Gates

[Oakshire_Farm]

Any one out there make there own metal gates???

The cost of the gates are so high that we have been thinking about making our own? My hubby is off right now pricing what the metal is going to cost. Just wondering if anyone has plans for them or has any experiences making there own?

[sammyd]

guy I know lucked into some tie stalls at an auction for a really cheap price so he buys a little pipe to weld between a couple of them to make any size gate he needs he seems to believe it's cheaper.....

[myersfarm]

if you buy metal from a store it will cost almost as much as what you can buy IF you can buy a trailer load you might get a deal on your home made ones.......but count everything weilding rods ... and hinges... chains what ever will keep them shut

homemade might be stronger but is that what you reall need

[tinknal]

When I worked on a feedlot they made all their own gates out of used drill pipe. I don't suppose there is any oil drilling going on around you though. I would look for a scrap source if you are going to make your own.

[springvalley]

if you have some used pipe laying around that would be a differant story. Metal is high right now, so I don`t think you could buy the pipe and make them cheaper than the guys that make the gates for a living. They get pipe buy the load and can get it cheaper that waay. I have made gates, but had a source for pipe and my time ain`t worth much. So just bite the bullet and buy some gates. > Marc

[francismilker]

Depends on the type of gate you want to build whether I'd make them or not. I've got gentle cows so I don't need anything heavy duty. If I get a crazy one she gets gentled with a 30/30 or put back in a trailer and shipped out.

I use a 16' cattle panel and wrap the perimeter with 7/8" sucker rod. (product from the oilfield that is basically cold roll metal just a lot harder.) Once I've wrapped the outside perimeter of the panel and put about 1" of weld every foot or so I put a diagonal brace or two from corner to corner and have a gate.

This kind of gate cost me about $30 to build but all I have out of it is something that swings well on hinges. It's definately not something to be used when crowding wild critters.

[Oakshire_Farm]

LOL, thanks everyone! Some great advice! Well my hubby came home from the steel yard with a price list and I spent some quality time with Google and I think we are going to try to make 1 see how it works out. All of our animals are very respectful of fences, no wild ones here! And all of our gates have a electric strand above them so I will keep you posted with how our 1 gate turns out. I think we priced it out to cost about $70, and it would cost double that to buy them.

[blaineiac]

I'm not how true this is... but I heard that oil pipe (or any tubing) has to be kept off the ground to be weldable. Something about polarity I think