Cattle Guards For Sale – Livestock Containment

Cattle Guard Choices

Cattle guards eliminate the need for gates and allow easy access to farm and ranch pastures. Livestock are safely kept inside while you can access your land without having to stop to open and close a gate.

All cattle guards are constructed with heavy wall steel pipe and extra thick steel channel supports. All of the ends of these cattle guards are capped to prevent rust from water from entering the top rails.  The covered ends also keep dirt, debris, and small animals out.  The wings and optional box (removable and fixed) are available in all sizes.

Cattle Guards Styles

Boxed, Removable boxes, round top rails, flat top rails, ratings, and even the addition of pre-cast foundations are available options!

Boxed style cattle guards

Cattle Guard designed to lay on the ground for driveway use

Boxed styles are designed to sit on flat ground with a gravel under-lament recommended for drainage of these cattle guards. In many cases, these boxed cattle guards are used for wheel washes in construction sites, dirt rattlers, and for providing access to low or slow traffic sites such as cell phone towers, off-site construction, driveways, and other low traffic areas.  In all cases, a local contractor familiar with soil conditions and drainage considerations should be consulted when planning an installation.

Flat Style Cattle Guards

cattle guards and foundations
The flat style is designed to be mounted on cement footings and is the most popular in high traffic areas such as public roadways.  They are bolted directly to the concrete footings that also create the ‘vault’ or space under the guard.  This provides a visual deterrent to animals and is very effective in dissuading an attempt at crossing.

The flat style is a permanent installation and some designs have a hinged area on the guard that allows the center section to be lifted for cleaning out debris that may have collected in the vaulted space area underneath.  This feature is not available on all guards but may be included with most of the highway-rated crossings.

General Cattle Guard Notes

Here are some general notes and guidelines:

Load Ratings

All of our cattle guards are built to accommodate the fully loaded weight tractor-trailer loads. The non-rated are most popular for private property such as driveways and are estimated to carry loads of 12 tons per axle.

The American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) provides guidelines for cattle guards with maximum load ratings. The load ratings are suitable for all types of applications including heavy-duty logging roads. (See the table at the bottom of this article for more details on load ratings.)

AASHTO Design Specifications

  • H-15 (12 tons per axle)
  • H-20 (16 tons per axle)
  • U-54 (25 tons per axle)
  • U-80 (30 tons per axle)

Rated cattle guards will meet the specifications needed for state and federal requirements such as DOT, BLM, USFS, NP, and US Military installations. They are also used in commercial applications such as mining, forestry, agriculture, and petroleum production. Rated cattle guards are the product of choice for residential usage where city, county, or state regulations require the HS-20 rating. Certified structural steel is used in the manufacture of HS-20-rated cattle guards.

HS20 cattle guards will be certified by an independent engineering firm to meet commercial standards and are intended for government bids. For use on private land, buying standard cattle guards will save you thousands of dollars, are identical in size, and are made out of the same materials. They just do not come with the certifications and paperwork back to the steel mill that government agencies require. If a non-rated guard for a private drive is needed, use a standard cattle guard.

Cattle guards may be constructed with 3″, 3-1/2″ or 4″-1/2″ pipe.  The 4″ pipe allows for an approximate gap of 4″ between each pipe and is built with 9 pieces.  The 3-1/2″ outside diameter pipe guards have 11 pieces and are approximately 12-1/2″ tall.

There is no difference in strength between the boxed cattle guard and the flat styles of cattle guards.  These cattle guards are designed to accommodate full semi-loads at 10 tons per axle.  All cattle guards weigh about 100 Lbs. per foot (a 10′ cattle guard weighs about 1,000 Lbs.). Add approximately 8 Lbs. per foot for boxed cattle guards and about another 200 Lbs. total for winged cattle guards.

Deer need a larger barrier

To use for deer, you may need to place two cattle guards in tandem so you have 16 feet of protection. Cattle guards are easily bolted together to achieve greater distances in the direction of travel and create a larger deterrent for any animal wishing to attempt a jump.  Please note that we recommend standard gates be used when containing horses, goats, all small hoofed and sure-footed animals, and animals with paws.

Ordering your cattle guard:

For a shipping quote, please send us an email with your destination zip code and quantity, or feel free to call the telephone number at the bottom of this page with any questions you may have about our cattle guards.

When ordering cattle guards you will pay for the order without the shipping and we will collect the exact shipping cost with a second charge to the credit card used for the order.

Unloading: You must have equipment available to unload the cattle guards from the delivery vehicle when it arrives. The delivery truck will require you to unload the cattle guard with a loader or forklift or some other means upon delivery.

Dimensions: Private use cattle guards are NOT built to exact dimensions. Sizes may vary slightly. Adding the removable box option will add about 7″ to the total length and width of the cattle guard. For example, a 12-foot cattle guard will be about 12′-7″.

If you have any questions, would like a quote with shipping or if we can help with anything at all, please don’t hesitate to contact us any time and we’ll be happy to answer any questions and even provide a quote with shipping right to your site!

Sales@BarnWorld.com | (720) 238-2190 | www.BarnWorld.com

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