I moved to a new place this year and there will be a few cattle on it this winter or spring. I'll have three feeders on the place and I'd like to keep them off of them.

I know that feeder pens are a good answer but I'm by myself and I'm looking for an easier way to do this.

Have any of you just put a single strand of hot wire up as a feeder pen? I've used it before on food plots with good success. Will deer get nailed and just not come back?

I don't have a lot of months for a learning curve. I can probably pull off proper pens if I start very soon but good grief, moving is VERY time consuming and difficult and I'm not even close to set up yet. I'd like to save some time this year if it doesn't keep deer away.

Kevin

If they touch it they may not come back. Why do you think it keeps cows away?

Curious about your food plots. You used one strand of hot wire and it kept the cows out? Or did it keep the deer out until the plot could get established? I use hot wire to keep deer out so can't imagine using it around a feeder.

Short answer is, yes they will come back if they have been hitting the feeder frequently and it is dry enough that they want the corn. I would put the wire at 36"( or 2 wires, 30" and 42") and build the pen large enough to keep the cow off of any corn.
While materials will be cheaper to build a single strand hot wire, but purchasing 3 solar power fence charges is going to run you $400+.

Cows don't have the teeth for eating corn. Typically when I place a new feeder, the cows try licking the ground a few times and then quit and just use the feeder as a scratching post. I quite a few feeders out and none of them fenced. No issues.

Thanks, guys.

I was on 1500 acres last year with 6 or 7 feeders and after the landowner turned a bunch of cattle loose on the place we learned quickly that we needed to fence off anything that we wanted to keep in one piece. They destroyed everything. I also learned that the pens had better be strong too because the same cattle would find the weak spots. I also learned that fence building is hard work, especially smack dab in the middle of the drought that turned clay into concrete. After helping me with one of them, the rancher informed me that his hired hands have nothing to fear from me.

I know that a hot wire will keep cattle away but it sounds like it may not be the best idea. My thought was that deer would just jump right over but sounds like it may serve to keep some off too. Looks like I'd better plan to get after building three more.

Many thanks to all of you who took the time to offer advice. THF is like a giant campfire with hundreds of years of collective wisdom and experience sitting around it. I've learned as much or more here than I had in all the years before I found y'all and saved a bunch of mistakes.

Kevin

It kept the cows out and I found deer tracks all over the place inside the wire. The plot was about two or three acres, single strand wire with a lot of marking flags and about three feet high.

With the drought that was so bad last year, the plot never really produced like I wanted it to but it did rain once or twice and got somewhat started before it dried up so the deer did graze it a bit early on.

I have a single hot wire around my feeder far enough out that the cows don't get a taste of the corn. I have the corner tee post angled out to keep tension on the wire.

I'm sure the deer have hit the wire but apparently they learn. I watch two does the other night crawling under the wire at dusk.