Building Round Pen

[D Strickland]

Hi,

 

I need to build a round pen to start a young dog. Trouble is that I don't have $1000 for a new one.

 

Can I build a round pen with 16' Stock Panels and t-posts ?? How many panels would I need.

[stockdogranch]

I just used T posts and rolled wire field fencing. Or, the circumference of a circle is pi X d or 3.141 X the diameter. If you are making it 50' across, then it would be 157.05'. That would take 9.82 (call it 10) 16' panels. A 60' diameter round pen would be a circumference of 188.46, which would take 11.78 (call it 12) panels.

 

A

[Debbie Meier]

Ours is out of 16' Combo Panels and T-posts, we then used a 12' corral panel with a bow gate in it, and lined it with a combo panel. Wayne wanted the combo panels so that it would hold the arc, he also trains horses in it.

 

Deb

[NancyO]

Hi,

 

I need to build a round pen to start a young dog. Trouble is that I don't have $1000 for a new one.

 

Can I build a round pen with 16' Stock Panels and t-posts ?? How many panels would I need.

 

Dave, a few friends and I built a 60ft round pen in 2 1/2 hours the other weekend. We used the corner of a perimeter fence for part of the round pen (I did not need to do anything with the corner as it was not a 90 degree angle, if needed you could add a piece of cattle panel to round out the corner.

 

I measured the circle on the ground with a string and sheep marker. We attached the first panel to a wood post of the existing fence and while someone held the panel on the arc. Someone else held a t-post ( i used 7 ft posts so they would be in the ground a fair amt), while I used the bucket of the tractor to push the post into the ground.

 

I used 16ft cattle panels and overlapped one square where the panels joined, placing a t-post half into the overlapped square.

 

We put all the panels and post in this way, so the posts were exactly where they needed to be.

 

Be careful of the ends of the cattle panels, that there are no sharp edges to catch dog or sheep on, as they will rip open sheep or dogs. Our edges were pretty smooth, but we attached pieces of plastic edging for plastic lattice (found at home depot). The opening in the edging will fit over the ends of the cattle panels and we attached them with zip ties.

 

Where the cattle panels overlap, it may be difficult to attach both panels to the t-post, we used wire, but I am thinking of getting some hose clamps and using them, as the wire does not seem to be very tight.

 

the gate was a cattle panel, one side attached to the wood post of the existing fence. For the other end of the "gate" we used 2 t-posts, one on each side of the end cattle panel, for strength, where sheep, dog and people passed thro.

 

Here's how to calculate how many panels of what size you'll need to purchase: Multiply the diameter you desire by 3.14 to determine the pen's circumference. Divide the circumference by the length of the panels you wish to use

 

If you are using zip ties for anything, like attaching the lattice edging, don't cut the ends of the zip ties, it makes them very sharp and stiff.

 

The round pen works very well, seems to be holding up, and I am very pleased with it.

[D Strickland]

Thanks for everyone's reply. This will be much cheaper than round tubular panels at $60 for 10' panels.

[Rebecca, Irena Farm]

We have learned to set our round pen on wood posts. Besides being more attractive, it lasts much longer. We don't do a lot of training here but we do use it anytime we do chores, pretty much.

[Bill Fosher]

One 330 foot roll of high quality woven wire (13-48-9 Solidlock) would be less than $300. It's pretty bombproof, and while it would take longer to install than cattle panels there are no pointy ends to break off, cause injury, and rust. It'll also last until your grandchildren are training dogs if you build it right. The drawback is that it is not easy to move once you've set it up.

[Eileen Stein]

I favor using the woven wire also. For the reasons Bill gives, and also because it has more "give." I have used a woven wire round pen for many years, and still do. Five or six years ago we built a second round pen with cattle panels in a different field. It looked very spiffy. The first time we used it was at a clinic, where an out-of-control novice dog ran one of the sheep into a panel. Its neck broke and it had to be put down (fortunately, one of the clinic attendees was a vet). If that sheep had been run into wire fencing I'm sure the damage would have been minimal. This was extremely bad luck, but still . . . ever since then I have only used that pen for sheep confinement, and use the shambly-looking field fence one for training.

[concrete]

I have a round pen but only use it with horses, it is my opinion that if a dog is old enough to handle training it is old enough to handle corners.

 

Kevin

[mudassar1]

I was thinking of using these for my round pen but ended up using the tallest electric fence posts and electric fence rope. Hubby said they were easy enough to get hold of and about £18 each secondhand ( quite a lot on Ebay too) I think the total cost was going to be about £300, not sure exactly how many needed to create a 40 -60 metre pen but that was approximately what OH estimated, if thats any help. Hubby reckoned they need post supports to the outside of the pen to stabilise it.Available in 1 5/8-inch, 18-gauge, 40 or 60-foot. 12-foot panels ideal for round pens.