Cattle Guards?

Can't you just run the wire through some PVC pipe and bury it under the gate opening? Wouldn't that allow you to use any type of gate that you want?

(Maybe I'm not understanding your requirements)

The work for humans... I was following a car on a Nevada back road at

I've wondered if a cow ever figures out the painted version. I watched a mule that was a fence jumper going back and forth across a fence like he was telling his buddies c'mon you can do it. I think most mules and horses could jump a fence but they don't. They will wear a path walking the line hoping someday they'll find a hole.

Many of the roads here have rumble strips as you approach a stop sign. Very handy for blind drivers to know they have to stop.

I'll have to do as you say to keep the electric fence wire circuit complete. Taking down the existing gate would leave a gap that animals might sneak through. Farmers and ranchers use cattle guards to keep cattle from crossing the gap. Cattle have problems with depth perception.

I know about cattle guards and I know about electric fence continuity, so there must be something else I'm missing.

Is your question only related the whether the white stripes work or not? If so, I guess the part I'm missing is why that is a concern if you are going to have a vehicle gate. Enlighten me...I like to learn stuff. ;-)

The center pivot runs through there at odd times when it isn't practical for someone to take the wire down for a few minutes. The best one can do is a rough guess when it will be at the gate. That's the main reason for the possible cattle guard. We'd have a permanently open gate. My question is if could paint some stripes on a chunk of plywood or something similar to keep the cattle in. Maybe there's another thing one can substitute for the original cattle guard. One thought was fencing like this.

What about a spring loaded, self centering gate that allowed the center pivot to open it on the way through and let it close - centered - after it's gone by?

You know, like an old west saloon door.

Ah, good, something I wouldn't have thought about. It is a part circle pivot so the gate would have to open in both directions just like saloon doors.

I don't know. The ones I've actually seen are metal as are all the ones I've seen on the internet.

Doesn't explain why painted ones work.

Nancy's husband could have used that.

I'm not fond of them myself. The gap is wide enough for your foot to go through which doesn't always end well.

Do you drive through the gate? The steel ones have to stand up to traffic. They're also heavy. How much weight is on the pivot wheels?

Some figure out how to tiptoe across or in the worst case fall into the real ones. I was looking for a video of a cow caught in the act but only found ones with the circumstantial evidence of the cow being where she wasn't supposed to be.

That was how it went with the Forest Service. They're responsible for some of the guards on the forest roads and you'd get the call 'My damn cows...' That's all part of the AUM (animal unit / month) grazing fees on public lands that are quite a bargain.