Farm Gate Installation and Automation in Middle Georgia

It is raining, you have a trailer behind you, and you are climbing out of the truck to swing a gate open. Then you climb back out to close it. Farm gate installation with a solar opener ends that, and it needs no utility power.

The problem with a hand gate

A manual gate costs a few minutes every trip. That is not the real cost. The real cost is the gate you left open because your hands were full, and the cattle that found the road. Or the timber tract entrance anybody can drive through.

Then you call around and get told the gate is too wide, there is no power out there, or the company does not come that far off the pavement. Running a farm should not mean you get treated like a job nobody wants.

Who we are

Byron Fence has built farm and ranch fence and gates around Middle Georgia since 2006. Family owned, based in Byron, working on real farms in Peach, Houston, Crawford and Twiggs counties. We answer the phone and we drive the field roads.

Call or text 478-960-5382. Tell us the gate width and whether there is power at the entrance.

Your 3 step plan

1. Call or text 478-960-5382 with your gate width, the material, and how many vehicles use it.
2. We come out, look at sun exposure, slope, soil and traffic, and quote before we start.
3. We install it, set your remotes and codes, and show you the manual release.

Solar is the default out here

Most farm gates sit hundreds of yards from the nearest meter, and trenching power can cost more than the opener. Solar fixes that. A panel charges a battery, the battery runs the operator, and it all lives on a post at the gate.

What decides whether solar works on your gate:

• Cycles per day. Ten trips a day is different from a hundred. We size the battery and panel to your traffic.
• Sun on the panel. A pasture gate under a pecan canopy or a timber entrance in pine shade needs a bigger panel, a pole mount, or the panel set out in the clear.
• Gate weight and width. A 16 foot tube gate and a 24 foot double swing pull very different loads.
• Wind. Wide farm gates catch wind like a sail. Privacy slats make it worse, and a light duty operator will not hold up.
• Winter. Short gray days are when undersized solar systems die. We size for January, not July.

Built for how you actually use it

• Long range remotes so you can open from the truck or the tractor cab before you reach the gate, instead of stopping in the road.
• Keypads for hired help, the feed truck and the contractor. Give a code, delete it when the job is done.
• Livestock detail. Cattle lean, rub and push. We set posts deep, brace them right, and keep the operator arm out of reach.
• Battery backup. The gate keeps working through an outage, and the manual release covers the rest.
• Poultry house and timber tract access. Wide openings for feed trucks, litter trucks and log trucks, with hardware that survives that traffic.

If the fence line needs work too, see our farm and ranch fencing in Middle Georgia page. One crew does the fence, the gate and the automation.

Call or text 478-960-5382 for a free on-site quote.

What this usually costs

Every place is different, and the on-site quote is free and firm. Typical ranges around here:

• Solar gate operator added to an existing farm gate: $2,200 to $4,800 installed
• New ranch entrance gate with automation: $4,500 to $15,000, depending on span and materials
• Long range remote add-ons: $150 to $600 each

The spread on a new entrance is span, materials and site work. A single tube gate on good ground sits at the low end. A wide double entrance with masonry columns sits at the top.

What changes

You come down the lane, hit the remote, and roll through without touching the door handle. The gate closes behind you every time, so cattle stay in and four wheelers stay out. In a hard rain, you stay dry.

What waiting costs

Every open gate is a chance for stock on the highway or a stranger in your equipment yard. A gate you have to get out and drag is a gate somebody eventually leaves open. Wide gates sag too, and a sagging gate ruins a new opener fast.

We automate farm gates in Byron, Fort Valley, Perry, Roberta and Jeffersonville, and we travel up to 90 minutes from Macon. Start on our home page or send details through our contact page.

Call or text 478-960-5382.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I automate a farm gate with no power at the entrance?

Yes, and most of ours are exactly that. A solar panel charges a battery at the gate, and the battery runs the operator. We size the panel and battery to your daily traffic and how much sun the spot gets, so it still works in winter.

How wide a farm gate can you automate?

We size the operator to the width, the weight and the wind load. A 16 foot single swing is routine. Very wide openings often work better as a double swing or a slide gate, and we will tell you which fits your entrance.

Will a solar gate opener work in a shaded pasture or timber tract?

It can, with planning. We use a larger panel, mount it on a pole above the brush, or set it in a clear spot and run wire back to the gate. Shade is a sizing problem, not a dealbreaker.

Can I open the gate from my truck or tractor?

Yes. Long range remotes let you open the gate before you reach it, so you are not stopping in the road with a trailer behind you. We can also add a keypad for anyone who does not carry a remote.

What happens if the power or battery goes out?

Every operator we install has a manual release so you can push the gate open by hand. Battery backup keeps solar and wired systems running through normal outages. We show you the release before we leave the job.

How far out do you travel for farm gate work?

We are based in Byron and cover Bibb, Houston, Peach, Crawford, Twiggs, Jones, Monroe and Baldwin counties. For gate work we travel up to 90 minutes from Macon, which reaches the Columbus and Albany corridors.