Fence/Gate question

I've been contemplating fencing off the fields in front of our house, north of the driveway out to the road. It's about ten acres, currently in a small hay field and small bean field. Directly east of this ground is access to my pastures- I'd like the option of turning the cattle out on these two small fields in the fall, either to graze cornstalks or a hay field if conditions warrant. Plus, it would be a small amount of insurance if a cow finds a weakness in the fence perimeter and goes on a walk-about.

We have access to the fields from the south east and west corners- pretty convenient to pull in with a tillage tool/planter/combine from either side.

I want to set the fence up with gates at those two spots for vehicle access, plus others for the cattle to use. [b:91ffb4c266]My question is[/b:91ffb4c266]- what should I plan for gate access to accommodate today's large equipment, and the future's designs, as well?

I was thinking of using two gates at each access, like JonMN was showing in his thread. I like steel tube gates, and the fence will likely be tensile wire. The neighbor has the combine, and his grain table is 35' wide. Would two 20-foot wide gates give me enough room? I could plan for a removable post in the center for support.

Is there some better arrangement than two gates? Should I just plan for him to take the head off and cart it into the field to hook back up? The east gate access can be used from his fields directly to mine, no road travel needed. The west gate would be right off the road at my driveway. Maybe I should set the opening at 50 feet, and just run wires through there when needed- most of the year there would be no cows in there, only if they escaped the pasture. I could install the temporary 50 feet of wires as needed, and leave it open most of the year. I don't trust the fence or animals enough to just use temporary fence for all of it, only as needed.

tl;dr: how do you plan wide field access?

The 16' cattle panels sold for about $20 can be set up as light weight, accordion style gates. You'd need a few removable posts to support them, but should be quick, effective, and cheap.

Taking the head off to get in would require longer than cutting crop and wade down probably half the crop. With that might as well not put in a crop.

2 gates, side by side when needed often will make you sad. 2 gates used 2 times a year are not an
issue. Rather than setting a massive pivot post to support the gates from one end, I would put
wheels on the center ends that allow easy rolling of the fence to the side. Solid rubber, and steel
rim are desired to avoid flats and plastic rim degraded in sunshine. Jim
one example

How about a drive through electric fence gate. You just drive through it, it is electric so animals don't try to push it, and it is rubber coated so it doesn't mar the paint

One thing to consider is ruts from traffic making it difficult to swing open. If you had two gates and one was for traffic, say 14' and hinged and the other was 26' (total 40') using the wheel as you suggest, there wouldn't be many, if any, traffic ruts to for the wheel to cross. You could also make the big gate a sliding gate like I had at my commercial building and yard. The gate had wheels on the end and a steel "wheel" with a "U" shape face that rode on two horizontal steel pipes higher up on the fence. Then you just slide the big gate open. The one I had was on paving with two smaller wheels but the larger wheels like you suggest would be better if on bare ground. In the photo, left just above the mower you see the wheels on the end of the gate and the two pipes they ride on.

There is nothing wrong with your idea of putting up
two 20' gates. I would put the removable center post
in like you said and put something on it to hold the
gates up when they are closed. I have used the
threaded ends of drill stem for center posts. Cut a
piece off the female end as long as your hole is
deep and cement it in flush with the ground. Then
cut the male end to make the right height. Put some
antiseize or grease on the threads and screw into
the one in the ground. It will work with any pipe but
the threads on drill pipe are very tapered so they
unscrew easier. Tony

Check how high the header lifts on the combine. It might lift over top the fence and you only need room for the combine and tillage equipment.

This is how I made my wide gates.

Since you have wire fence already just use a wire gate from the same wire. Fastened to the post then a intermediate post to hold the center. The intermediate post is removable. Then the other end can be set up with a stretch tight version to keep the gate tight and solid easy to open and only as wide as you want. Can even be driven over when down. Length of wire will dictate the width of the gate.

A 35 foot header with lateral tilt can get
through a 24 foot opening, with a bit of
fenegeling.

If going with 2 long gates, set up 2, H-
braces in about a 90 degree V, each 45
degrees off the line of the gate. and just
toss a chunk of 4x6, 6x6, cement block,
etc, on the ground for the ends to rest on,
when opened and closed.