farm gate

Creating Your Own Farm Gate

Farming is not only about growing and harvesting crops, it's about raising livestock as well.  Cows, pigs, chicken and turkeys... these are just a few of the animals that can provide for profitable farm income for any family.

And if you're in the business of raising some livestock, you'd most definitely need a fenced enclosure to keep the animals.  This will require a sizable area where you can allow the animals to roam.  The way you can keep them in while preventing them to wander into other areas is to create a fence around the said area.  Losing animals can be quite costly.  Each of them is a separate income stream from which many earnings can be gained.

Constructing a farm fence will depend on what kind of enclosure you want to build.  Some enclosures you can create are the following:

* Page wire fencing.  This is a rather permanent fencing solution that will require the establishment of pillars around which fence wires will be attached.  The pillars will determine the shape and the size of the enclosure.

* Barbed wire fence.  This fencing solution is meant to keep intruders out more than it is meant to keep the livestock in check.  Hence, barbed wire fences aren't really ideal for all kinds of animals.  Unruly animals incapable of domestication will just get injured once their skin comes in contact with the barbed wire.

* Suspension wire fence.  This fencing solution consists of elastic wires that allow more movement for the animals.  The wires will snap back into place once extended.

* Electric fence.  This fencing solution involves the use of electricity-imbued wires.  As such, it is ideal for animals that can be trained through classical conditioning.  Otherwise, this setup will just be injurious to unruly livestock.

Regardless of what fencing solution you will choose, you'd need a farm gate.  A farm gate will provide the ingress and egress point for the farmer, as well as for the animals whenever they need to be taken in and out of the enclosure.  Without a farm gate, you'd have an enclosure that is pretty much impenetrable, which will defeat the purpose of a farm fence.  The animals, at one point, have to enter and exit the enclosure.  And the farmer has to do the same to keep the said area clean, and to feed the livestock on a regular basis.

A farm gate is easy to build.  When building the fencing solution, simply leave an area that will not be covered by the fences.  This will serve as the point of entry and exit.  To close this point, simply provide a hinged door, which can be made of plywood or even a wooden or metal outline with its own wires.