Everything a cattle outfit actually runs on.
Cattle are the easiest class of stock to fence and the hardest to water well. One hot strand holds a trained cow; it is the water, the rest and the mineral that decide what she weans. Here is the whole operation in one place.
Three numbers that run a cow herd
Cattle are forgiving about fence and unforgiving about water. Most of what goes wrong on a cow outfit traces back to one of these three being wrong, and none of them cost much to fix.
- What holds themOne hot strand at 30–36” for trained cattle. Five wires if they have never met a fence.
- What they drink15–25 gal/head/day in summer heat — and they all want it at once, not spread over the day.
- What they regrow30–45 days of rest in the growing season. Recovery grows grass; grazing does not.
The four builds, in the order most people do them
Each of these is a full guide with the parts list, the math and current prices. Start wherever your weak link is — for most cow outfits it is the second one.
Hold them
A trained cow respects a hot wire more than she respects five barbed ones, which is why most cattle outfits run far less steel than they think they need. What matters is that the fence is genuinely hot at the far corner — which is a grounding question, not a wire question.
from $106.70
from $10.12
$294.87
$562.89
$16.71
$50.24
Read first: Electric fence for cattle — wire, joules and spacing · Voltage requirements by species · Charger sizing guide · How to ground an electric fence · The permanent perimeter
Move them
The part you use every day. A reel of polybraid and a bundle of step-in posts is what turns one pasture into eight, and it is the single cheapest thing you can do to a cow outfit. Buy posts you do not mind handling a hundred times, because you will.
$86.90
$60.50
$99.00
$32.99
from $2.99
from $6.59
$406.99
Read first: Start rotational grazing · Step-in post spacing and paddock math · Polywire vs polybraid vs rope · Temporary fence posts · Strip-grazing stockpiled forage
Water them
The hard part. A cow in July wants twenty-odd gallons and she wants them in the three minutes after the herd walks up, so the float and the trough get sized on peak draw, not on daily total. Where the water sits also decides which half of the paddock gets grazed at all.
from $331.00Ships LTL freight
$17.95
$77.33
$349.99Ships LTL freight
$852.50Built to order · LTL freight
Read first: Livestock water systems, in build order · How water placement changes performance · Stock tank float valves · Keeping water open in winter
Feed them
Free-choice mineral year-round, and controlled-intake feeders to stop hay disappearing into the mud. Bale graze the thin paddock rather than the barn lot and the fertility lands where you actually need it — the feeder pays for itself twice, once in saved hay and once in the ground it builds.
$855.80Built to order · LTL freight
$2,079.00Built to order · LTL freight
$442.73Built to order · LTL freight
Read first: Pasture improvement, in order · Grazing for soil health · Low-stress weaning · Cattle enterprise budget tool
Start with your own ground
Draw the pasture on satellite imagery and the Ranch Builder gives you the paddock count, the cross-fence footage, the water run, the charger size and the trough — as a costed list you can price, print or put straight in a cart.
Or just tell us about the herd
Head count, acres, what the ground does in August and what you are trying to change — and we will put the list together with you. Right joules, right pipe, right trough, nothing you do not need. No charge, and a good deal cheaper than freighting a return.
Handy to have in front of you: head count and class of stock, acres and rough paddock layout, where the water comes from, and whether there is power at the fence line.
Seymour, Missouri — Central time. You get a cattleman, not a call centre.
Go deeper — from the Grazier’s Connection
Everything above is the shopping. These are the thinking behind it, and none of them are trying to sell you anything on the way through.
- Electric fence for cattle — wire, joules and spacing
- The complete cattle fence build list
- The complete guide to rotational grazing
- What the performance data shows
- How water placement changes performance
- Grazing for soil health
- Low-stress weaning
- Cattle enterprise budget tool
- Voltage requirements by species
- EQIP cost-share, explained
- Getting paid for the practice change
- Pasture improvement, in order
- Prices shown were pulled live from our catalogue on 13 October 2026 and are the current single-unit or starting price. Case, bundle and pallet pricing is on each product page.
- Water intake of 15–25 gallons per head per day is a planning range for beef cattle in summer, not a specification. Intake moves with temperature, class of stock, lactation and how much water is already in the forage — a dry cow on lush spring grass may drink half that.
- One hot strand at 30–36 inches holds cattle that have been trained to electric fence. Cattle that have never met one need more wires and a training paddock first, and a boundary fence should never be a single strand regardless.
- Feeders and energy-free waterers are built to order and ship LTL freight. Call before ordering if you need a delivery date. Pipe coils and tire tanks also ship freight rather than parcel.