Farm Gates

Watchman is Tarter's gate series for light confinement of horses, goats, sheep and other smaller animals. Each gate has a 1-3/4" round steel tube frame, 50" tall, with welded wire filling the open space between the rails. That fill is what sets it apart from an open tube gate: hooves and legs cannot get caught between the rails, and small stock cannot squeeze through.

• Horses: the wire fill keeps legs and hooves from getting caught between the rails.
• Goats and sheep: the fill stops smaller animals pushing between the rails.
• Small herds and other smaller animals on hobby farms, ranchettes and homesteads.

For cattle and crowded pens, Tarter builds heavier gates in its Steelmax and Bullmax series. A Watchman gate is made for light confinement, not for holding a crowding herd.

• Frame: 1-3/4" round steel tube
• Height: 50"
• Widths: 3 ft, 4 ft and 6 ft
• Wire fill on painted gates: 2" x 4" mesh of 8-gauge wire
• Wire fill on galvanized gates: graduated spacing, tighter toward the bottom
• Colors: Green, Blue or Black on every width, Gray on the 3 ft gate, and galvanized on the 4 ft and 6 ft gates
• In the box: two 6" screw-in hinge pins and a snap chain, plus a welded chain latch on the galvanized gate

An open tube gate has only horizontal rails, with gaps between them. Large animals stay in, but a goat, a lamb or a dog can slip between the rails, and a horse can put a leg through. The welded wire fill of a Watchman closes those gaps across the whole gate. That makes it the safer gate for mixed and smaller livestock, at the cost of being made for light confinement rather than crowding cattle.

• 3 ft: for a walk-through or a side entrance where only people and animals pass.
• 4 ft: for a wider walk-through or a paddock entrance.
• 6 ft: for a wider entrance where you move animals in groups or push a wheelbarrow or mower through.

Like every Tarter 1-3/4" tube gate, a Watchman is about 3" shorter than its listed size, to leave room for the hinges and a clean swing:

• The 3 ft gate is about 33" long.
• The 4 ft gate is about 45" long.
• The 6 ft gate is about 69" long.

So order the size that matches the opening between your posts: a 4 ft gate for a 4 ft opening. On a new fence, set the posts for the gate size you plan to buy and measure the clear opening between the faces of the posts.

• Painted: the 3 ft gate comes in Green, Blue, Gray or Black, and the 4 ft and 6 ft gates in Green, Blue or Black. Painted gates have 2" x 4" wire fill of 8-gauge wire and a corrosion-resistant finish.
• Galvanized: the 4 ft and 6 ft gates also come galvanized, with wire fill in graduated spacing, tighter toward the bottom, and a welded chain latch. The galvanized finish holds up well in salty, coastal regions. There is no galvanized 3 ft Watchman.

Choose a color to match your barn or fence line, or galvanized where the gate stands near the coast or where small animals need the tighter spacing at the bottom.

The listed weight of each gate:

• 3 ft painted: about 20 lb
• 4 ft painted: about 26 lb; galvanized about 20 lb
• 6 ft painted: about 35 lb; galvanized about 28 lb

Every Watchman gate ships ready to hang with two 6" screw-in hinge pins and a snap chain. The top and bottom hinges adjust, so you can hang the gate for a left-hand or a right-hand swing.

1. Set the hinge post firmly and plumb; it carries the full weight of the gate. Check the local frost depth before you set a new post.
2. Mark the heights of the top and bottom gate hinges on the hinge post.
3. Screw the two hinge pins into the hinge post at those marks.
4. Lift the gate onto the pins and adjust the hinges so the gate swings level and clears the ground.
5. Close the gate and fix the snap chain around the latch post, or on the galvanized gate, use the welded chain latch.

A gate is only as good as the posts it hangs on. The hinge post carries the full weight of the gate and takes the strain every time it swings, so set it firmly and plumb, in concrete or well-tamped soil, deeper than the line posts of the fence. Set the latch post at the distance that matches the gate size, so the gate closes against it without a wide gap. On a new fence, set both posts first and build the fence out from them.

• Pasture and paddock entrances
• Pens and small holding areas for goats and sheep
• Horse runs and walk-throughs between fields
• Side entrances on rural and residential property
• Garden and vegetable plots where animals must stay out

A Watchman gate comes with its hinge pins and chain, so the gate itself is complete. What you need on site is a firm hinge post and a latch post on either side of the opening, set at the distance that matches the gate size.

The painted and galvanized finishes are corrosion-resistant. Check the hinges and the chain from time to time, tighten the hinge hardware if it works loose, and keep the bottom of the gate free of mud and debris so it swings freely. Every Watchman gate carries a 1-year Tarter warranty.

Each width and finish is its own item, so you can mix sizes along one fence line: a 6 ft gate at the paddock entrance and a 3 ft walk-through beside it, in the same color. Farmers, ranchers and contractors who order gates for a whole property can ask for a quote.

Tarter started as the Tarter Gate Company in Dunnville, Kentucky, in 1945 and has built farm and ranch gates ever since. Fenceweb is an authorized Tarter dealer and ships Watchman gates to every US state and to Canada, to farmers, ranchers, homeowners and contractors.