Cattle panel

[lazy gardener]

Here's the perfect place to share your inspiration for your creative builds using cattle panel. Pics and How to details will be enjoyed by all.

To date: I've built a CP green house, CP coop with loft at one end, fenced garden with CP, used it for trellises, covered one side of a tractor with it. I'm a techno idiot, so pics and other details will be left to the imagination for now.

 

[redsoxs]

Well, my idea is by no means unique but after years of battling tomato cages, I've gone to planting my tomatoes in long rows with cattle panels on each side. I can get more plants in the same distance and the plants support each other. The only place I have to secure the plants is on the two ends and for this I use twine. Picking is easier, too...nomsharp cage wires to gouge me.

 

[lazy gardener]

That is one of my favorite uses for CP, and one of the reasons I chose to use it as a fence around the garden. The CP does nothing to keep critters out. For that, I zip tie deer netting to the CP, but it provides a nice trellis all the way around the garden for vining crops. I am hoping to pick up 2 - 3 more CP this spring, and cut each one into 3 lengths, leaving the tangs in place. I'll be able to get 3 x 5' panels out of each one. They will be used in both orchard and garden for more vertical growing.

 

[donrae]

We used them for breeding pens....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1003092/my-breeding-pens

and have been pretty happy with the deign.

I'm planning on utilizing them in the garden when we move. New garden will be downsized and more raised bed type, so using them as trellis will be more doable.

Love to see everyone else's ideas......

 

[jmoeller]

I used cattle panels for a solarium of sorts on my coop.
I screwed eye hooks into the wall of my existing coop, slipped the cattle panel into the hooks.

stuck the other end of the panels into the ground about 2 feet. making sure the panel had a nice arch to it. It was a bit of a struggle to keep the panel in the hooks while bending it for the tension but we got it done.


then I ordered a large clear tarp and zip tied it to the cattle panel on the top and draped the excess over the sides. I zip tied the sides down to the pallets or cattle panel.


I pounded fence stakes into the ground and slid these pallets over them to make a wall of sorts on the ends. The tarp doesn't go all the way to the ground on the ends but I want the ventilation. The purpose of the pallets really is to be a wind break and stop snow from blowing in.

this is the end I will be walking into the solarium. I don't have a door to close here, but I don't really want to restrict the chickens movement, just give them a comfortable place to hang out if they choose. I like the fact that I can keep the windows of the coop open all winter for ventilation with out having wind and snow blowing into the coop.

the chickens are loving it. They are able to free range most of the time but once it snows they just stayed huddled up under the coop, now i have more than doubled the amount of snow free room they will have to enjoy this winter.
The whole project cost about $110, the cost of the tarp was the most expensive part, plus the eye hooks, and zip ties, the cattle panels I was got from my sister for free.



I also use cattle panels for trellis for the garden. simplest trellis ever. I just pound some fence stakes into the ground on alternate sides of the panel.

X X X
----------------------------------------------------- like such.
X X X

 

[lazy gardener]

Thanks for your post. Pics worth a thousand words. I'm not sure I'd have thought to do the posts on alternate sides of the CP trellis. Great suggestion.

 

[GardenNut]

Gonna watch this thread! I have no CP experience yet, but maybe next spring! Thanks for starting it LG!

 

[lazy gardener]

YVW

 

[henless]

I'm wanting to arch some in my garden and grow cantaloupes and maybe some beans. I had cantaloupes growing in my spare run this year. The vines ran up the hardware cloth and the cantaloupes grew just fine hanging up in the air.

 

[GardenNut]

I think I'll ask Santa for some CPs! I'd be so happy!