Finally starting the great fencing project!! ???
Where is the best place to buy gates TSC, Fleet Farm, etc?
What is recommended steel quality/thickness? Galvanized or painted?
Size recommendations for horses? For mowing equipment?
Other comments?
Thanks!
I went with Tarter. Nice and affordable.
Get your gates all the same size, large enough to get actual tractor and equipment thru without trouble. We have 14ft gates on all pastures and paddocks, which have worked well for a lot of uses. Tractor and mower fit, even larger tractors when we paid to have fields mowed, disced and seeded, fertilized. A gravel truck fits thru nicely, when barnyards need refills of gravel for footing.
They swing wide for snow plowing should you have deep snow to move or have to swing the spreader on a 90* turn.
I have 7-bar pipe gates for safety. They have wider spaces between pipes up higher, narrow spaces on the lower part, hoping to prevent a pawing horse getting a hoof caught while waiting to come in. I got these gates from the fence installer, they are pretty heavy duty. Sorry, no name brand to help you with. Yep, they will cost more because they use more pipe.
The perimeter fence gate on the road driveway is 16ft, so the semi truck size vehicles can swing in and not take out a gate post. I got a one-piece gate, which has a wheel on the moving end, because it is easier to handle than two small gates. If I need to shut the gate fast, I can without having to monkey around with two gate ends to get in place and fasten shut. The single gate does not move in the wind, drag on the ground, like two small gates will do, chained together.
We have gates with latches or chain and toggle thru an eye screw to lock them closed. Gates are locked open or closed, not allowed to swing in the wind. They stay in better shape, last years longer with the extra care.
We run a hot wire in front of the most used gates, barnyard to the barn. Wire has handles on each end, is totally removed, set safely aside when taking horses in or out of the barnyard. Hot wire keeps horses from charging the gate, pawing gate, getting cornered by another horse wanting to be next, using gate as a rubbing and scratching post. Hot wire saves lots of wear and tear on the gates. All fences are hot, so they can’t rub on that wire when they itch.
I would make sure your gates can be locked open with offset hinge pins, that allows gate to get completely out of the gate opening if you should need all the width. I will lock gates open when letting horses out in the various pastures to prevent horses getting damaged on a moving or not firmly anchored gate when they go thru the openings. One horse here was rubbing on the pasture gate, pulled it half way closed because the moving end had not been fastened as needed. That COULD have been a big problem if several horses tried to exit the gate at speed!!
IMO the majority of horse farms don’t need anything wider than 12’. I have a fairly large tractor and mow with a 16’ JD Flexwing (bat wing). Fits through fine as long as I line it up correctly but there is room to spare. I have some 14’ foot gates in some of my larger paddocks. They are “purpose” gates that are only used a few times a year at best. They are also cheap/inexpensive gates from T/S so it’s not a budget buster to buy and use the way I do.
Wide gates put a lot of stress on the post they are hung on.
All of my of my paddocks have 12’ well made thick gauge with heavy wire mesh. They are made locally. T/S gates are fine for the price but don’t expect them to hold up to the test of time. Especially if you have horses that tend to lean on them come feeding time or just in general.
I have gates that were installed 14 years ago, powder coated and still look really good. The T/S gates started looking crappy a few years after installing. The heavy gates will not dent if hit accidentally with equipment. I use “Aussie latches” on all of my gates. Easy to open and close with one hand while the other hand is controlling an unruly horse. Or slipping out and closing with a bunch horses in the same paddock trying to get out also.
I don’t follow the generally excepted “rule” of always closing gates in unoccupied paddocks/fields for the reasons Goodhors gave. I instruct/ask people to leave them open. Horses can and do get out of their paddock. By nature they generally will stay/hang around with horses in other paddocks on the other side of a fence. They will also by nature wonder into an open paddock because they have learned/know that this is their “safe place”. Having a couple of open paddock gates makes it easier to “heard” a loose un-haltered into a convenient open paddock. I have found more times than not when being a PITA about being caught they will run into an open paddock. This make life a lot easier especially if you are on your own.
I use the heavy well made threaded post hinges that have an adjustment nut on both sides of the post. All gates can and do sag a bit over time. These kind of hinges make it very easy to adjust and take the sag out.
Be sure to hang your gates so that there is not a big gap between the gate and the post it’s hung on. Consider that a horse may put its neck in that gap. I know of a horse that died this way. I avoid those gates with the round corners for this reason. Some are more squared off than others.
I have the green Fleet Farm gates and have zero problems with them. We did 10’ everywhere, and the only time I wished for bigger was when I wanted the materials truck (Milestone! You might use them, too?) to get into the field.
Oh, I do have some fancy Priefert gates at the end of my runs, to match the panels. Special order from Fleet Farm. Nice!
Tractor Supply is always more expensive than Fleet Farm, with shit service. 
Something to keep in mind if you’re in a climate that gets snow…
The metal/aluminum gates will need to be shoveled out after every snowfall in order to stay functional. For this reason, I do not use this type of gate here in Vermont. And this is especially a pain the larger the gate you install. So we have 12’ wide gateways, but just use electric fence to avoid the cumbersome process of shoveling out every gate just to access the horses.
[QUOTE=SuckerForHorses;8854981]
Something to keep in mind if you’re in a climate that gets snow…
The metal/aluminum gates will need to be shoveled out after every snowfall in order to stay functional. For this reason, I do not use this type of gate here in Vermont. And this is especially a pain the larger the gate you install. So we have 12’ wide gateways, but just use electric fence to avoid the cumbersome process of shoveling out every gate just to access the horses.[/QUOTE]
My fence guy in MN just hung the gates high. Looked totally bizarre to me when we first moved in, but sure handy when it dumps 2 feet of snow.
i like the gates that are filled in with mesh (but it’s not cheap wire, but rather same material as the frame). THat way if you have a frisky one that likes to turn and buck, you can get behind the gate before you let them go and be somewhat protected (good with young horses). Also they don’t put their feet through them or paw them and bend them.
I like 10ft gates, but we have some wider where we need to get the tractor and baler through. may not apply for everyone.
My two TSC gates have worn badly and they’re not even 2 years old. Granted, my herd are gate-abusing jerks, but, they haven’t dented the Behlen stuff. The horses can FEEL the pipe bending and they lean into that sensation – horrible to observe! But true. Even the mini’s added a few dents, and that’s just wrong. Avoid.
[QUOTE=EmilyM;8855372]
I like 10ft gates, but we have some wider where we need to get the tractor and baler through. may not apply for everyone.[/QUOTE]
we have used 16 foot openings with two eight foot gates panels … do suggest you paint the panels with a rustoleum type paint even if they were “powder coated” as powder coating can be applied very, very thinly
Where the panels meet we buried a standard 8by8by16 concrete block on its side (opening face upward) this catches the bottom leading edge of each panel to interlocks the two panels and will hold a single panel in place if you only want to open one panel … drop chain secures the two panels together
Also installed 4 foot walk gates for personal
Gates with no climb fencing in them help prevent horses from getting a leg/hoof caught from pawing at the gate or kicking out at something on the other side of the gate.
We use Powder River heavier duty gates, not the really tough “Classic” ones, the next step down.
Generally put 16’ in pasture gates, 14’ in pens, so any machinery can go thru, even when it is muddy and slippery.
The larger gates are also nice when you have more than one horse going thru them on their own, like between pastures or pens, so they don’t push each other into the gate posts.
We can get the tractor into any pens and under the barn to add material to stalls, etc.
Our small trap and pen fences are portable panels, so we can reconfigure the pens as we need, which over the years has really come in handy, as our needs have changed.
We have at times used the dark red gates from TSC and those have been sturdy and with the bigger pipe make an easy visual deterrent.
There are all kinds of gates out there for all kinds of purposes, so it is hard to say what would fit best where without knowing exactly what each gate’s purpose and use will be.
“Be sure to hang your gates so that there is not a big gap between the gate and the post it’s hung on. Consider that a horse may put its neck in that gap. I know of a horse that died this way. I avoid those gates with the round corners for this reason. Some are more squared off than others.”
The only reason there would be a “gap” large enough for a horse to put its neck in the “gap” is if the the fence line was not built to fit the width of the gate. In other words the gate width was an after thought and or a “retro fit” with one is too small for the opening.
IMO and experience working with a large population of all ages “rounded corners” are much safer. a lot less chance of horses injuring themselves if they should run into an open gate with rounded corners than square cornered gates. I have seen/had horse run/walk into both. The horse/s that hit the square cornered gate ended up bruised with a huge edema, balloon size “bubble”. The rounded corner gate they just walked away no worse for wear.
In the end IMO it really depends on one’s type/kind of operation and the horses they are working with.
Yes snow, deep snow makes it problematic opening gates and requires shoveling at times. A lot of shoveling at times. Most of my gates are set in such a way I can plow the bulk of the snow away with my tractor. If I have to shovel, well horse farms have a fair bit of manual labor associated with them. I wouldn’t sleep well at night just using an electric tape gate for my convenience. I like my gates to open in both direction, swing in and swing out. Depending on the group of horses behind them I have found it make my life a lot easier when taking one out by myself. Especially young ones. When I have snow to deal with I only have to plow/shovel the outside.
This is a link to some pictures I posted on our FB page. Much easier to post pics and vids on FB than photobucket etc.
We have the green Fleet Farm gates as well, and have had no trouble with them. We have a wide variety of sizes depending on location & purpose of the gate. We have a few 4’ “people” gates, and 2 really long gates (maybe 16’) which we use to create a “chute” across our driveway to move horses across, and several other sizes.
Our biggest mistake is not having “machinery” gates in all paddocks. We have one paddock with a 4’ gate near our house & the water, and then a 10’ gate the horses use at the other end between sacrifice and the paddock. Due to the layout of our land, the 10’ gate doesn’t work to get machinery through, so we have to mow this paddock with our zero turn that will just fit through the 4’ gate.
14’ Sioux Steel gates 2" pipe 16 gauge. One of the heaviest duty TSC gates (8’) and another brand 12’–I’ve forgotten. All are good. As long as you get 16 gauge or better I imagine you will be fine. Most stores carry two or even three levels of quality.
We have Prefert gates and they are long lasting and well made.
16 footers at all the entrances to hay fields – yes, my hay guy could fit through more narrow but why create a tight squeeze if you have the ability to design the 16 ft opening in from the start?
We use the kind of latch that supports the gate’s weight, so the post doesn’t sag, similar to this one. We have a wheel at the base of the gate, as well. Makes it easy to get through the gate with just one hand, which is an important consideration for me. I don’t want to put down the 4 flakes of hay or bucket full of water I’m carrying just to get through a gate.
On most fencelines I also have 4-6ft gates for quick pass-through, when I’m leading a horse.
Pay close attention to the direction the gate opens and which side the latch is on vs the hinge. Seems obvious, but your fence installer may not know that the latch side should never be up against a barn wall, perpendicular fence, or other “pinch point.”
Good point above about shoveling out gates in a snowstorm. It’s hard work, so if you can give yourself more ground clearance, you’ll be happy.
I’ve got a mixture of heavy steel 2" tube gates, as well as lightweight galvanized. My horses don’t challenge the gates, so the galvanized have held up just fine. Not very attractive, but they’re a lot easier on your post than a heavy gate.
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