Checking cattle is a lot easier for the Harmons at Chester, Montana, since they installed four-wheeler ramps in the fences between their winter pastures.

Richard Harmon and his sons, Bill and Pat, have a combined herd of about 500 head of beef cows. From December through April, their cattle are all commingled and kept in three groups based on age and body condition. This makes feeding easier, but it also means a lot of opening and closing gates while checking cattle.

To save time, Pat put together ramps that allow them to ride through the fences that separate the three pastures. "A neighbor had built something similar. We borrowed from his design, but changed it a little so we could fold up the ramps when we were working with the cattle. We felt this would discourage them from trying to run through the gap in the fence," he says.

The ramps rise up to a height of about 16 in. They're made of long lengths of old grader blade, with combine rasp bars used as crossbars. Short lengths of heavy-walled steel pipe were used to make hinges.

He used heavy angle iron for the center frame and legs. "I got the used grader blades from the county and a local machinery dealer had the old rasp bars," Harmon says.

He says the grader blades work well because they're made of high grade hardened steel.

"The rasp bars are ideal for cross members because the serrating on them gives better traction," he adds.

He says the ramps have been especially useful during calving season, when the cattle are checked every few hours around the clock.