Fawn gaps in feeder pens

[travisd993]

I’ve read over the years that several of you have installed fawn gaps in your protein feeder pens, and/or lowered the height of a section or two of panel in order to encourage and allow more fawn access. I know studies and anecdotal evidence certainly show benefits to fawns getting to feed earlier, does feeling more comfortable with fawns in pens with them etc., so I am curious to hear what has worked best for those of you that have tried.

We finally have a place of our own, and based on the records of the previous owner, and what we saw this year, fawn recruitment has been very low. While we are working on some of the other more obvious approaches to help in this area (habitat management, predator control, supplemental feeding, etc.), I’m thinking seriously about putting in some gaps on our protein and cottonseed pens. We do have cows so I don’t know that lowering pen height is doable, but we also have a lot of hogs so I’m more than a little concerned that small and medium sized pigs will squeeze in the fawn gaps and do their thing.

Anyone have any advice or input on what has worked best for you, or even what has not worked?

[Shane]

I don't know how you can let fawns in and keep hogs out without fawns being able to jump the fence. They can't when they're newborns, but by the end of the summer they'll be jumping in a pen that's 3' tall. That's tall enough to keep hogs out. You may need taller pens to keep cows out, if you have cattle.

[Sippy]

A thing to consider is your protein feeder. If you dont have fawn spouts they wont get much other than what spills.

[BlackHogDown]

Just leave a panel or two of your pen raised off the ground a foot or so. Small enough for a fawn to squeeze through but too big for a larger pig. We do so with good luck but have relatively small "feed pens." Simply a 4 panel cattle barrier immediately surrounding the feeder.

[MAP]

I'm not worried so much about the fawns getting protein, but I'm more so worried about predators getting the fawns while they wait outside of the pen because they cant get inside of it with their mother.

I've got gaps in the paneling by each corner and then as the fawns get alittle bigger, I block those gaps so nothing can get in. As the fawns get older they can start to jump into the pens with lower panels. By this time they also know what is inside of the pens and are more encouraged to jump in.

[Killer]

I would not worry about feeding fawns protein. The mother eating it should help her produce more milk. When they get older they can jump in. When they are young they will not eat it anyway.

[Big pig]

I don't know how you can let fawns in and keep hogs out without fawns being able to jump the fence. They can't when they're newborns, but by the end of the summer they'll be jumping in a pen that's 3' tall. That's tall enough to keep hogs out. You may need taller pens to keep cows out, if you have cattle.

+1

We have lots of little piglets that would slip thru any small gap in goliad.
Hogs no. Pigs yes.

BP