep the animals out. Our property is pure brush and evergreens, and wherever there was open ground we seeded with pasture mix. I like looking outside and seeing chickens, geese and goats doing their thing, but I don't like it when they come to visit me on the deck.


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## dosthouhavemilk (Oct 29, 2004)

Our last 20 cattle panels were purchased for $17.50 a piece. The Co-op got a deal on them and so we did, too. Those are already all used and we had to steal two of those ten from another pen. We'll be ordering more next time we get a load of feed. We generally have the Co-op deliver them. They use a flat bed or if they are bringing feed, the strap them to the feed truck. I have brought home cattle panels and hog panels in my Chevy S10. You just bend them and drive carefully...lol
You can usually find cattle panels for not much more than $22.50 a piece and you can usually get a deal if they are bought in bulk.
As far as two goats go, you could use two panels, but you'll have to move it more often.
I am setting my aunt and uncle up with four of this Spring's doelings and I'm pushing them to start with 4-6 panels. It is easier to include certain areas if you have more panels.


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## Corky (May 11, 2002)

Temporary cattle panel pens are a much better alternative to tying a goat or any other animal out.

We tend to buy them for temp use and they get put to work in a permanent area.

I am completely out of temp panels right now. I need to get some more.


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## homebirtha (Feb 19, 2004)

They are really handy. Keep an eye out for farm auctions or yard sales. We just picked up a bunch of them, probably a dozen, for $10 TOTAL! WOOHOO!!!


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## Jim S. (Apr 22, 2004)

$15.28 for cattle panels here at TSC; it's like $18 for a combo panel. I use field fence, but use the panels for water crossings. I just run the fence and let the bottom be high, then use a bolt cutter across the bottom wire of a cattle panel, and keep cutting til I get the shape of the ditch or whatever. Then I stick the exposed wires down into the dirt and clip the panel to the fence with galvanized wire. Lasts forever and eliminates having to stretch field fence into ditches, then back out...never a very satisfactory solution. To clean, untwist the wire ties and pull it out.

At $15 a pop, panels are too high for me to use to fence large acreages. But they are handy around the barn for pens, etc.

Panels are also great for recycling cattle tube gates into goat gates. Just tack-weld a panel on the tubes and trim to fit. Tah-dah! Spray with Rustoleum gray. Saves buying a mesh gate...have you priced them new lately??? WHOA!

Oh yeah, one more: Use a panel arched and fastened on each end to the ground. Stabilize with 2x4 uprights. Cover with tarp. Cheapo goat shelter.


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## Mavors (Mar 30, 2007)

ozark_jewels said:


> Yep, thats it. Its the most common way to haul cattle panels so the guys at the feedstore didn't even ask, they just load them in like that.
> By the way, they also make a really decent goat/calf shelter in a pinch. Along with some nails, some wire, a little wood and two tarps we made this:
> 
> 
> ...


What size of panels do you all like most? Do you have a reason for the size you like? Maybe price or weight. I am really thinking that these will be great to get a few goats to help me clear property.

Jim S. - What great ideas. I've got mostly flat property right now, but I do have a few ditch lines to allow water drainage here and there. Your panel idea along the bottom sounds easy and secure. Thanks


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## Mavors (Mar 30, 2007)

Hey Emily can you get some close ups of that goat shelter for me? 

I'd like to see a little more detail on how you got it like that. The tarps almost look like skin on the panels in that picture. Thinking that would be an easy goat shelter to move around with the cattle panel enclosure.


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## Jim S. (Apr 22, 2004)

Eric, you are most welcome. It does work great. I use the 50-inch regular cattle panels (not the combo panels). 

I never even noticed that goat shelter Emily posted when I saw that pic. DUH.


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## celadon (Aug 23, 2006)

Just wondering. Has any of your goats manage to jump outof these cattle pens? I also use them but one of my goats is always getting her head stuck. She can put it thru but can not pull it back. She has no horns.

I really like the cattle pens but am afraid that dogs or coyetes could get over them. ??? So i keep them in a large dog kennel during the night and put them out in the cattle panels during the day.


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## dosthouhavemilk (Oct 29, 2004)

We have a LaMancha/Alpine/Pygmy doe who climbs straight up the cattle panels like ladders. Even at 8 years old and even when heavy bred with triplets. She's the only one that will climb or jump them.
If they aren't fastened securely a number will walk them down, especailly the bucks. My buck penalty box which holds my 4 year old Boer/Saanen is made of 52" cattle panels.

Your goat that gets stuck...do you have the combo panels (the boxes get smaller at the bottom like hog panels do)?
If you don't, I wonder if she is truly stuck or just stupid. lol In all seriousness. I have disbudded goats that get "stuck" and as soon as you come to help they figure out how to pull their heads out. They just wanted attention. I feed some of the does (even a number with horns) with my side of the fence feeders. They have to stick their head through the panels to eat.
I only have one goat that truly can't fit his fat head through a hole and he's the 4 year old buck. All the other 109 goats (even the ones with horns) can put theeir heads through. Now, Giselle gets stuck after she sticks her head through, but her head can go through. She has horns though.
We set big round bales on their tops and wrap a cattle panel around for feeding purposes as well. If has really cut down on waste. We used to have them set on the side and the panel wrapped around in a manner that they could still pull the hay down. It reduced waste from the gaots jumping on top.

Cattle panels are wonderful to have on hand. So many uses.


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## BethW (May 3, 2007)

Wow. You all are getting your panels at a decent price. Our TSC has the 48" high panels (with 4" squares) at $31.00 APIECE. :grump: 

I have a goat who gets his head stuck, too. He definitely cannot get himself unstuck; heck, it's hard for me to get his head out. Use those panels carefully!


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## Happy Utahn (May 19, 2007)

Our alpine doe (with one horn) sometimes gets stuck in range fence, but the holes in cattle panels are larger and she has no problem with them. Sticks her whole head & neck through to graze on the other side.


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## Laura Workman (May 10, 2002)

Those panels with the 4-inch holes are close to $50 here. We pay about $30 for a combo panel. I'd LOVE to find a $15-$20 combo panel sale!


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

Mavors said:


> Hey Emily can you get some close ups of that goat shelter for me?
> 
> I'd like to see a little more detail on how you got it like that. The tarps almost look like skin on the panels in that picture. Thinking that would be an easy goat shelter to move around with the cattle panel enclosure.


Yeah, I'll try to get better pics in the next few days. I'm sure there are many ways to put those shelters together, but it really works well for us the way we did it. It took a couple people about an hour to put it all together.


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

Jim S. said:


> I never even noticed that goat shelter Emily posted when I saw that pic. DUH.


Yeah, you thought I just had an uncontrollable urge to slap a Jersey heifer into the middle of this cattle panel discusion.........  I was actually taking a picture of the heifer. The shelter just happened to be in there too.


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## CSA again (May 2, 2007)

I bend them into the shape of a bale of hay then mount them on the barn wall to hold the goats hay. thay stick there heads through to eat and it cuts down on waste , I take a 18" pipe wrench and place over each metel rod bending just a little at a time till I get the correct shape . I use fence stapples to mount then to the wall.


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## ozark_jewels (Oct 7, 2005)

I also feed hay through cattle panels. Its the best way I know for a large herd. They will eventually break the welds and they will need replaced....but so do most things. :shrug:


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## CJ (May 10, 2002)

Wow when did cattle panels get so expensive? !! It's just been about 4 years since we bought them last, from MFA in Mansfield MO. We bought a 100 of them for $12 each.

The Wandering Quilter's Life in a Box!


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