I didn't do too well in geometry in high school. If I put up 6 hog panels that are 16' long each in a circle, what will the diameter of the circle be? Thanks for the info.

The answer is = Just about right for good function

Not sure, but whatever the formula is I'd use 15' per panel instead of 16' to allow for needed overlap at joins. If its not big enough just get smaller deer...

35-40 ft. would be my uneducated guess.

I keep hearing so much about feeder pen size dictating the size of deer that will come in. Is that a tested and proven theory? Having built two late last season, I am starting to have doubts as to the size. They are probably about 25-30 feet in diameter with the feeder erected right in the middle. My main concern is that to date, I have had mostly bucks in them, very few doe and no hogs, thankfully. They are round and 36" tall, t-posted welded wire. I know, not as good as hog paneling but quite a bit easier to haul around and flexible to work with. To date, not even a picture of hogs attempting to get in. I did leave one feeder on the property un-penned which could be helping with keeping the hogs out of the penned ones.

It appears that your diamater would be 30.5 feet.

http://www.rkm.com.au/CALCULATORS/CALCULATOR-circle-sphere.html

(16*6) / 3.14 = approx 30.5 ft

diameter is circumference diveded by pi(3.14). Six panels would be 96 ft so 96 diveded by 3.14 = 30.5' diameter...

radius = 15.27' or diameter = 30.54', this will be close as panels don't have a bend, so it will vary depending where you measure

If you over lap each panel the length of a square on each end of the panel it will be 28.66 feet across assuming you get it perfectly round. Circumference divided by 3.1416=diameter.

I would suggest 8 panel minimum.

What is too small in terms of diameter and big enough. 30' diameter seems plent wide enough. Would 15-20' be big enough with the feeder in the middle?

Told yall I was uneducated. LOL.

Thanks for the information, I really appreciate it.

I suggest using 10-12 sixteen foot panels with a small overlap for strength.
In my oppinion smaller pens do not work as well. All our pens are 12 panels and I have seen as many as 9 bucks in there at one time.
The smaller pens we tried seemed more restrictive and the bucks seemed to use them less.

LR: I was a math teacher and the system does a bad job teaching the idea of pi (the 3.14). It's not just a number. It's actually a very easy concept. All it is is the relationship of the circumference (distance around a circle) to the diameter (distance straight across through the center). So basically, the distance around a circle is a little over 3 times longer than straight across the circle no matter what size circle you are dealing with (That's what the 3.14 means!). You can teach that to 4th graders and never call it pi, just that basic idea and relationship. With that basic knowledge you'll always be able to do close estimates with circles.

Here's another bit of geometry that would help. When making the hole at the bottom of a barrel to make a feeder, I don't like to just guess where the center is, especially if I am going to use an inside funnel. I want them to line up right. Anyway, draw a line that connects any 2 points on the circle made by the barrel bottom (Don't make that line where it goes near the center). Now find the midpoint of that segment and draw a perpendicular line (makes a right angle) through that halfway point. Draw another line segment that connects 2 other points on the circle and repeat the process. Where those 2 lines meet will be the exact center of the circle made by the bottom of the barrel. Tried to post some pictures of that but it wouldn't work on here....sorry.

Hope this math lesson helps!

Oh, another math lesson. If you want to make a perfectly circular pen, that easy to do. Let's say you wanted to make a circular pen with a 30 ft diameter. Get you a rod or post and stick it in the ground where you want the center. Get a rope and tie a loop on it and put it over the rod/post. Measure off and make the rope 15 feet long. Now straighten it out and walk around in a circle and mark off where you want the posts, etc. You'll have a nice round circle.

30 times 3.14 is 94.2 so six 16-ft panels would be enough for that size pen because you will need to do overlaps and allow for about a 4 foot gate.

plenty big..unless your deer heard is huge..then you can always increase the pen size..just keep the feeder in the center to keep the pigs from hanging around..

C=2*pi*r

I make a hexogon shape with 6 pannels

Pie R round, Cornbread R square!

Just couldn't resist it!

So if you draw all the diagonals, what is the measure of each interior angle?

120 degrees each....sum of the interior angles of the hexagon is 720. Divide by 6 since all of the interior angles are the same, so you get the 120.

Ag Hunter, where do you teach?

Thanks AgHunter. I will definitely make my measurements with a 15 foot rope as you suggested. I want to have a nice circle with my feeder in the middle.

Used to teach high school down in Corpus. I work with a non-profit educational agency headquartered in Austin. I do professional development with teachers and a lot of other stuff, but my main thing is still math education. I just wrote my first book and it will come out some time later in early summer I think.