Board Fences??

[Old John]

Hi Y'all,

DSW Sharon wants me to put a Board Fence down the front of the Place,
and up the drive. I'm about ready to start on it.
I know it's going to be a lot more expensive than woven wire.
But, it'll be a lot better looking.
And, I have some questions.

I plan to use 6" line-posts, set in the ground 30",
either 8' or 10' apart(?). What'd be better?
First, my idea is to use treated 2 x 8's.
We want a 4-Board fence.
Should they be 8 footers? Or, would 10 footers work?
Should they be predrilled & screwed to the posts?
Or, can I safely get away with nailing them?

I plan to put the first one 7 1/2" to 8", from the ground.
And to space them 7 1/2" to 8" apart.
The top of the top board would be at about 60".

Is this sufficient for cattle?
Am I overbuilding too much?
Thanks, for any & all input.

[Bearfootfarm]

Sound like a VERY high priced fence to me. Even if you used 4 X 4 posts youre taliking about close to $5 per foot, not counting screws or nails. ( Screws would be MUCH better) 6 X 6 would be much higher, and round posts wouldnt work well at all.

It MIGHT keep cattle in if they dont rub against it and break some boards. To prevent that you could run a hot wire around the inside. If it were mine, I'd use 3 boards and a much wider spacing.

It comes down to price vs appearance I guess

[Shadow]

How much fence are you talking about here we sold a famly 50 acres and he wanted me to drill some fence post holes with my tractor, no problem so a cou;le of weeks later I met him up there and he showed me what he wanted a fence post hole every five feet all around the whole thing. with all the cross fenceing almost two miles. His brother in law was there to help me and we figured up the fence was going to be over 12,000 dollars, and me and the brother in law decided we were not going to drill 2,200 fence holes. We talked to him and he said no he had not figured on over a couple of thousand dollars for the whole thing.
Wood fences are pretty painted and all but the expense and up upkeep is way past what I would spend. The boards begin to look bad after a very few years and complete replacment comes around every eight to ten years.

[Stephen in SOKY]

5/4"X6" planks are quite sufficient here. Round posts work alright as well. I drive posts shy of 8' (To allow for ground level variance) and use 16' planks alternating butts so that each post has 2 solid boards & 2 butted boards. Face boards (Vertical) complete the fence & look very nice, although some say they catch rain. Air nailer with compressor & generator are virtually required. Same generator & airless sprayer for long term maintenance. A person can make a red clay bank look nice with a black plank fence!

[mtman]

Originally Posted by Stephen in SOKY

5/4"X6" planks are quite sufficient here. Round posts work alright as well. I drive posts shy of 8' (To allow for ground level variance) and use 16' planks alternating butts so that each post has 2 solid boards & 2 butted boards. Face boards (Vertical) complete the fence & look very nice, although some say they catch rain. Air nailer with compressor & generator are virtually required. Same generator & airless sprayer for long term maintenance. A person can make a red clay bank look nice with a black plank fence!

5/4 is not a plank and a big cow could run through it if wanted 1 in oak is better and make shure the planks are the animal side

[rzrubek]

How about a nice looking vinyl fence and use a hotwire to keep the cows in? Have access to a woodlot and sawmill? Good luck with whatever you decide.

[Boleyz]

PT posts are fine, but as Mtnman said, the planks should be 1" oak. Of course, after it dries out, it will have to be painted. Folks who use them for cattle, also often run some barbed wire near the bottom board, to help keep the cattle off the fence.

Also, the boards will warp as they dry out and if you go over 8' with your ground posts. the warps will be even more pronounced. Around here, in the bluegrass with the million-dollar horse farms, black painted or white painted board fences are very popular.

There are even some companies who do it for a living. Many times, the posts are only 6 feet apart, just to keep the warps in line.

I hope you love hard work and heavy maintenance, because that's what a nice board fence will require.

[FreeRanger]

Some where I read the difference between a hobby farm and a real farm is the color of the wooden fence. Hobby farms have white fences. Real farms have black fences, or so I heard....

Personally sounds like the fence is just for looks and not for function. If it is for function then make sure the horizontal boards are on the livestock side of the post and not on the people side. Use the 16 foot oak planks stagered. Screws are not recommended but galvanized nails are. Screw are brittle and will break under stress. Nails flex when under the stress of a cow leaning on it.

[Ole Man Legrand]

I have 3000ft of 4 board fence. I used presure treated cresote boards and post.!6 foot boards 6'' x1''. We used half round post because it gives us more nailing surface, about 6 or 7 inches. If you join all the boards on one post you can use a roundpost between the ends. The fence is 15 years old and has been painted one time with used motor oil.

[Old John]

Thanks for all the information & sugestions.

We only have 13 acres, total.
And, the Board Fence is just going to be down the front of the Place.
And, then, it'll be up the drive, to the Corner of the House, on one side.
On the other side, it'll be up the outside of the Loop, and around,
to the back corner, of the garage.

I think it's 880' down the front.
It's about 240 feet up the near side of the Drive.
And, it's about twice that, up the other side of the loop, and
around to the back of the Garage.
Maybe a total of 1500 to 1600 feet.
The rest of the fence will be 48" woven wire, with one strand
of barbed wire above it.

Yes, it's going to be functional. But, we want it to look good, too.
I'm not in a rush, to get it done.
But it will get done.

I have 2 neighbors with board fences.
Both used treated boards.
One has them on 4x4's, one on 6" round posts.
Both have been up over 10 years & still look real good.
But, they are painted regularly.
They both have a vertical board, down the front of the fence,
on the posts.
The lady who works at the bank & her hubby just put one up,
for horses, out of cedar planks, 2x8's. They stained it brown.
They put up a big indoor arena, too.
Wish I had their money, hunnh.

Thanks again, I appreciate it.

[Willowynd]

I put one up merely for decoration and to act as a boundary for the dogs.
I used landscape timbers and set them 10 ft apart. I then used 1 x 4's for the rails. We made it about 3 ft tall. We wish we had dipped the posts in creosote, but none have rotted yet and it has been 9 yrs. I do need to paint it every year, but it looks nice. I am going to run electric polywire on it to make it a barrier for the dogs, but I am pleased with it overall.