Tire Barrier Saves Fences

"Cattle are tough on the lower boards and wires of a feedlot fence," says North Dakota rancher Gene Sickler." After fixing and replacing boards and wires way too many times, I put together a tire barrier that solved the problem."

Sickler stands old worn out truck tires side-by-side between fence posts and secures them with one piece of 2 or 3-in. used water pipe. He attaches the pipe to the posts about 20 in. off the ground with U-shaped straps on each end. The pipe holds the tires in a straight line about an inch or two under a 2 by 8-in. board. He says guard rail would also work above the tires.

Sickler says the key to building good tire barriers is using the same size tires across one full barrier length, and making sure tires fit tight between the posts. He sometimes uses narrower tires squeezed in the middle or at the ends to make sure cattle can't push them around and rip the pipe loose. Another tip he says is to have a small trench under the fence that the tires rest in, which also helps hold them in place.

"Cattle rub on the tires, but they don't try to stick their nose or head between the top of the tires and the fence," Sickler says. He thought when he first made a barrier that cattle might stand on the tires and break through the fence, but they didn't do that either. "Every once in awhile one might stand on the tires with their front feet, but they don't try to use them as a step to get through the fence," Sickler says.

"Once the animals know the tires provide a barrier that isn't going anywhere, they pretty much leave them alone," says Sickler.

He has tire barriers on several fences and says they work well for outside fences as well as fences dividing pens. On some fences he's installed metal sheeting over the wood planks just above the tires to provide a windbreak. That works well, too. On fences dividing pens, the tires keep cattle almost 2 ft. away from the fence on both sides, a bonus feature that keeps the dirt and manure pack away from posts and makes feedlot cleaning easier.

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