Bees and Cows

Dave360 · January 14, 2011, 01:11:35 AM

I was planning on putting some hives on the edge of a pasture (great nectar and water near by) and was wandering if anyone new if i will have to fence off area for bee yard or will cows leave bees alone and vice versa

Thanks Dave

wd · January 14, 2011, 01:24:14 AM

Fence it off, livestock tend to brush up against the hives to itch an itch,

Michael Bush · January 14, 2011, 04:03:51 AM

It's worth fencing them off. They usually don't rub on them but when they do they tip them over.

AllenF · January 14, 2011, 09:37:28 AM

Horses will knock over hives just as cows when they need something to rub. You may can put them just outside the fence up against the wire if you have room.

G3farms · January 14, 2011, 09:55:05 AM

Fence them off, cows are nosey and like to rub on everything, trust me on this. If you do fence them off be sure to leave enough room around them to work and add a couple of hives.

Course Bee · January 14, 2011, 09:57:04 AM

If you set it up right the cows will keep the weeds around the front of the hives down.

williams · January 14, 2011, 12:20:34 PM

Fence it off. Not doing so could lead to a grand mess. I have been there.

JP · January 14, 2011, 02:49:49 PM

Fence them off!

...JP

Dave360 · January 14, 2011, 07:59:22 PM

Well looks like the fence them off's are a majority i will get some t posts and barb wire

Thank ya'll sounds like you may have saved me a big mess

Dave

hankdog1 · January 14, 2011, 11:15:23 PM

You may want to consider doing it with electric fence. Don't know how problematic bears are in your area but a electric fence in the next best deterrent to a good dog and a high powered rife.

Daz the Drone · January 15, 2011, 02:03:21 AM

Bovine Psychology 101.

Rule 1 ... If it itches (and it always will) I will find any structure that has a value above $0.00 and total it!! :-D :-D

edward · January 15, 2011, 09:07:28 AM

A bee keeping colleague has cows

they called him from the slaughterhouse beecause the cows stomach was full of larvae and round white balls .

His cow had eaten one of his hives , honey , larvae and last but not least the hive (polystyrene ) :-D

now he keeps them separated. ;)

mvh edward :P

AllenF · January 15, 2011, 09:51:07 AM

Honey cured meat?

JP · January 15, 2011, 11:27:31 AM

We ain't talkin about the slickest animal on the farm now!

http://www.magnetsource.com/Solutions_Pages/cowmags.html

...JP

AllenF · January 15, 2011, 11:41:17 AM

And the magnets are reusable. :-D Never thought they had something like that out there.

JP · January 15, 2011, 11:46:37 AM

Yep, can't remember when I heard about the magnates, its been a while, maybe some show on the tube. They collect the magnates after slaughter.

Dang cows will eat just about anything!

...JP

AliciaH · January 15, 2011, 12:17:27 PM

My bee yard is smack-dab in the center of my cow pasture. The corners are 4x4 treated posts, but everything else is t-post. I alternated barbed wire with hot wire (solar box). One of the hot wire strands is placed about nose height. It's been a year and so far, so good.

The only trouble I do have on a regular basis is skunks. If you have them in your area, I would recommend 2' "no-climb" fencing with the barbed or hot wire on the outside (and over the top) of that. I plan to add it as soon as I can afford to, or when my honey makes me rich and famous, whichever comes first! :-D

wd · January 15, 2011, 12:52:51 PM

I've heard of others raising their hives high enough to expose the belly of skunks to bees so they can have a place sting or laying a piece of ply wood down with several nails hammered, sharp ends pointed up to detour the scratching in front of a hive. I haven't had any skunk or raccoon problems but if I do the ply wood with nails is on reserve. I have hives that sit on standard factory pallets.

AliciaH · January 15, 2011, 01:15:19 PM

Good plan! We also replaced a bunch of carpet this fall and I'm planning on recycling the old carpet-nail-strip-thingees (sorry, but the actual name escapes me at the moment) by installing them on the fronts of some of my hives.

Sparky · January 15, 2011, 07:43:42 PM

Quote from: Dave360 on January 14, 2011, 07:59:22 PM
Well looks like the fence them off's are a majority i will get some t posts and barb wire

Thank ya'll sounds like you may have saved me a big mess

Dave

I would like to offer one word of advice about something I had to find out at my expense. If you are not going to electrify it, what ever you do, don't get cheap on the T post you purchase. They offer them in a couple of sizes and the smaller ones are flimsy and break at the ground level.