Dealing with cattle

This is a new one for me.

I’ve lived in TX for less than 2 years and have never been around cattle. I’ve got access to 15 acres outside of Johnson City that has free range cattle roaming the property. There are 8 lots that allow the cattle to roam freely. The cattle eat all the corn I put on the ground and have knocked my hanging barrel around and dented it. The cows have learned that the feeder noises means dinner time.

I’ve thought about cutting hog panel in half and mounting about 3 feet high on fence posts to keep the cattle away from the feeder and allow hogs access to crawl under the panel.

Has anyone done anything like this or have any suggestions on keeping cattle away from feeders? I’m not sure what I can do to keep thousand pound animals away from the feeder, but I’d think that someone has dealt with this before.

Thanks,

Scram

Cattle are actually rather intelligent, and will VERY quickly learn that your feeder = food!

When I've put up a feeder from which I wanted to exclude cattle but permit hogs I install a barbed wire fence around it. It takes about ten T-posts. I try to have some type of gate thru which I can come and go as opposed to crawling through the fence. Three or four strands of wire is generally sufficient, and they don't have to be strung professionally tight. Deer will still go under or over, but usually cows will stay out.

If a cow thinks it can get through a barrier, there's virtually no way to keep it out.
OTOH, if a cow thinks it cannot get through a barrier, it generally won't even try.

Here's a photo. It was taken from a bit of a distance but you get the idea —

Awesome! Thank you! I would’ve never even thought about using Barbwire.

Just as a heads up, watch your 6 around those cattle. A local that was mowing a pasture for a neighbor a couple weeks ago, got off the tractor to fool with something and got knocked over by an ornery cow. Nothing too serious but the potential was there and cut his day short.

Bakester said:

Just as a heads up, watch your 6 around those cattle. A local that was mowing a pasture for a neighbor a couple weeks ago, got off the tractor to fool with something and got knocked over by an ornery cow. Nothing too serious but the potential was there and cut his day short.

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I totally get your statement. The last time I was out there, the cows were interested in me. A big black cow seemed a little irritated that I was there and took a few steps towards me. I had a chainsaw in my hands, so I made a gesture towards her and she walked off. It kinda felt like she was going to charge me.

A few additional notes:
Stringing barbed wire is MUCH easier if you have two people. One can put a little tension on the wire and hold it in position while the other attaches it to the post. Even then, doing it by hand you won't get it really tight. It'll be good enough to keep cows out but you won't get any points for appearance. If you ever need to move your feeder it will be a bit of trouble.

Fwiw, Most cattle are curious, their more gentle,curious than wild crazy. Ive never had one charge me in a pasture unless your near her new born, and even then , its 50/50 a bluff. Been knocked down a few times in a corral, but that’s different environment. Barbwire is your best bet. Some cows learn how to open gates, break through fences. Most don’t

I run cattle on all my pastures and found out early that the feeder must be isolated from them or your corn will be eaten and the feeder may possibly be destroyed. Barbed wire is the simplest solution with 3 or 4 strands usually sufficient. Remember, you are going to have to shoot through this fence so cattle panels or high number of strands could cause problems. Fence should be far enough away so they cant reach any corn by stretching their necks through or they will continue to push through. Wire needs to be stretched reasonably tight, dont worry about breaking it, that takes more stretching than you can do by hand. It doesn't have to be pretty, hogs will find their way through. Daddy taught me fence building 50 years ago. Never envisioned "you tube" back then but that has lots of good instructions. Bless you brothers...

Get 3 10 ft aluminum panels from ag supply place. Pin together so it's easy to open and refill feeder.
Drive t posts inside on corners and so animals cannot push around. Posts go inside panel so animals would have to push against post rather than a wire. Easy for 1 person to assemble or to transport.

Ask the landowner/cattle owner if he objects to you installing a fenced area first. You probably already have just thought I'd through that out.

Lrtx1 said:

Ask the landowner/cattle owner if he objects to you installing a fenced area first. You probably already have just thought I'd through that out.

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I’ve been given permission to do anything I want that will help hunting at the property. The property owner bought the land as an investment and has visited the property twice in the 10 months since the purchase date. I pulled the trail camera card on Saturday. 3,000 + pics of deer and cows, but the large boar that was showing up hasn’t visited the feeder in over 3 weeks.

Yep...as a cattleman myself I will vouch for the total headache that it is keeping cows and calves (and bulls) out of bait.

As a matter of fact, I only bait hay meadows now. Too many times have I had cattle eat or destroy everything. Not worth the headache.

Another vote for the barbed wire - but I do stretch mine pretty tight - just because a limp fence bugs me. Another hint - drive "T" posts next to the feeder legs and wire the legs tightly to the posts. A hog loves to rub, and many of those feeder legs aren't very thick, and will fold up - there goes the feeder and the corn. Don't ask me how I know this.