Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living Pipe Gates?

Barry mentioned Powder River gates in the other thread. We have a couple Powder River gate, but I like Sioux gates better.


We also have a lot of "cheap", cheap made that is, gates.


Any talk about pipe gates?

Heinz 57 variety of tube gates on the farm, the latest brands have been Behlen and Countyline.

6-8 years ago Wisconsin had a bout of fence gate rustlers. Gates were stolen and sold for scrap. I lost 3 out by the county road which put cattle out on the road.

Most of the ones around here are made by Tartar. They have a factory here in Kentucky. I usually buy mine from an old fellow that has been in the gate business for years. He lives up next to their factory, and buys them direct, driving all over this part of the state selling gates, hay rings, and chutes. He is usually at least $20-40 dollars a gate cheaper than is a retail outlet. If I need one in a hurry, or need just one, I'll go over to the Mennonite farm store, and buy a "seconds" for a discount of at least $25. They usually have a few dings or paint scraped off.....which is going to happen in a little while after it's hung anyway.


What color do y'all like? I have red, green, and unpainted ones. The price is the bottom line for me.

I'll use the cheaper, lighter gates where I can, but use heavier, stronger gates where it matters. like in my working pens.

Pasture and entrance gates don't have to be too heavy or strong.

There's a medium in working pens too. I used to have a set of pens that had long, heavy gates welded with 2" pipe.

Those weren't too good for cutting cows. Gate was too heavy and hard to swing very fast.

We use the wire filled gates since we run goats. We had 2 of them on a 22' wide opening joining a road that were stolen a couple of years ago. Stock had been rotated off of that lot at the time so nothing got out but I was (still am) pissed about it. Had to replace them with a couple of pipe gates that I cut/zip tied cattle panel to. They are chained to the posts now but if someone is going to steal them there's little that can be done about it.

Usually, I buy the "bull" gates, that's what the heavier ones are called around here. That's why I buy the "seconds", as they will usually run about the same as the No.1 light gates. As Barry said, the lightweight gates work for some things, but f you're going to be working cattle with them, the heavier the better. I made the mistake of buying some coral panels one time, and forgot to ask if they were the light or the heavy ones. They were the lightweight ones, and lasted through one round of working some calves.

Of course the heavy gates are heavy. It's hard to hinge them and not have a sag from the gate post leaning.

Yeah you gotta plan for it, and brace and concrete accordingly. I did all that right, it was just not optimal for cutting and separating. Lots of cross braces. Those were a pain too, cause you had to make them tall enough for men ahorseback.

for me......gotta be 2" tubing with the collared hinges

braced extra well.........no one likes a gate that sags.....

One place I graze cattle on here has welded gates and gate posts.

The gates are pretty wide... like 16'. They knew how to brace and hinge well. The hinges are over size pipe collars slipped over the post and resting on a welded collar.

The gates aren't pipe though. They are sucker rod.

Had to weld a lock insert back on because it broke at the weld...

The gate also has a bottom rest on the lock side. You pull the gate closed, and lift it up, and it rests in a little cradle, taking the weight off the hinges.

Pretty good welder, and designer made those.

May not be using the right terminology for you gents, but at the gate opening the first round wood post I call "set" post where the "J" bolt hinge is attached to and second the "brace" post.

I nail a 12" treated 2x4 to the back of the set post and have found this prevents the post leaning from weight of gate.

Resting the lock side of the gate on a piece of brick (or whatever as long as it's the right height) is a simple way to take weight of the set post....even if that post is cross braced/tensioned against an offset second post it helps.

It helps if the gate stays on the support, however, cattle like to rub the gates or push the gates for grass on other side, so for me it is an exercise in futility.

True. We have no trouble with goats, cattle, or horses rubbing/pushing on them......could be because of the strand of electric wire....grin.... A couple of these are needed along with a little tension to make sure it stays off the metal gate:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Fi-Shock-48-in-Plastic-White-Step-in-Fence-Post-A-48/100287520

Some gate hinges have a hole for a cotter pin to keep them on the hinge.

I used to build pipe gates for the owner of the plumbing company I worked for. I made a jig for them, because we made so many. We made them out of 1 1/4 schedule 40 pipe. He would concrete a piece of 10 or 12 inch pipe in the ground. They didn’t sag.