Howdy fellas. This is my first year to hunt on land with cattle. What do ya'll do to keep cattle away from the deer feeders? A few fence posts and barbed wire? I overheard someone talking about hog panels?

What do you use and how robust have you found it to be?

I've used a lot of stuff, and haven't had a lot of luck. I don't think most cows are as corn-hungry as the ones on my land, but they can be extremely destructive. Here are my results with various types of pens.

Barbed wire: Cows pushed right through it until the t-posts were bent at 90 degree angles.

Goat wire: Cows snapped the wire between t-posts 6-ft. apart.

16-ft. hog panels: So far, so good...haven't had them out long, but I think they will work.

No pen: Cows have knocked shorter feeders over, but don't seem to bother the taller, wider legged feeders. I did have one wide legged feeder that was still standing, but the metal straps holding the motor box onto the barrel were bent and snapped. Using something to stake the feeder legs down works pretty well.

Summary: If they want into a feeder pen bad enough, they will find a way. If you don't mind the cattle eating the corn, just stake the legs down and use the tallest, widest legged feeders you can. You can put a pen around that if you want to.

The best systems I have seen use T-posts (heavy cedar are betterif you have the time) and cattle panel. If you space the T-posts at 6-8 feet, only the really determined cattle will get through. Since the panels are usually wired to the posts, it is easy to open the set up for filling feeders.

This works reasonable well for hogs also. I have often recommended that producers make their feed pens somewhat oblong so that some of the corn will sling outside of the pen. That lets pigs get some of it (and keeps 'em comming in) but still gives the deer the security of being inside.

T posts and trees with barb wire. No problems. trees give it a little more support.

I assume you can't shoot the pests.

one thing i think you might want to take note of is how large you are going to make the pens. In my opinion the larger the better, if you have time and resources. Deer tend to jump into larger pens much more frequently than the smaller ones. I believe it makes them feel not as trapped and safer in larger pens. Thats been my luck so far in San Angelo.

exactly. i'm amazed how many times i see these tiny pins around feeders and it drives me crazy.

What would ya'll say is an appropriate pen size? 15'x15'?

I sort of like the idea of placing the feeder such that some of the corn is thrown outside the pen. Keep the hogs coming in...

Try 30' x 30'.

I use DEER corn... not the generic stuff.... Never had a problem with pigs or cattle...

.... "rememberin' the fallin' down and the laughter... of the curse of luck, from all those sons-of-bi*tches, who said we'd never get back up".

Pen size either needs to be big or tiny. Either give the deer room to jump in and feed or make the pen so small that all the corn gets thrown outside the pen. Most of my pens are about 18'x18' (4 t-posts to make a side) but if you have the room to go bigger, it sure doesn't hurt.

I rigged some wood shields with nails (@ 40ea.) driven through them and attached them to the legs with U-bolts. The legs themselves are staked with 2 - 18" L X 1/2" W rebar to the ground. So far so good in the hog / deer department. The place I hunt has about 20 - 25 head on it, but I think they might have been moved off.




[This message has been edited by pedro_martinez (edited 10/11/2006 2:52p).]

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wood shields

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What purpose do these serve?

I figured that if something wants to lean up against the shield it might feel the poke of the nail and decide not to lean on the leg. You really can't tell from the picture, but the little shields are studded like a cactus. I'm more concerned with the feeder getting knocked over than I am with feeding a cow here and there.

However, feeder protection is definitely not my strong suit. Although a friend of mine tole me I could cut metal fence posting and slide them over the tublar steel legs I already have.

[This message has been edited by pedro_martinez (edited 10/11/2006 2:56p).]

My feed pens are approx. 12-15 16' hogs panels with 3 t-posts per panel(1 on each end and one in the middle), shaped in a circle (best I can make one that is). This seems to keep the hogs from finding the corners of the pens to get in, and keeps most cows out. I have had a few figure it out and jump into the pen, destroying my hog panels....which I had to replace.

DVM

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I assume you can't shoot the pests.

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Heaven forbid they put cows on "your" deer pasture! hahaha

FYI, the pressure on the feeders this year is probably the absolute worst that it will ever be. A hungry cow is a hell of a lot more motivated than one that can eat all it wants.

Luckily for me the guy we lease from has plenty of food for his cattle.

What we have done is put T-posts in the ground and bent them along so they are the same angle as the feeder poles. We wrap them with wire and have never had a problem with cows knocking them over. I have seen plenty of cows scratch on the feeder too.

What we have to worry about are the raccoons and squirls spinning the feeder themselves. Just built a wire box that fits over the feeder and doesn't seem to be a problem.

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You really can't tell from the picture, but the little shields are studded like a cactus.

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sadistic...

if it works I'll be thrilled, if not, back to the drawing board.


pookbck -

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What we have to worry about are the raccoons and squirls spinning the feeder themselves. Just built a wire box that fits over the feeder and doesn't seem to be a problem.

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I have a pic of a raccoon doing that very same thing. Even if I didn't have the pic, he left behind his little paw prints on the feeder. From the pics, I can tell he shimmied up the legs, even despite the nails (probably used them as steps). I've since reinforced the steel cage they'd pulled down the first time, but will have to see how that holds up. So far raccoons 1 - pedro 0.

Here's the pic. They'd "removed" the cage a couple of days prior.



[This message has been edited by pedro_martinez (edited 10/11/2006 3:58p).]