I need ideas for inexpensive fence construction/materals

[one-huntress]

I want to fence in one of our pastures (for some of our horses & don't want to risk safety) but don't want to invest alot of money into project. In the next year or so we are planning to move. I don't like electric fence and welcome any ideas/imput Thanks

[cougkid]

How much fence do you need? You can get 300' of wire mesh fence for around $150, and probably get free t-posts somewhere...

[mrglock27]

barbedwire or barblesswire is like $40 for 1,320 feet.

[bill not in oh]

You could run high tensile and simply not energize it - still the cheapest if you have to buy the materials. Just hang something on the top wire that will make it more visible. When you move you just wind it up on a spool, pull the posts and take it with you.

[Spinner]

I have a neighbor who made a fence out of saplings and cheap wire. He only did a corral, but you could do the same thing in a straight line. Lots of work, but cheap, and it looks good.

[hoofinitnorth]

I know this isn't what you want to hear but you just gotta hear it. Spend your money on quality fencing products and save it on vet bills or animal control recovery fees/fines. I've been there, done that. Used to board at places that had cheap or unsafe fencing and it was such a huge liability. Horses went missing or got hurt so often that it was like a regular barn outing to go out and tend to one or bring it back to the barn. If you live out away from traffic your horses might be able to get away safely and not go too far or get hit by a car but if you live really out in the country, they might get shot by poachers or people mad about them trespassing.

What's your budget? That would help a lot to get you set up. Why don't you like electric fence?

[Okie-Dokie]

If you can't use electric fence, then I would think that barbed wire fencing is your next least expencive option. I quit using 4 point long ago and went to the cheaper 2 point and I can't see that one works better than the other.

[Sand Flat Bob]

If you said how big the pasture was, I missed it. For a very temporary fence, have seen some people use the flexible mesh plastic stuff like they use around construction sites. Most I have seen was on rent mobile homes and they were keeping in Dogs. Don't know if it will keep in a horse or not. Very visible and if they don't test it, probably would work. If it were mine, I would run a electric wire on the inside about on top of the fence, just so the horses know it is there and will bite. Probably only have to run the electric Power for a short while to educate. I have some pastures cross fenced with a one wire electric, which hasn't had power on it for over a year, the horses never try to cross it.

Have fun,

Bob

[FreightTrain]

Originally Posted by one-huntress

I want to fence in one of our pastures (for some of our horses & don't want to risk safety) but don't want to invest alot of money into project. In the next year or so we are planning to move. I don't like electric fence and welcome any ideas/imput Thanks

you can fence in the most amount of land with the least amount of fence if you make a circular pasture

[rambler]

Like others say, you have a difficult set of requirements there. I never like skimping on fencing, only leads to problems down the road. With such a short road you have, it's hard to invest the money at all. For horses, a very visable fence with an electric fencer to keep them off of it would be the cheapest, but you don't want that either. Scrounged materials as some mentioned will work, but tends to look bad to others - if you are selling the place, consider how much a poor-looking fence will cost you on the sale....

--->Paul

[RedneckPete]

I'd like to build a house for free. I'd like it to be nice, big and comfortable and don't want to do any of the work myself. I welcome any ideas/imput Thanks

Pete

[rambler]

Well now that's easy, Pete. But of course off-topic to the fence issue, so I won't get into it.

A cheap fence, that's much more difficult.

--->Paul

[ChickenFryChato]

Originally Posted by RedneckPete

I'd like to build a house for free. I'd like it to be nice, big and comfortable and don't want to do any of the work myself. I welcome any ideas/imput Thanks

Pete

What a jerk of a response. The person wants advice and gets this kind of sarcasm? You should be ashamed of yourself. We'll be sure to watch any threads you begin, and judge them accordingly.
Regardless of what your response may be after my post, I've always felt that if you don't have something positive to respond with, or something that may help or assist, then you should not even post.

ChickenFry

[Maura]

Invest in the wide white electric tape, and step in posts. Run the el tape in the top holder all around to keep the horses in. Run a second tape half way between the ground and the top tape. The wide electric tape offers a visual to the horses as well as a jolt. You can easily add more step ins where the tape sags. You can also rearrange the posts and tape if you need to. When you move, it is simple to take down the tape and carefully wind it on a spool, pull out the posts and take everything with you. Your horses will already be trained to the white tape and you can use it while you are making more permanent fencing. You can also reuse it to section off a large pasture for rotation. Consider it an investment.

[Cheryl in SD]

The local paper! Last year we got fencing enough to entirely fence our poperty FREE. We had to go take it down, but if we did the work the fencing was ours. Then all we had to buy was the corner posts and gate material.

[ChickenFryChato]

You may also want to check lumber yards in your area if you have any. Around here, they literally give away 8 foot long cedar and pine slabs. When they get a tree, they have to cut off the outside of it to turn the tree into lumber. The result is a slab which is an 8 foot long piece of wood that is round on the outside, but flat on the inside. Does that make sense (1/2 round and 1/2 flat)? Anyway, a lot of people use them for fencing, and they tend to stand up well to the weather.
T-posts and barbless wire are also good inexpensive choices. Like others have mentioned, you may want to run a hot wire, or the electrical fabric/tape stuff on the very top. The main expense will come from the running electricty to the fence itself. I'm planning on getting the 3-mile solar powered unit to run the electricity. Barbless wire is pretty inexpensive and will save on vet bills. I'd do three strands of barbless wire with a hot wire or electrical tape on the top, 4 wires in all. But that's just me.
Check into the slabs though.

Chickenfry

[Mama McJack]

Is this a property line? If so, perhaps your neighbor will split the cost with you?

[RedneckPete]

Originally Posted by ChickenFryChato

What a jerk of a response. ... I've always felt that if you don't have something positive to respond with, or something that may help or assist, then you should not even post.

Get a grip. One-huntress joins the forum, starts four threads in one day, then two hours after she has started this thread logs out and doesn’t return.

The very topic of the thread indicates she hasn’t even considered searching the archives, where she would find out that MANY on this forum would recommend electric fencing as the most cost effective fencing, but she doesn’t like that so it’s not an option. Many people replying are kind enough to gently suggest it’s use anyways, I am not.

Of course, in the interest of financial planning, I would suggest she eat the horse, save up the money she was using for food, and install a proper fence once she can afford it and has a permanent home for her pets. It is however unlikely she will ever see my advice, as I believe it is unlikely she will return to the forum in the near future to read the responses.

Pete

[one-huntress]

Thank you to all of the postive ideas that I have gotten back on starting my thread....
As for redneck pete,
Yes I have searched the archives under equine and returned with no results that didn't envolve electric or wire. Also just because I have other things to do then sit around and post on a website (that I had just found) does not mean I will never return! As far as electric I can't use do our emus (they aren't smart enough to stay off of) & wire has caused many horse to become lame getting stuck (whether done properly or not)
LAST of all in the wonderful interest of finanical planning- I don't care what the fence looks, we sold our property for 2 million and will be bulldozed. This why I don't want to spend alot of money on a fence that will be sitting under mounds of dirt in a short while.

[Wildwood Flower]

Be nice, Pete.