Kiwi gate

[cotswoldcs]

A place I worked on many years ago in Hampshire had what they called Kiwi gates which were sections of stock fence with the posts sawn off at ground level and a simple chain and piece of wood to tighten the fence. Basically it was a gate made out of the fence itself! It meant you could have a wide opening in a fence to allow big flocks of sheep through and avoided the need for permanent gates. They were fairly easy to use, even on a regular basis. Once put back it looks just like the rest of the normal stock fence. I've tried to find photos of one on the internet as I want to replicate one on some rented land but can't find anything.

Does anyone have a clue what I mean? Do they have another name or can anyone provide a link?

 

[Ffermer Bach]

 

[cotswoldcs]

That's the sort of thing cheers. They had them made with stock fence which I think is much better than plain wire.

 

[Ffermer Bach]

pretty much what I saw in WA (there it was called a "cocky gate")

 

[whatnow]

Called Hampshire or Wiltshire gates around here. Or Hozier/Hosier hates?

 

[Al R]

Search “barbed wire gate”
We’ve always called them Australia gates. Don’t use any but there’s remains of some on some blocks I rent and then someone has put solid posts into the ground when someone new bought the farm.
I also saw a lot of them in Hampshire, only reason was to stop poachers/pikies, they often just drove straight through them but you’d see the scratches on car bonnets in the local villages all the time so you knew exactly who was up to what.

 

[sean m]

We always call them taranaki gates, real easy to build as you say, loop of wire just off the floor at the latch end to stand the end post in and then chain at the top to tension and hold closed

 

[primmiemoo]

Netting Australian gates can be handy - especially in the sheep yards for quick divisions into temporary pens.

Just don't get coiled up in a two-strand barbed wire version ...

 

[Yale]

I made one of these 25 years ago.....before the internet.

 

[Tim W]

Doesn't everyone have these?

 

[steveR]

Neat..... However, I can see the average Welsh mountain ewe taking one look at the gate/fence, before disappearing through it, and back towards Wales!

 

[neilo]

We used to rent a 60ac block of grass keep back home, probably 30 years ago, which was previously part of a larger sheep farm. All fields were fenced with netting and just about every fence had such a gate in it somewhere or other. Iirc they were made of two pieces of angle iron, one with a metal loop hinged on the bottom to drop the ‘fence’ post into, then a lever type of catch that fitted over the top and pulled it shut/tight. I think they were bought in, rather than home made, as they were all identical and tidy.
I’ve never seen any since, but was only thinking about them last Spring, as I was tieing up a temporary opening with bale string.

 

[exmoor dave]

A place I worked on many years ago in Hampshire had what they called Kiwi gates which were sections of stock fence with the posts sawn off at ground level and a simple chain and piece of wood to tighten the fence. Basically it was a gate made out of the fence itself! It meant you could have a wide opening in a fence to allow big flocks of sheep through and avoided the need for permanent gates. They were fairly easy to use, even on a regular basis. Once put back it looks just like the rest of the normal stock fence. I've tried to find photos of one on the internet as I want to replicate one on some rented land but can't find anything.

Does anyone have a clue what I mean? Do they have another name or can anyone provide a link?

Just made a couple of them in a new fence line where we needed access, but only rarely, also the new fence separates a footpath from the rest of the field, so I didn't want a rambler- inviting gate put in.

I used mildsteel 8/80/15 (the new fenceline is HT 8/80/30), just because MS is abit easier to work with looping around the "gate" end (piece of 3x2")

 

[Downton_shep]

Were pretty common back in Dorset. Put a few in here to help with rotational grazing and use the same concept to block tracks when moving sheep around the estate.
Always called them shepherds gates

 

[cotswoldcs]

Thanks everyone. The one thing that has become apparent reading this is that everyone has a different name for them!

 

[anzani]

Simple winter project.