How is a cattle grid like this still effective?

Looks fairly recent (the cut in the road is still sharp and unworn, and the grate itself shows no rust). Maybe the fence is coming next.

@WasCy Another one, same thing

The legs of an animal can fall directly through the grid. If you notice, in the picture there is a bit of thin wired fence. Look towards the back of the photograph, you see the black bar sticking out of the ground, that is actually a bit of fence, I think.

They don’t use them much anymore. Sheep have been known to jump over them.

It looks like a fence post in the right corner of the picture. Either you can’t see the fence in the picture or the fence hasn’t been built yet, like @WasCy said.

The cattle grids are effective. My husband had to remind me when we camped at the ranch last summer. ;)

Cows are smart, but herd. Once a cow tries (unsuccessfully) to pass the grid (the grates do not allow for a sure foothold) they quickly pass on the information to the others that this place is unsafe. They have no reason to attempt to pass there, as they are safe in their herd where they are anyway. The only time a cow might try to pass it is if it were scared and had no place to go. It would then attempt to jump right over it – as its brain has already equated grid=unsafe footing.

Source: me. From experience.

@jonsblond I have no doubt they’re effective (mostly) if done properly, it’s more if there’s just wide open land save for some small part where there’s a grid, and they can just go around it.

I understood your question @MyNewtBoobs. Like I said, I see a fence post in the right hand corner. There must be a fence somewhere nearby, or they are getting ready to build one.

I re-read your question and I will add that @jonsblond is probably correct, or, the terrain there is probably too difficult for the cattle to cross (and they know this) or there is a thin electrical wire which the cattle are already familiar with – but that we can’t see in the photo.

I’ve seen some grids like that but with additional painted lines (black and white) to keep the cows from jumping over the grid.

It can be quite difficult to pick out barbed wire if it’s not right in front of you. And sometimes you only find it when it snags on you.

@Tropical_Willie
Hey diddle diddle,
The Cat and the fiddle,
The Cow jumped over the grid,
The little Dog laughed to see such sport,
And the Dish ran away with the… uh… lid?

Here’s another observation in support of my first comment: That land has obviously not been grazed recently, so I don’t think there’s a herd there yet. The wire fences that support these grids generally start at grade level at the ends of the grid and slope upward to the first post, placed several feet away. I don’t think there’s any fence there yet, but it’s coming. No one would go to the cost and trouble to install that grate and then not put in a fence. (And the grate can be installed in a day or two. Putting in that fence is going to take weeks on land that sparse – need to fence in square miles of that land to support a herd of any size.)

I’m going to agree with @WasCy – it makes sense to finish the expensive, time-consuming but necessary part first – then do the fence part which is much easier and faster. Could be there are laws about it as well, as in you cannot graze cattle in an area crossing roads without installing grates first, or something.

I think the fence post is a warning to car drivers that this guard is there. Cattle won’t cross as they see too many different heights of land and metal.

There is always a fence line on the pastures on either side of the road. The grids keep the beasts on their own side but obviously they can’t fence the road so they use the grids because no animal likes to tread on unsolid terrain. So that keeps the cattle from crossing into the next paddock via the roadway.

Fascinating. Apparently fake painted grids work, too.

Am I wrong in thinking that the purpose of the grid is not to stop the cattle from crossing the road, but rather to stop them from charging headlong down the highway, leaving the farm in the rearview mirror?

It keeps them from going into the neighboring paddock. A lot of stock roam free here, no fencing to keep them off the road, so the grids keep them from mingling with the beasts next door.

@BarnacleBill That’s what I was thinking. If the rancher owns land on both sides of the road, keeping the cattle from crossing the road isn’t the issue; he just wants to make sure they stay on his own property (or even in their own section of his property). Since he can’t build a fence across the road that cuts through his ranch, he puts in the cattle guard.

They make such a big noise when you cross them at any speed. My little dogs hates them, I guess the noise scares her. They are everywhere in the bush where the stations (ranches) are hundreds of thousands of acres and fencing is cost prohibitive so she has been across thousands but it still scares her!

@KatetheGreat . . . They don’t use them much anymore. Sheep have been known to jump over them.

This is why they are called cattle grids or cattle crossings. They are meant to keep cattle from crossing. We use them all over the ranch that I work on and we haven’t had an escapee yet.

Cattle won’t cross them because a cow won’t walk on something that promises a broken leg. That’s why you don’t ever see cattle scaling dead falls or painting houses.

Besides, the secret to keeping your cows from wandering is to keep them fed. The strongest fences, borders, or crossings won’t keep a cow in when it’s starving.