David Surprenant, Manteno, Ill., raises dairy cattle in a rotational grazing system and he got tired of constantly having to get off his ATV to get by fences. So he came up with a way to drive right over them at full speed.

"Our farm consists of 40 4-acre paddocks separated by a single high-tensile fence wire," says Surprenant. "We were tired of opening and closing gates whenever we wanted to move wires or check on animals, so I designed a 'fence runner' for our Polaris 500.

"It consists of a 1 1/2-in. wide flat bar, 1/4 in. thick. It runs from the back of the machine to the front, hanging down just below the bottom of the frame. At the front of the machine, the bar angles up at about 45 degrees, extending about 30 in. in front of the machine.

"It catches the wire ahead of the ATV and directs it down under the front tires. It springs back up after I pass by so I continue on my way without stopping. I travel as fast as 20 mph across the wires.

"The bar connects with only two bolts to the front and rear so removal will be quite easy when we trade machines. We have been using the idea successfully for about four years.

"We also designed a carrier for the step-in fence posts we use, and a wire carrier and toolbox that carries everything we need to repair fence.

"Grazing dairy cattle is so much simpler than confinement dairying and this modification to our ATV makes it so much easier."