Fence Gates: Placement and Installation

Plan gate openings in your fence in locations where people, animals, and equipment need easy access to barns, stables or pastures.

Place gates in logical places so livestock will willingly move through them.

You will also want to consider the different types of gates you will use in your fencing system. A more permanent gate type, such as heavy metal gate, may work better for openings along the perimeter. For openings or breaks on interior fences used to divide a large pasture into individual paddocks, a simpler gate opening, like a single wire attached to a gate handle, may be adequate. For more information on planning your fence, check out our fence planning guide. 

There should be one gate handle for every electrified wire. Electrified gates are made from the same type of wire as the material used in your fence line.

When installing a gate in an electric fence system remember:

• Gate handle kits are a convenient way to install gate handles. Be sure to purchase gate-handle kits specific to the type of post or wire you are using.
• Expandable gate handles should be used with spring gates. 
• Expandable gate handles should be molded from tough, high quality plastic with shockproof thickness for safe handling protection.

So the fence remains electrified, even when the gate is open, you will need a 20,000-volt underground hookup wire to carry the electrical current under the gate opening to the other side. We recommend using Zareba® 50 ft 12 ½ Gauge Insulated Cable underground so that over time rocks don't cut through the insulation. A non-electrified metal gate also requires an underground wire.