Hog panels vs cattle panels for a hog trap

"Hog panel" and "cattle panel" sound like a clear choice for a hog trap. They aren't, because the names describe what the panel holds in a pen, not what keeps a feral sounder in a trap. To compare them honestly we use one maker's full published specs, OK Brand (Oklahoma Steel & Wire), rather than mixing numbers from different brands, and we check both against the trap design from Texas A&M AgriLife. Other makers' panels will differ, so check the tag on the one you buy. We haven't handled these panels; everything below is from the published spec sheets.

Hog panel vs cattle panel at a glance

All panel figures are from OK Brand's spec tables, checked 2026-09-19. Where OK Brand lists two weights for the same size, the heavier is the line OK Brand labels 1/4 in and the lighter its "Select" line. The maker's spec tables give wire gauge for the sheep & goat panel (4-gauge) and the utility panels (4- or 6-gauge) but not for the hog or cattle panels; its cattle page text does describe the Select cattle panel as 5-gauge horizontal and 4-gauge vertical wire.

How to read the spacing numbers

OK Brand writes horizontal spacing as count and size. "2-4, 7-6" on the cattle panel means two 4 in gaps and seven 6 in gaps between line wires. You can check it against the listed height:

• Cattle panel: (2 x 4) + (7 x 6) = 8 + 42 = 50 in. Nine gaps, ten line wires. Matches.
• Hog panel: (4 x 2) + (2 x 3) + (1 x 4) + (2 x 5) + (1 x 6) = 8 + 6 + 4 + 10 + 6 = 34 in. Ten gaps, eleven wires. Matches.
• Combination panel: (3 x 2) + (2 x 3) + (2 x 4) + (5 x 6) = 6 + 6 + 8 + 30 = 50 in.
• Sheep & goat panel: (4 x 3) + (2 x 4) + (2 x 5) + (2 x 6) = 12 + 8 + 10 + 12 = 42 in.

Every one of these has vertical stays 8 in apart, so each opening is a gap height by 8 in. The cattle panel's openings run from 4 x 8 in (32 sq in) to 6 x 8 in (48 sq in). The hog panel's run from 2 x 8 in (16 sq in) to 6 x 8 in. A 4 x 4 in square is 16 sq in.

What each panel is built for

Hog panels are made to hold domestic pigs. OK Brand lists hog pens, farrowing crates and fencing for other small livestock as uses, and says the graduated spacing "helps eliminate rooting, keeping your prized hog in and predators out." The trade-off is height: at 34 in, it is the shortest panel in the table.

Cattle panels are made for cattle pens, corrals and chutes (OK Brand's listed uses). They stand taller at 50 in, with most of the height in 6 in gaps. The 13-line combination panel keeps the 50 in height and adds more, tighter gaps (three at 2 in, two at 3 in, two at 4 in) before the 6 in rows.

"Sheep and goat" is where the names get slippery. Texas A&M AgriLife's trap design calls its 4 x 4 in, 5 ft panel a sheep and goat panel, but OK Brand's product by that name is 42 in tall with 8 in stays. In OK Brand's line, the panel matching AgriLife's numbers is sold as a 4 x 4 utility panel.

Which panel for a hog trap

AgriLife's Hog Trap Design page (Higginbotham and Neuendorff) specifies "sheep and goat panels (4″ x 4″ squares 5′ high) or similar materials." AgriLife's L-5524 corral trap publication says most corral traps use 4 x 4 in mesh panels and that "this type of panel prevents smaller pigs from escaping." Higginbotham's trigger article calls 5 ft panels with 4 x 4 in mesh, 16 or 20 ft long, standard. Against that spec:

Height matters because AgriLife's design page warns that hogs pile into hard corners "and may go over the top," and that hogs with too little room may panic and force through, over or under the sides. Mesh matters because the same page says to "use small enough mesh to catch all hogs, even juveniles."

To be fair to cattle panels: AgriLife's own trapping page names "cattle panels, t-posts, a headgate, and a trigger mechanism" as the primary parts of a corral trap, and L-5524's own example trap used 52 in panels. So people clearly build traps with shorter or coarser panels. What AgriLife doesn't publish is a version of its design built to those panels, so we can't tell you how to adapt one. If you're buying new for a trap, the sourced answer is simple: 4 x 4 in mesh, 5 ft high, whatever the tag calls it. The full build, from gate to trigger, is in our guide to how to build a hog trap.

At the farm store: what to check on the tag

• Height. 5 ft for a trap, per the AgriLife design page. A 34 in hog panel or a 50 in cattle panel falls short of that.
• Mesh. 4 x 4 in openings, the size L-5524 credits with keeping smaller pigs in. Graduated panels list a spacing pattern instead; do the math above to find the largest opening.
• Length. 16 or 20 ft are the lengths Higginbotham calls standard, and they set how many panels an 80 ft trap takes (five at 16 ft, four at 20 ft).
• Wire and weight. Where gauge is listed, a lower number means heavier wire; OK Brand's own weights show it (68 lb for its 4-gauge 5 x 16 ft utility panel, 49 lb for the 6-gauge).
• The name last. "Hog," "cattle," "sheep and goat" and "utility" are marketing labels that vary by maker. The dimensions are what the trap spec is written in.

Weight: what you'll be hauling

Higginbotham won't build a corral trap with less than about 80 ft of perimeter. At 16 ft per panel that is five panels (80 / 16 = 5). Using OK Brand's listed weights:

• 4 x 4 utility panel, 5 x 16 ft, 4-gauge: 5 x 68 lb = 340 lb
• 4 x 4 utility panel, 5 x 16 ft, 6-gauge: 5 x 49 lb = 245 lb
• 10-line cattle panel: 5 x 44 lb = 220 lb (160 lb Select)
• 11-line hog panel: 5 x 42 lb = 210 lb (145 lb Select)

The heavier 4-gauge utility panel carries 19 lb more steel per panel than the 6-gauge version of the same size. AgriLife's L-5524 says feral hogs are extremely strong and will test a trap once caught, and to build traps as strong as possible, so the weight isn't wasted. It does mean a trailer and a second person. Add the gate on top: the one hog trap gate on Amazon, The Hunt Supply 6 ft drop gate, is 155 lb by its listing.

Keeping feral hogs out instead

If your goal is keeping feral hogs away from a garden, a feeder or a food plot rather than catching them, that is a different job, and this page's trap spec doesn't answer it. For fencing hogs out, see our best electric fence for hogs, and for feeders specifically, how to keep hogs away from a deer feeder.

Where to buy panels, and the parts Amazon sells

Livestock panels are a farm-store purchase. Our Amazon check on 2026-09-19 turned up no 16 ft hog or cattle panels (the search returned woven-wire rolls and sorting boards), so we can't link a panel, and we won't pretend to. The parts of a panel corral that Amazon does sell are the gate and the trigger, which is why this page carries two picks instead of none. If you'd rather skip panels altogether, the Boar Blanket net trap on our best hog trap systems list uses a suspended net on 8 T-posts.

Once the trap is built, the rules on moving live hogs apply the day you catch one. Read what to do with trapped hogs in Texas before you set the gate, and find the rest of our trap guides on the hog traps hub.