I would like to build a drive over cattle guard, so I can get in and out of the pen without having to open a gate. I have a L2800 that according to Tractor Data weighs up to 2600 pounds. I'm not sure if that includes the weight of the loader or not. I would sometimes cross this with the bush hog or box blade, but would use the regular gate for when I bring in hay. I was thinking that I would lay 3 good railroad ties down and use 2 X 2 heavy square tubing about 10 inches apart. I have enough tubing on hand to do this. I would make a dirt ramp at both ends. I would make it about 6 feet wide. So, I have 2 questions. Would this keep the cattle from crossing. I have seen this in the past, but they are always placed over a pit in the ground. Second question is, would it hold up to the tractor crossing?
Drive over cattle gaurd
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Magicman
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10" is kinda wide and will be bumpy. 
Personally I would not want them over 4"-5" apart.
Personally I would not want them over 4"-5" apart.
I could see a problem with the tubing being square. I have seen railroad tracks used maybe 6" apart but even they are slightly rounded on top. Everybody around here has them with pits and round spinning tubes from the days when the cattle used to graze the "long acre". Generally they are 8/10' wide and 4' across with 2 thin walls underneath where the wheels pass. We made ours a little different, in that you can open the inner portion to clean it out or rescue trapped hedgehogs. The pit is the secret to its success because the cattle don't want to fall into a hole. I reckon if they are 10" apart the cattle will be able to see the ground between the bars and simply walk between them
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The closest I come to having experience with cattle guards was visiting a friend who had one where his driveway goes through the fence. His was a series of approx. 4" steel pipes welded to a few I-beams for support. I'm thinking the series of pipes were about 4' wide in the dimension you'd drive over and about 10' wide. The pipes were fairly close together, and he explained that the cows wouldn't cross it because they don't like not being able to have their hooves on the rounded uneven surface.
I suppose spacing whatever is used at too great a distance (hoof down between rails) could result in a broken leg for the cow if one did try to venture onto it.
I suppose spacing whatever is used at too great a distance (hoof down between rails) could result in a broken leg for the cow if one did try to venture onto it.
If the bars are up off the ground the height of a railroad tie, about 10 inches, would that keep the cows from crossing? I guess I could dig a pit.
Mine keeps the stock in. It's only across a shallow ditch no deeper than 10 inches or so. And as others said the tubes should be rounded and only 3 or 4 inches apart.
Only for your entertainment pleasure. It's happened to many others also!
freedomsfreefall.blogspot.com
Here's some info that may help with your design. https://farmandranchdepot.com/Cattle-Guards-Grids/
Obama Fires Cattle Guards? Joe Biden Wants Retraining?
Can this be? Is this true? No matter what, even if this was just hinted at, then it could be true. Even if it isn't, it's still has some bas...
freedomsfreefall.blogspot.com
Here's some info that may help with your design. https://farmandranchdepot.com/Cattle-Guards-Grids/
Captain13
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Around here (Georgia), most cattle guards are mad of railroad track or heavy wall circular steel tubing. And they are over a pit about 12 inches deep. I would go wider than 6 feet. Here, they are at least 12 to allow for tractors and trucks to roll across without worrying about hitting the fence with mirrors or any load.
3 yrs ago I leased a pasture that the entrance to pasture was a natural gas well site road with a pipe cattle guard. I liked that method so well that I installed a pipe cattle guard at the entrance of my own pasture. I haven't had a cow/calf or bull cross it at this time. I would not build or install a CG with bottom being I-beam or square tubing
Magicman
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Reason? I doubt that cows can tell round or square but they can tell what's a hole in the ground.
BigG
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l2501, FEL, BB, Rotary cutter, rake,spreader, roller, etc. New Holland TL80 A
If you watch this he does a nice job of installing the grate. But look at the grate itself. The cattle will not cross it because the pipe rolls their ankle and they do not like it. It has noting to do with seeing the bottom. If fact you must keep the bars close enough together to keep the cattle's feet from going between the pipes. If the hoof goes between the bars the cow will panic and more then likely bust it's own leg. You might be able to set tubing at an angle so it rolls their ankle but all the grates I have seen are pipe.
Magicman
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Take a look at some of the commercially built cattle guards shown in the link in Reply #7 above.
Back in my youth my Dad had a cattleguard built from I-beam so it would be smooth when driving vehicle across. I don't remember the spacing of the I-beams BUT his cows walked across this cattle guard to the point we opened/closed gate every time we entered/left pasture. YMMV
One of my concrete cattle guard, the bull would stroll right over it to get to some nice grass - other cows didn't follow him (thankfully)...
Magicman
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Our highway department tried black and white painted cattle guards. They worked fine during the day........
Lil Foot
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We have cattle guards everywhere out here, all with pits, 16" -3ft dp. Most are I-beam, some railroad rail, some other materials, but all the successful ones I have seen using square tube rotated the square 45 degrees, both from a strength standpoint and because the cattle don't like stepping on the "point", as mentioned above.
Lil Foot
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I forgot to mention spacing, 5"-6" almost universal. Anymore and there may be liability issues with broken ankles on people & dogs, etc.
You might already know this, but depth perception is key, and its why they dont cross. How deep does it have to be, Im not exactly sure.
I remember many years ago a farmer I worked for, and every so many years the cattle guards had to be cleaned out to reestablish that depth perception, which if I recall was not very deep. I believe the spacing of the slats would have a considerable factor to play in that perception as well
I know that I personally would do an extensive amount of research prior, for both functionality and safety.
Good luck.
I remember many years ago a farmer I worked for, and every so many years the cattle guards had to be cleaned out to reestablish that depth perception, which if I recall was not very deep. I believe the spacing of the slats would have a considerable factor to play in that perception as well
I know that I personally would do an extensive amount of research prior, for both functionality and safety.
Good luck.
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I love it when people who have no cattle tell others how to raise cattle.
Cattle guards work on the principle of un-even footing. The reason they are suspended over pits is to prevent them from filling-in with mud in a rain and gravel/dirt thereby becoming solid ground again. (One of the difficulties of cattle guards is when a small animal gets trapped beneath...like my daughter’s puppy, ....or a skunk... Try to get THAT out! And you can’t leave it there or it’ll spray your car/truck every time you cross over.)
The reason cattle don ‘t like to cross them is the same reason YOU don’t .... The footing is unreliable. Their hooves cannot handle a narrow or rounded surface that does not allow their foot to remain stabile. If the cross-members are placed too far apart they become hazardous to running animals, and they won’t impede walking animals and they make rolling-stock difficult in the sense of a rough-crossing,,... but even worse, they can cause a steering-wheel to turn sideways and jam-in-the-guard.
IF you insist upon using square tubing...turn it so the corner is facing up to make it unstable. But a better method is either 3” pipe or narrow-rail. (Plain angle-iron will work if the flat portion is on the bottom and the standing-edge is presented to the foot and if they’re spaced 3” apart so as to force a cow or calf to realize they will not have stabile footing.)
But square tubing is not going to work well for a cattle guard.
Remember, rounded always works better.
Cattle guards work on the principle of un-even footing. The reason they are suspended over pits is to prevent them from filling-in with mud in a rain and gravel/dirt thereby becoming solid ground again. (One of the difficulties of cattle guards is when a small animal gets trapped beneath...like my daughter’s puppy, ....or a skunk... Try to get THAT out! And you can’t leave it there or it’ll spray your car/truck every time you cross over.)
The reason cattle don ‘t like to cross them is the same reason YOU don’t .... The footing is unreliable. Their hooves cannot handle a narrow or rounded surface that does not allow their foot to remain stabile. If the cross-members are placed too far apart they become hazardous to running animals, and they won’t impede walking animals and they make rolling-stock difficult in the sense of a rough-crossing,,... but even worse, they can cause a steering-wheel to turn sideways and jam-in-the-guard.
IF you insist upon using square tubing...turn it so the corner is facing up to make it unstable. But a better method is either 3” pipe or narrow-rail. (Plain angle-iron will work if the flat portion is on the bottom and the standing-edge is presented to the foot and if they’re spaced 3” apart so as to force a cow or calf to realize they will not have stabile footing.)
But square tubing is not going to work well for a cattle guard.
Remember, rounded always works better.
I love it when people who have cattle, dont even know how a cattle guard works.
Now that is whats really funny.
And just so you know, your theory has been dis-proven years ago from a mere painting of light and dark strips, at different spacing's, on a flat surface. Yet people like you continue accusing others of things you are not yet aware of.
Now that is whats really funny.
And just so you know, your theory has been dis-proven years ago from a mere painting of light and dark strips, at different spacing's, on a flat surface. Yet people like you continue accusing others of things you are not yet aware of.
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