Any advice on making a cattle grid?

He's a Welsh Collie (so is supposed to be smart) but a 2m grid of round pipes should be enough of a deterrent when chasing rabbits/birds/squirrels ... when I first typed this I missed the "t" from rabbits, but talk of chasing Rabbis is probably banned in these Woke times ;-)

My friend's dog easily cleared a real rural cattle grid when approaching it at full running speed. He had a bit of trouble returning across it when trying to walk back.

The sides will be tied-in to existing fences, and I'll cut-away a bank to make a footpath with pedestrian gate. Buying a grid would be a bit pricey (and not in the spirit of DIY).

He's still young (I wish I was) but don't you think a 2m depth should be enough?

I investigated these but there are a number of practical and operational difficulties

Not in my neck of the woods, but I keep checking.

At least he didn't get him to pee on it !!!

I have also seen a dog crossing a cattle grid by walking along the side support.

John

If you have a heritage railway not far away ask them if they have any suitable scrap rail that can be cut to length. 45lb or so per yard would do so a narrow gauge line is more likely to have suitable material but a standard gauge line could have lighter rail lying around.

I think a drawbridge would be much more fun

I seem to recall that this kind of thing could fall foul of health and safety regulations these days. If the dog broke its ankle you might not be too pleased. Are there cattle around?

If there is a gate here, I guess it could have a safe electric fence on the inside? Cattle grid seems a lot of work. Brian

Cattle are scared of trips and falls because they can easily injure their legs, and a broken leg is probably going to be fatal.

Just the visual appearance of a cattle grid is enough to keep most cows away, and it's sometimes possible to keep cows out temporarily by painting lines on the roadway. But invariably there's one smart or brave cow that will learn that they can cross, and once they do the others will follow.

You could always strengthen it by welding vertical sections of pipe from the middle of the horizontal pole to the base of the pit.

It's not a particularly difficult calculation. I don't have the dimensions or UTS of scaffold pole to hand, but someone here probably has. Presumably you want to drive over it? Goods vehicles?

A visit to a scrap yard or scrap metal dealer might produce some nice tubing. Thinking about it the smaller diameter tubing would be more difficult for a dog to cross than the larger sizes I mentioned.

Yes, it would be good to use scaffold tube but I don't know how to do the sums to see what load it would cope with. Where do mechanical engineers hide when you want one ;-)

I propose that the tubes are supported at each end and also at mid-span, to coincide with the typical wheel track.

Yes, it would be on the access drive, a short way from the gates. Regular car and van usage with occasional lorry use for deliveries and removals.

Any half-decent mechanical engineer will ask what you want to drive over the grid, ask the width of the 'hole' and then say "yes, that will be fine" (or not fine, of course). :-)