Cows inside feeder pens

I put up a few new feeder pens this year constructed of T Posts and two strands of barbed wire. I thought the cows had torn it down since I started receiving picture of them inside the pen. Turns out the pen is still intact, so are the cows (not calves) crawling under or jumping the wire? Attached picture shows you how tall the pen/wire is.

Hopping over, I'm sure. Put another strand on top and one on the bottom. Should cure your problem.

add a couple strands and keep em tight

Look at all the wires for hair.

Hair only top wire, likely stepping over

Hair on both wires, likely stepping through.

Hair on bottom wire, pushing under.

No hair found, they know how to use the gate

Id move the top wire to the base of the reflective, then add another strand 12" down from there

Your wasting your time with wire. Go get hog panels.

I use wire for mine. Two strand will work if they're tight and the right height. Three is better.

How far apart are your T-Post? If they are to far apart she is going between the two wires. Option is to add more post, add more wires or add wire stays every 4' to 5' apart. If I added more wire I would either add more posts or stays. Stays are cheap compared to Tpost and will help keep them from going between the wires. Just keep the barb wire tight.

2 strands ain't enough , need 3 or 4. We put barb wire around our plot like that to keep our cows out, 5 strands finally did the trick.
One about 10" off the ground , and space them about 10" , or a bit more from each other.

At a minimum, add a wire about 12-15" off the ground and move the other two up about 8-10".

You’re wasting your time as said above; get 7, 35” hog panels from TSC. Two tee posts per panel. You’re done for life and not tearing your clothes and butt up each week.

If (IF) they're going over ~42" barbed wire, you think they won't go over a 35" hog panel? My cattle would laugh at a hog panel, our bull goes over a 52" fence with semi-regularity.

I’ve had them up for over 20 years and not a single cow or bull has gone over. And neither would yours.
You most likely build your pen too small, not using 7 to 8 panels. The corn will not go outside the feeder so there is no reason for the cattle to go in. Bulls and some cows will run through barn wire, if it’s not stretched ultra tight, now I’ve had that happen dozens of times.

For corn only, probably not but it's hard to say. I've seen our bull clear three fences in a morning to get to cows in a far pasture, and he'll go in/out of an oat field when he feels like it. 42" net, barb at the top of the net, a barb 10" above that, and plenty tight. Over, not through. Again, 35" is nothing to him, and I've seen our cows jump similar although with less regularity. If there was protein involved (smell) and they wanted it a 3' hog panel wouldn't deter them.

Pen is 160’ in circumference or 50’ in diameter. The throwers I’m using are 6 volt and don’t throw outside the pen. That said, I did dump two bags or left over corn from filling feeders on the ground inside the pen. Maybe all that corn was too much temptation and the heifers jumped the wire.

My guess would be that your wire isn’t stretched very tight. Also, you need at least three strands, 4 would be better. 2 strands won’t even deter mature hogs.

Best recommendation is cattle panels with 3-4’ sections cut 2 squares lower for the deer to jump through.

This

I see cows and bulls go over 6’ corrals like it was nothing. I have seven feet, strung tight as a banjo, and seen bulls trying to get to the girls plow over the fence. But, if most of the corn is in the fence, they don’t have much of a motive, same with pigs. To each his own. Haven’t seen too many jumping pigs.

I'll leave this here for those who think cattle won't jump into a feed pen. The pen was 8 or 9 panels in size with only a corn feeder and had been in place for 11 yrs when the bull decided he liked the inside grass more than the outside. He did this for 2 weeks till I picked up the card and saw his tracks in the pen. He taught a calf to follow him in. They tore up the panels getting out...think it was the calf trying to get out. The bull would just lean over the panel the walk over it coming and going. They never touched the corn or the feeder...just the buffelgrass. The bull got a free ride to the sale barn the next spring.
I replace the hog panels with 50" cattle panels the next week. Never had another issue with the bull or calf in the pen after that.

I'dd add another wire and a couple stays between every t-post. I have been using 3-4 wire pens for a long time, no problems. I generally don't spin a whole lot of corn though. If you are and it is piling up, they see it and will push through to get it.

Ever watch a bull get his leg caught in the top square of a hog panel... That's 5 minutes of wtf I won't forget in the stand that evening. I took them down after I saw that on my old place. Figure better than buying a new bull. Current place no issues in 9 years. Much tamer bovine.

We have one I put two strands on and only a calf goes in every once in a while. Never seen a cow in it either. Some are just crazy.

We use 34 inch panels three to a side in a square. The corner posts are either pipe or cedar. Yeah, it's more difficult, more costly and it's not one of them there pretty circles, but it's the only way we could stretch the barb wire on top so the cows didn't want to come in. With a multitude of pens at the place, every feeder, we seldom, if ever, see cows on the wrong side of the fence.

Btw & belief mne, cows don't come in for the corn on the ground from a feeder. Their lips just aren't set up to efficiently pick up single kernels on the ground. They could be attracted by the corn smell, but are more likely attracted by better grass in the pen. Use a weed eater and keep the grass down.

Add another wire or two and put in wire stays (link attached). Tha'ts what worked for me.

wire stays