"Hoop-Type" Drive-Over Gate

"Hoop-Type" Drive-Over Gate FENCING Gates 27-5-43 Darryl Enns uses a tractor to feed cattle in his feedlot, but he grew tired of always having to stop to open and close the gate. So he came up with a way to simply drive up and over the fence using steel hoop building trusses - the same ones used to make the innovative hoop buildings he's been selling for the past couple of years (Vol. 26, No. 4). The 42-in. wide trusses are made from 2 by 2-in. steel tubing. Enns uses four trusses and welds rungs made out of 1 1/2-in. sq. tubing between them, placing the rungs 6 in. apart. The trusses are supported by welded-on vertical legs made out of the same sq. tubing as are the unload "points" at each end of the ramp. The unit can be adjusted to any gate opening by varying the placement of the trusses. The result looks like a rounded ladder that starts on the ground a few feet away from one side of the fence and ends on the ground a few feet away from the other side. "It works great for feedlots and saves a lot of time going in and out with your tractor," says Enns. "I placed the gate that I built alongside my fenceline feed bunks. I use my Ford 4-WD tractor equipped with a front-end loader to drive over the gate and dump silage into the bunks. "The four trusses sell for $850 (U.S.) plus S&H. It takes about 600 linear ft. of 1 1/2-in. sq. steel tubing to build the rest of the gate, which will cost an additional $400 to $500. One good day of assembly and you'll have a handy drive-over gate for less than $1,500. "The gate I built is about 15 ft. long and 10 ft. wide and is 3 ft. high at the top. It's built high enough that even with 2-ft. high snow drifts cattle will still see the bars and not want to walk over it. It's high enough that cattle will never try to run over it like they might with a conventional flat cattle guard." "Enns says that when building the ramp you want to make sure the two inside trusses are on the same spacings as your tractor wheels in order to provide adequate support. "On my ramp the two outside trusses are 2 ft. apart, with 6 ft. of space between the two sets. It's strong enough that I can drive my 12,000-lb. tractor loaded with a 1-ton round silage bale over it with no problem. "The only limitation is that if you have a 2-WD tractor you may have to lower the ramp's profile or the rear wheels won't be able to get enough traction to climb the ramp, especially if the tractor is carrying a load." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Darryl Enns, Silver Stream Shelters, Box 393, Neche, N. Dak. 58265 (ph 877 547-4738).

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