Fencing, how about it?

[Txrider]

So I'm going to put up a fence around my new place. About 2600ft of perimeter fence.

I'm thinking of using 48" non climb horse fence, the 2"wide x 4" tall woven wire variety.

This stuff... http://www.fencingsolutions.com/CornerlgOZ.jpg

10 foot post spacing, with a 3" or 4" 6.5' wood line post every 40ft sunk about 30", and three heavy T-posts in between every ten feet.

Larger corner posts naturally with bracing.

Any opinions on this for livestock, sheep, goats, horses?

Should I use 8' line posts and leave 5.5' of post above ground for running more wire up top later if I need to? Is 48" going to leave me short?

Also anyone in Central Texas know the best place to get a good deal on such fencing and posts delivered? I'm in the Bastrop/Smithville/Giddings area.

[Bearfootfarm]

10 foot post spacing, with a 3" or 4" 6.5' wood post every 40ft sunk about 30", and three heavy T-posts in between every ten feet

I'd also run a "hot wire or two on the inside and top to keep animals from leaning or climbing.

Horses are especially bad about reaching over a fence and pushing it down, and goats are notorious climbers.

They all like to rub on fences, but a hot wire at shoulder height and one at the top will prevent that

4 ft is tall enough for most animals. I'd put 3 1/2 ft of the 8 ft corners in the ground
and set the rest so you can get the woven wire 4-6 inches off the ground.

That will help keep it from rusting so quickly, and allow you to run the deck of a riding mower under it if you need to trim

[Txrider]

Originally Posted by Bearfootfarm

I'd also run a "hot wire or two on the inside and top to keep animals from leaning or climbing.

Horses are especially bad about reaching over a fence and pushing it down, and goats are notorious climbers.

They all like to rub on fences, but a hot wire at shoulder height and one at the top will prevent that

Yeah I was planning on leaving a little post up top for a hot wire up top, hadn't though about one inside.

4 ft is tall enough for most animals. I'd put 3 1/2 ft of the 8 ft corners in the ground
and set the rest so you can get the woven wire 4-6 inches off the ground.

That will help keep it from rusting so quickly, and allow you to run the deck of a riding mower under it if you need to trim

Well it is a half a mile of pasture fence, I don't think I'll be using a riding mower out there. I was also planning to keep it a little lower to the ground as we have a lot of hungry coyotes and loose dogs around.

But it is a good question, how high off the ground should I put the wire to help keep coyotes and dogs out? Hot wire along the bottom too?

[jwal10]

Barbed on the bottom 3" off the ground, 3" to fencing, keeps those bad critters out better. That is a lot of posts at 10' spacing, but great fence. Yeh, put hot wire on the 6" insulators so the hot wire stands proud. Great fence, a lot of money though....James

[Txrider]

If not 10' spacing, what could I get away with?

[farmergirl]

The non-climb fence wire that you're planning on using doesn't stretch very well and in my experience isn't the best combination with t-posts. We have 4 x 4 inch field fencing on the perimeter cattle pasture fenceline and it holds up well to the cattle on both sides of the fence. It is also small enough to hold in goats and sheep, and to keep out coyotes and dogs.
We have 3 heavy duty tposts as line posts in between the wooden posts, just like you're planning. All of the posts are approx 8 ft apart.
For the wooden posts you'll want them long enough that they are 3 ft underground and still tall enough to support your fencing plus the hotwire atop it. I'd go with 8 ft posts, in as big a diameter as you can afford, instead of the 6.5 fts.

As for the distance off the ground to set your wire:
We have lots of sand in our soil, so the coyotes that are truly determined can and do dig UNDER any fence. We left the wire just slightly above ground level to help it last longer in our humid conditions.

[bergere]

Something like this?



We have the heavy duty T posts every 7' because of the large predators here. Camel backs in cement every 100'.
I wish we could of afforded the No climb... we ended up using Woven Field fencing.

There is hot wire on both sides of the fence...down low so the Coyotes get zapped hard, the wire needs to be 6" off the ground as to not ground out the whole system and high up to keep the larger predators from getting over it. The high strains of Hot wire.. I think thick is 14 gage...will have to go look to make sure.

Right now I am having trouble with a large Black bear...he has tried hard to get into where the horses are, and hasn't been able too. Also have a predator rated charger.

[Bearfootfarm]

how high off the ground should I put the wire to help keep coyotes and dogs out?

It won't much matter.
If they want in they will dig under

Barbed or electric should be at the bottom but if you use electric you WILL have to keep it trimmed so it won't short out

I'd go with 8 ft posts, in as big a diameter as you can afford, instead of the 6.5 fts.

Check your power company and see if they sell used poles

I have some 10-12 inches in diameter that I only paid 35 cents/ft.

Cut them 8 ft and put 4 ft in the ground and you probably won't need a lot of elaborate bracing

[Bearfootfarm]

Something like this?

That's a FENCE!

[Txrider]

Originally Posted by farmergirl

The non-climb fence wire that you're planning on using doesn't stretch very well and in my experience isn't the best combination with t-posts. We have 4 x 4 inch field fencing on the perimeter cattle pasture fenceline and it holds up well to the cattle on both sides of the fence. It is also small enough to hold in goats and sheep, and to keep out coyotes and dogs.
We have 3 heavy duty tposts as line posts in between the wooden posts, just like you're planning. All of the posts are approx 8 ft apart.
For the wooden posts you'll want them long enough that they are 3 ft underground and still tall enough to support your fencing plus the hotwire atop it. I'd go with 8 ft posts, in as big a diameter as you can afford, instead of the 6.5 fts.

As for the distance off the ground to set your wire:
We have lots of sand in our soil, so the coyotes that are truly determined can and do dig UNDER any fence. We left the wire just slightly above ground level to help it last longer in our humid conditions.

Well we're about in the same area, as far as coyotes go. My soil is pretty much sandy loam.

I have been arguing back and forth with myself to use 6.5 foot poles or 8' poles.

I have also been waffling about using the 4x4 wire as well, a bit cheaper I think and seems like it would do just as well.

No bears or big cats here so digging under or jumping over for canines is the only real issue.

So an 8' pole 3ft in the ground would leave about a foot over top of the wire or a little less. Enough for electric or whatever to go up top easily.

Otherwise I guess it would be a 6.5' poles only 2 feet in the ground to leave room for electric on top with 48" wire.

I do have about a half a dozen used telephone poles already, came with the property, along with much electric wire, standoffs and a couple of chargers, but I'll see what the local suppliers have I can buy as well. I'll have about 7 corner braces to do as well, 4 at 90 degrees and 3 at slight bends in the property line, and 2 gates. I was hoping to save the telephone poles for a pole shed later.

I just need to get the base perimeter fence up for now, it'll be a while before I will need the electric. Until I move down there it'll be mainly for keeping my dogs in when I go down there to stay and work in my off time and not a bad investment to raise the property value should something happens where I need to sell. There is no fence at all at the moment.

I'll be doing the fence myself. I also have to find who has the best pricing for the posts and wire around there. Hard to do from 250 miles away. I have about 10k to spend to get it done, including renting a bobcat with an auger, maybe a pnuematic t-post driver and paying a couple of hands to help. I don't think my old farmall C would take well to a 3pt auger.

Going to start calling for quotes as soon as I decide exactly what I want, and get it done in a couple of weeks from now if the weather holds good down here.

[Txrider]

Originally Posted by bergere

Something like this?

Holy cow, Fort Knox there.. That's a little more than I think I'll be needing...

[jwal10]

We went 1 rod=16.5 ft. between posts 5 tee and a wood. 7 or 8 ft line posts, the deeper the better. Fencing comes so many rods to the roll so easy to figure how many posts to a roll. I like barbed on the bottom no shorting out. About center heighth for the first strand of hot and 1 on top. We don't concrete our posts they rot at the top of concrete, we use crushed rock tamped good, especially at the bottom. lets water soak away and dry out. Braces for corners and brace wire. Anything more is just a stouter fence. Money is the object, the more the better the fence. Horse fence keeps most heads from getting through....James

[bergere]

Originally Posted by Txrider

Holy cow, Fort Knox there.. That's a little more than I think I'll be needing...

LOL.... and if I could afford to beef it up some more.. I would.
Have never lived in a place before, with such active and aggressive large predators.
At least this fence lets me sleep at night.

[bergere]

Originally Posted by Bearfootfarm

That's a FENCE!

LOL Thank you. DH, has had lots of practice building fence.

[HilltopDaisy]

I'm in NY. Different concerns, mostly with frost heaving, and coyotes. I have sheep, goats, and horses.

Do it right the first time. I could cry when I think about the time and money I've wasted over the last 8-9 years, just on fencing. My neighbors must think I'm CRAZY. Every Spring, I'm out there, upgrading.

In a perfect world, I would have used RedBrand Goat/Sheep Fence, 4" x 4" woven wire, with a strand of hot wire along the bottom and the top. The dang horse has ruined so much fence by leaning over it to eat on the other side, but WOW does he respect one strand of hot wire!! The goats will find any spot where two pieces of fence "meet" and will force their way out (and into the road/neighbors).

Oh how I wish I had listened when I asked this same question nearly ten years ago!!

[haypoint]

Up here, snow load is a concern. Five or six strands of high tinsile wire, keeps most animals on the correct side, as long as the fencer is working. 8 to 10 feet high to keep deer out. With the wire, you can back off the tension in cold weather and tighten it up in the spring.
That woven wire fence is quite pricy.
I see people that brace the corner posts with a diaginal brace. Often that simply pulls the corner post out of the ground. You need to keep the brace level and run the tightening wires at a diaginal.

[Txrider]

Originally Posted by haypoint

Up here, snow load is a concern. Five or six strands of high tinsile wire, keeps most animals on the correct side, as long as the fencer is working. 8 to 10 feet high to keep deer out. With the wire, you can back off the tension in cold weather and tighten it up in the spring.
That woven wire fence is quite pricy.
I see people that brace the corner posts with a diaginal brace. Often that simply pulls the corner post out of the ground. You need to keep the brace level and run the tightening wires at a diaginal.

No snow here, or frozen ground either.

So it looks like from most advice here I should go with 4x4 woven wire, 7 or 8 ft posts, with barbed wire on bottom, or electric top and bottom and center.

I have a small pic of the survey plat as well, I will be fencing all the way around, on the property lines on the west and south sides, and on the inside of the road easement on the north and east sides. With 2 gates about where the electric lines come into the property.

http://s775.photobucket.com/albums/y...urveyfence.jpg

So about 7 corners, though some are not so much corners, 2 gates with end posts for 10 corner/end posts to brace.

I'm thinking about 90 wood posts, 200 T-posts, 10 good corner posts, 2600ft of woven wire, 1000ft of wire for diagonal bracing, staples and clips for T-posts.

I have one neighbor with an older barbed wire fence down the west side, I figure I'd be better off just putting up new fence down that side on my side of the line rather than trying to use their posts on that side, the wood posts are leaning and the T-posts are quite rusty,

Also what's the best way to attach woven wire to T-posts?

[bergere]

Originally Posted by haypoint

I see people that brace the corner posts with a diaginal brace. Often that simply pulls the corner post out of the ground. You need to keep the brace level and run the tightening wires at a diaginal.

Your are right.. always brace level and use the tightening wires diagonal.

Also having a Woven Field fence properly tighten, will keep it in good condition much longer.

[bergere]

Originally Posted by Txrider

No snow here, or frozen ground either.


Also what's the best way to attach woven wire to T-posts?

U clips... and I use a nail to put mine on.

Granted these pictures show barbed wire but it works just as well on Woven Field fencing. I usually put 4 per T post.
http://fenceprotool.com/

[ninny]

Hey Txrider, check out Craigslist in your area for the stuff that you're looking for, especially the larger posts. Around the San Antonio area you can find a lot of the stuff you're looking for. Might think about using RR crossties for some of your posts, they don't rot and you can find some pretty reasonable.

.