ok my land owner say hes done puting his hores and cows away so what can i do to keep them out of my corn what do you guys use

I use cattle panels from tractor supply. they are 4x16 ft. and cost about $27.00 each. start out with 5-6 pannels, tie them together with wire and make sure you stake them down in the middle of the pannel so the cattle dont move them. also where each pannel meets drive in a 'T' post in for more support.

If he's got horses and cattle, you'll probably have more trouble with the horses. They'll reach right over, and push down the top of whatever you use. I would 1) build the pen big enough that any corn thrown doesn't come near the fence, and 2) kill off any grass/weeds in it. The horses will at the least try to get to anything green growing in it. Don't skimp on the t-posts.

I use the 16' X 52" cattle panels from Sutherlands. The were going for $19.99 each last week. You should use a minimum of 2 T-posts per panel. If you measure them you will find out that they have 24 squares and if you go 8'1/4" in from the end you will be able to line a T-post up with a verticle wire. That'll be the 12th square. I recommend a minimum of 8 panels. Smaller than that and you are restricting the number of deer that will be in the pen. Best bet is as big as you can afford because in this case bigger IS better.

edit was changing the inch sign to the foot sign behind the number 16.

8 panel square

8 panel octagon

10 panel rectangular

very nice

A good feed pen will keep you from having to replace feeders. That alone will almost pay for the pen.

Horses are a pain in the rear. Cattle panels are the way to go. You only have to buy one time. When you get tired of hunting with horses, takes about 1 season, then you can take then with you to your next place. You would think that they would want to keep the horses away. Nothing like a horse getting into a pile of corn to get him a big Vet bill or worse.

We built a feeder pin using t-posts and barbed wire. Pretty simple just drove down the post, and set a few metal posts in concrete for more stability. Did it about five strands high. Pigs and deer can still get in but kepps cows and horses out.

Barbed wire can be a pain to deal with. If you are leasing then when you go its a write off pretty much and leaves the landowner with something to deal with. Cattle Panels come down, load up and go to the next place. Other than what the pigs do to them they are good forever. IMHO

we just put in posts for 2 new pens over the weekend. We have an abundance of cedar that we've been cutting, so posts and staves are abundant.

We built them 40 x 40, with a large cedar post at each corner and a cedar post at 20 feet (1/2 way point on each side) No concrete, just bored a 3 foot deep hole for each one and set it in gravel packed in really tight. 1/2 way between each cedar post, we will have a t-post, with cedar staves spaced about every 3 feet. This should keep the 4 strands spaced well enough that the cows don't stick their heads too far in between the wires. We can always go to a 5th wire if we need to. I forgot to take pics while we were building, so when I go back in a few weeks I'll take a pic of the finished pens. We have an auger on the tractor and a pneumatic t-post driver, so the pens aren't hard to do, just take a little time.

We put up the shorter hog panels.

any one ever use 2x4 no climb ranch fence and tpost ? we have hogs .

I think I have some of those out there now...but its a small pen, probably need to enlarge it

It keeps the hogs out from turning our feeders over. Easy enough for yearlings to jump in. We actually have a few exotic sheep and Aoudad’s that jump in. We have them around our Protein Feeders also.

Deerfeeder I'm new to this and I'm planning on getting on a lease this year. How do the deer get in? Do they jump the panels?

deerfeeder do you have a pic of the cutout pictured in the right in the last pic? how many squared did you cut out?

Not a real good pic. But on 16 foot cattle panels there are 24 squares. I put a t-post on the 12th vertical wire. To lower access for the deer I go in 3 squares from the mid point and 3 squares from the end and cut down 2 squares. The deer can negotiate that easily. The cut in the above pic does NOT follow that formula, but it was a result of where the customer wanted the pen and that I try to "recycle" panels for folks. Here's a pic of the squares.



Where I need to cut access for my fat rear-end, I will go in 4 squares from either end and cut down 3 squares. I have a 32 inch inseam and that lowers the fence enough for me to step over.

Old pic of the cuts, behind does head.



Whole square pen, but ya can't see the cuts.

nice i like that a lot. problem is i not only have cows but also goats at the ranch. i dont want to cut it down so much that i really hungry goat would jump over. maybe on the next pen i build ill cut down one square to start off. the deer will jump it no even if i dont cut it because they hop the barbed wire fences all the time and those are a little taller than the panels i have been using. i also have panels that are about 6 in taller than the fences i could use and make cutouts for the deer though

The second pic above is in a place that has goats. There has been no problem with them jumping in, but there has been a problem with the little ones sticking their darned heads into a square and then not being able to get them out.

The solution to that problem has been to wrap the outside of the pen with chicken wire. I think we used 36 inch high wire, I'm pretty sure it wasn't 24" high wire. We attached the chicken wire to the outside of the pen using rebar ties which are dirt cheap and aren't affected by uv rays like plastic tie wraps.

The 2 square cut for the deer is high enough that I don't think goats can make it. The 3 square cut could let a particularily enegetic or athletic one jump in. That opening could be done away with and an old t-post can be lashed/wired horizontally about 1/2 way up the panel to be used as a step so the panel wires don't bend. I've done that before at a place where the cows were really really bad.

I, personally don't like any type of wire around or on a pen. It will be a matter of time before you get a deer hung up in it. A thrashing deer will cause a lot of damage before it dies.

I've also put the t-posts closer together and put 2X4's across the top of the pen, the deer will clear the 2X4 (and not get caught) and the cows won't be able to mash the pen panels down with the weight of their heads.

But, even with just panels I've had deer get hung up on them too. The difference is the odds are much lower than when you are using wire. Hope that helps, good luck with whatever you decide to do..

Do you like the square panels better than non climbable panels.

Not sure exactly what you mean by non-climbable panels. The panels I use I get at Sutherland's lumber in Del Rio. Used to be the only place to get them, but now Tractor Supply sells them also, but Sutherland's is still a better price.

But, I do like the square panels just in case I do have to climb in a corner. The wire will eventually end up with a bow in it though if you use it as a ladder.

I can only afford to build one w/8 panels. Would it be better to make it round? I think it would be a better use of space but IDK.

not really you could put two 16' panels on each side and be 32x32x32x32.

I like square pens mainly because they are easier to build. Round has not shown me any real advantages when it comes to sheep, goats, or cows pushing on them

8 panels by the way is the minimum I would suggest. Anything less usually means way fewer deer in the pen and even with 8 panels you don't normally see more than 4 or 5 in the pen. And if there are that many in there they are usually pretty skittish.

Just make it bigger when you can afford it.

I have NEVER had more than 4 deer @ my feeders @ one time so I think I will be okay w/8 panels.