Corral, Loading Chute Made From Used Highway Guard Rail

Corral, Loading Chute Made From Used Highway Guard Rail LIVESTOCK Handling 26-6-12 Farley Cole says used highway guard rail works great for making corrals and loading chutes because the rails can stand up to almost any abuse from cattle. The Girard, Ill., farmer constructed a three-sided corral that measures 30 ft. wide by 60 ft. long. The corral's 5 1/2-ft. high fence is made up of three guard rails, which bolt to heavy steel posts made from posts that the rails originally mounted on. "Cattle can't push this fence down and the posts won't rot," says Cole. "The guard rails, as well as the bolts and nuts, are made from super galvanized, heavily zinc-coated iron and ought to last a long time." He bought the 12-in. guard rail at a salvage yard for 8 to 10 cents a pound. "My total cost for the guard rail was about $50, which I think is a bargain, especially considering how heavy it's built and the ease of installing it," says Cole. The vertical guard rail posts were originally 8 ft. long. Cole lengthened them to 12 ft. and buried them 4 to 5 ft. in the ground. He did that by cutting some extra posts in half and welding the half sections to other posts. "We pushed them into the ground using the bucket on a loader tractor. We had to pound them down the last foot," notes Cole. To attach the rails, most of the time he was able to use the existing holes already punched in the guard rails. In some cases, however, he had to drill holes to bolt on the rails. Cole's loading chute stands about 10 ft. high in front and has a deck that can be adjusted at two levels for various truck heights. The tall end of the loading chute is anchored by two 8-in. dia. steel pipes. "To attach the guard rails to the pipes we cut holes in the pipe big enough for the head of a bolt to pass through, then cut a slot below and slid the guard rail with a bolt on the back side of it down into the slot and tightened it up. We used guard rail bolts which have a large carriage head with a tab on it that keeps the bolt from rotating as it's tightened up," notes Cole. He adds that you can also use the guard rails themselves as posts. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Farley Cole, 15224 Stewart Rd., Girard, Ill. 62640 (ph 217 965-4039 or 217 627-3315).

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