Ergonomics of making cattle panel arches

Jay most panels are 4 gage vertical and 5 gauge horizontal. I think any kind of ridgid fencing would do the job. A 4 or 5 gauge wire would be just like a panel, only you can make it any size that suits you within reason of course. Good luck.

I wonder, is it possible that they be hammered into shape instead of bent? Say one had some kind of concave anvil such as two  stones, large enough not to move around, were placed touching each other. Or perhaps in a stream-bed where such rocks already are positioned as such. Not something I have tried (I let the parsnips be trellises) but if I were to do so that would seem to be a possibility.

Jen Fulkerson wrote:Jay most panels are 4 gage vertical and 5 gauge horizontal. I think any kind of ridgid fencing would do the job. A 4 or 5 gauge wire would be just like a panel, only you can make it any size that suits you within reason of course. Good luck.

That presents another way around the issue—to bend and weave (/ twist) together the wires one at a time rather than to deal with the unwieldiness of a complete cattle panel.

J Katrak wrote:
I also need to figure out the best way to get some panels here first.

That struggle is real! On one purchase, I needed smaller pieces so I took bolt cutters with me the farm store and cut them to size there. That fit them in a pickup truck well enough.

On another purchase I waited until I had a trailer borrowed for something else and made good use of it by picking up some panels too. Tractor Supply rents trailers and sells cattle panels. Plus I think you get a free trailer rental yearly if you are a "member."

*edit* I see you meant "how to get them on your island at all" so sorry, a trailer is no help there!

Maieshe Ljin wrote:

Jen Fulkerson wrote:Jay most panels are 4 gage vertical and 5 gauge horizontal. I think any kind of ridgid fencing would do the job. A 4 or 5 gauge wire would be just like a panel, only you can make it any size that suits you within reason of course. Good luck.

That presents another way around the issue—to bend and weave together the wires one at a time rather than to deal with the unwieldiness of a complete cattle panel.

If you want them to be freestanding structural like a cattle panel, all of the junctions need to be welded or REALLY twisted hard.  And that wire doesn't twist easily at all.

Matt Todd wrote:

J Katrak wrote:
I also need to figure out the best way to get some panels here first.

That struggle is real! On one purchase, I needed smaller pieces so I took bolt cutters with me the farm store and cut them to size there. That fit them in a pickup truck well enough.
.......

*edit* I see you meant "how to get them on your island at all" so sorry, a trailer is no help there!

J Katrak said "how to get them" Jay Angler is on an island.

Common around here is to do a lot like I do with a strap to keep them curved and fit them from the cab to tailgate of a truck, arched, and tie them down REALLY seriously. I got for lay them in so they only hang off the open tailgate a bit, and swoop up the back side of the cab, tie them hard to the roof of the cab and the truck bed. That makes it easier for me to unload them by myself.

Cutting them works, and one of the good ways to use cattle panels other than arched is on edge, you can make some cool patterns, just add T posts. I have a bed made that way that I call The Serpentine Bed. Had some out front till this spring too, on edge. They have other good tricks besides arches. If I was going to use a wire fence type thing, I'd not arch it, I'd serpentine it. Get cool keyhole type supports going. Cattle panel doesn't flex easy for neat designs.

Pearl Sutton wrote:
If you want them to be freestanding structural like a cattle panel, all of the junctions need to be welded or REALLY twisted hard.  And that wire doesn't twist easily at all.

That makes sense. It sounds as if the wire that forms the cattle panel is quite resilient. There are lighter gauges of wire that, although sturdy enough, could be twisted with relative ease (using some good pliers) as the horizontal wires. The barbed wire I scavenge and disassemble fits into that category.

The barbed wire that one finds commonly around here is also constructed in a particular way that could inspire a design. The two long wires are twisted about each other, with little sharpened, knotty bits of wire (the barbs) that are held between by the twist. It stays together even though the twisting is not particularly intense. One could twist these wires together and up while laying the horizontal wire between them as one continues twisting along. Then at the ends, a little bit of the horizontal could be folded over so that it doesn’t stick out and poke people.

Maieshe Ljin wrote:

Pearl Sutton wrote:
If you want them to be freestanding structural like a cattle panel, all of the junctions need to be welded or REALLY twisted hard.  And that wire doesn't twist easily at all.

That makes sense. It sounds as if the wire that forms the cattle panel is quite resilient.  

I had a piece of cut cattle panel welded onto my tractor, then I took a 3 foot cheater bar and bent the ends upwards into hooks. I can sling a hammock from a hook easily and they never unbend.  They are difficult to bend. that's what makes them cattle proof. A pissed off bull will not bend one that's anchored well.

Concrete remesh (reinforcing mesh) is another alternative.  It isn't galvanized so it turns rust brown pretty quickly.  It's a 6" by 6" grid, 4' wide and comes on a roll (or 8 foot pieces) and it's floppier than a cattle panel.  I use it for tomato cage cylinders, fencing and trellises.  It needs more support cuz it's floppier and it seems to be more likely to cut you due to the floppiness.  But it's a bit lighter and disappears into the landscape due to its brown color.

I think it depends on what you want to use the trellis for. If you're going to grow peas, beans, flowers, a lighter weight fence would work. If you want to grow melons, or squash you need something quite strong.
If you can't get ahold of a Ridgid wire fence, I think you could connect 2X4's and attach a lighter weight fence. It wouldn't have the rounded top, but I wouldn't think a square top would be a problem???
I remember in another post Pearl got some trampoline parts. Maybe you can get a trampoline someone doesn't want, and use the frame in a different was to use for the frame and wire fencing to that?
I'm sure there's a way to get some sort of arch with a little out of the box thinking.
When you figure it out, I'd love to see.

Pearl Sutton wrote:.

The idea of using straps and leverage to make them safe, stable and easy to maneuver was a game changer for us, we don't have to worry about getting hurt anymore. That's an IMPORTANT consideration, not just for us older women, but for everyone who can't afford to get injured, which is everyone You don't get your garden work done with a broken arm or leg.

Some of us do forget about this sometimes. Thank you for the reminder!

Matt Todd wrote:

J Katrak wrote:
I also need to figure out the best way to get some panels here first.

That struggle is real! On one purchase, I needed smaller pieces so I took bolt cutters with me the farm store and cut them to size there. That fit them in a pickup truck well enough.

On another purchase I waited until I had a trailer borrowed for something else and made good use of it by picking up some panels too. Tractor Supply rents trailers and sells cattle panels. Plus I think you get a free trailer rental yearly if you are a "member."

A pickup sure is handy. I thought about Pearl's U-bend in a suburban but after some measurements it wouldn't be easy if even possible.

I used a trailer last time and picked up from Tractor Supply. I had no idea that they rented trailers though let alone a possible freebie. That's really good to know.

If you live where there are Menard's stores you can rent a pickup there reasonably. You are not allowed to tow a trailer with it.

J Katrak wrote:

A pickup sure is handy. I thought about Pearl's U-bend in a suburban but after some measurements it wouldn't be easy if even possible.

I'd say not possible without some REALLY weird adaptations.
Only way I could think to do it (having stuffed a lot of things in a Suburban for a few years) would be to bend them LENGTH-WISE (which is NOT easy, making them bend for arches width-wise is hard enough) and let most of it hang out the back (which would have to have a LOT of support) And then I'd expect them to unload themselves at a stop light....  
Not something I'd do. I'd put them on the roof of a suburban first, and that would suck badly too. They don't stay put on roofs real well. They are heavy and inertia can break a LOT of tie downs. I run them over the roof of the cab of my truck, but that's because I have the bed of the truck doing 80% of the hold.

Flat bed trailer is easiest.

I tried in the past to make a dome out of lighter welded wire fencing and even for beans, it didn't cope well.

Unfortunately, most of the trampolines around here have a larger diameter than my garden would benefit from - I really like the narrow, tall tunnels that Pearl is able to build.

I have also tried to use an old swing set frame  to support a cover over tomato plants and those also have severe limitations to human movement. The people who complain about how impractical typical A-frame houses are, have many valid points! (I have seen some exceptionally well designed A-frame houses, but they're the exception.)

Eventually, at least for my small raised beds, I was able to get Electrical conduit pipe bent into a semicircle with a 4 ft diameter and some legs. The legs were too short to be practical, but rebar fits nicely inside and is strong enough that I can raise the pipe to give me about 4 ft of growing height for tomatoes. I covered the bed with floating row cover like a covered wagon - open at the ends - and could undo each corner easily for picking. It takes 4 hoops to support a 6 1/2 ft length in my climate - we're known for intermittent high winds!

Domes with knee-walls are a really practical shape for growing in!