PVC and Metal Fencing round-tractor

[AccidentalFarm]

Found this today and thought it was interesting. I hadn't seen a tractor of this size that is movable yet. Seems fairly inexpensive and has build instructions. Here's the link:

http://www.utm.edu/departments/cece/idea/mopens.shtml

 

[justusnak]

WOW, thats HUGE!! I would not want to have to move it! But a great idea it is!

 

[AccidentalFarm]

It is huge, but it says it's lightweight enough for one person to move... I might give it a try this summer.

 

[Blake]

those pens are very light and easy to drag around.you can always vary the height and also experiment with the diameter.im not sure you have to go that big in order for there not to be too much pressure on the joints or not.i have known maurice for many years and he would be glad to answer any questions you may have about it via email.good luck

 

[mudhen]

I don't know, it looks like you need a tractor to move that tractor!!

 

[allen wranch]

The only problem I see is it would be hard to predator proof.

 

[gainesvillej]

Has anyone used these round pens and figured out the advantages/disadvantages in a pasture system.

Going through some simple math it seems as if making your tractors/pens using the circular method, out of PVC, would be a lot cheaper than making roughly the same size square pen.

It seems the most expensive aspect of creating a square (box) pen out of PVC is the 3-way fittings, which you need quite a bit of. Those run around $2.50 a pop, probably more.

With this circle pen you would only need to use T-connectors which are about $.50 a pop.

If you think about the circle divided into quarters, and you used 9'4" lengths for each quarter, you would be able to run a 12' piece of PVC the diameter of the pen, right in the middle to support a 12' piece of metal, for cover. Using these cuts, you would get an area roughly equivalent to the area Salatin recommends (113 ft vs 120 ft).

Seems like a much cheaper way to build pasture tractors.