scottdaniel14
Member
I'm looking for the cheapest fence but still have good enough quality to keep my cattle in. Any suggestions?
Best Fence?
- Thread starter scottdaniel14
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novatech
Well-known member
Cheap + cheap + cheap = expensive in the long run.
backhoeboogie
Well-known member
Something that doesn't burn. I can't afford to lose another fence to brush fires.
grannysoo
Well-known member
If you're going to have the cheapest fence, you should probably consider spending the extra money on your insurance policy.....
scottdaniel14
Member
well put, I guess what i'm really trying to say is the quality of the fence and price of the fence to equal out...
A five wire barbed with a wood post and 4 t-post. That is as cheap as I know. Any thing less than that is more expensive in the long run,,, in my opinion.
OR
YOu can let the brush grow up in the old fence. That holds them alot of time also. It takes a while though.
OR
YOu can let the brush grow up in the old fence. That holds them alot of time also. It takes a while though.
Outrigger2
Well-known member
just got done building electric fence $.60/ft 1900 ft for my neighbor. it is 4 strand.
C HOLLAND
Well-known member
4 or 5 strand barb wire,
And if you have enough vehicles you can park them end to end and it will work. :lol: :lol:
And if you have enough vehicles you can park them end to end and it will work. :lol: :lol:
Here is the cheapest most secure fence that I've seen:
A guy I know was getting paid $6 per tire for "disposing" of semi tires. I couldn't even guess how many tires he collected, but he stacked them end to end and 6 feet high. I don't know how he fastened them together. He probably had about 10 acres fenced in. It's quite a sight to see. Some people say he's made more than a million dollers collecting tires.
The county officials are always after him for something including having all the tires but he doesn't care a whole lot. He lives quit a ways off the road back in the woods with "No Tresspassing" signs every 20 feet and a locked gate going up the driveway. No electricity or anything either and junk all over the place. But fact is he is really a nice guy and is always the first to help someone in need. He just really isn't "into" zoning codes or any other type of law for that matter.
A guy I know was getting paid $6 per tire for "disposing" of semi tires. I couldn't even guess how many tires he collected, but he stacked them end to end and 6 feet high. I don't know how he fastened them together. He probably had about 10 acres fenced in. It's quite a sight to see. Some people say he's made more than a million dollers collecting tires.
The county officials are always after him for something including having all the tires but he doesn't care a whole lot. He lives quit a ways off the road back in the woods with "No Tresspassing" signs every 20 feet and a locked gate going up the driveway. No electricity or anything either and junk all over the place. But fact is he is really a nice guy and is always the first to help someone in need. He just really isn't "into" zoning codes or any other type of law for that matter.
I was in about the same shape as you, I guess.. Wanted something that would do a good job without breaking the bank.. I went with hi-tensile, paid attention to the tips and tricks given out on this forum, and built as I could afford to build..
Today, I've got a six strand hi-tensile electric fence that will peg a 5-light tester, and we're in the "extreme" drought category right now. Needless to say, I'm pretty happy with it.
The best tips I got were:
A) The ground system is half the fence. Do it right with plenty of ground rods driven deeply and set at least 10' apart.. I drove four eight-footers.. If you can't put them 8' straight down, drive them in at an angle.
B) Don't be a tightwad when you buy your charger. Look for UL-Listed, low-impedence pulse chargers, and judge them by the output joules.. Not miles, not stored joules -- OUTPUT JOULES. One rule of thumb I've heard is that you need about one joule per mile of hot wire.. I've got about 1-1/2 miles of hot wire connected to a 2-joule fencer.. Incidentally, it was advertised as a 50-mile charger, and the folks at TSC thought I was nuts.. Don't be fooled by the mileage rating like so many people seem to be, however. Output joules are all that matter!!!
C) When splicing wire, forget about the crimps or mechanical joints and use a square knot.. It's cheaper, faster to create, and it holds as well or better than anything else.
D) It's hi-tensile, not hi-tension. Strain the wire enough to keep it tight, but it doesn't need to twang like a banjo string.. Too much tension just puts undue stress on the corners, ends, out-of-line insulators, posts where the terrain dips, insulators where the terrain rises -- basically, everywhere the wire is restrained.. Plus, when it comes to an animal physically challenging hi-tensile, the only difference between too-tight and just-right is that you'll have more to repair with too-tight... The animal's going to win either way, so you might just as well leave yourself less to fix..
E) If your area is drought prone, hook the cold wires on your fence into your ground system.. That way, you don't depend entirely on the circuit travelling through dry dirt back to the ground rods.. For me, this bit of advice led me to install the ground rods about a quarter mile from the charger at the mouth of a little ephemeral draw where the ground's more moist and there's more topsoil to drive into.. I hooked all three cold wires on the fence to all four ground rods, unifying it all, and then hooked all three cold wires to the ground terminal on the box.. When it's dry like it is now, all they have to do is touch a hot and cold wire at the same time, and the circuit is completed in the space between the two.. That's about 9" of flesh, versus up to a half mile of bone dry dirt.. Works much better that way..
I'm rambling, so I'll stop there.. I just like hi-tensile a lot. :lol:
Today, I've got a six strand hi-tensile electric fence that will peg a 5-light tester, and we're in the "extreme" drought category right now. Needless to say, I'm pretty happy with it.
The best tips I got were:
A) The ground system is half the fence. Do it right with plenty of ground rods driven deeply and set at least 10' apart.. I drove four eight-footers.. If you can't put them 8' straight down, drive them in at an angle.
B) Don't be a tightwad when you buy your charger. Look for UL-Listed, low-impedence pulse chargers, and judge them by the output joules.. Not miles, not stored joules -- OUTPUT JOULES. One rule of thumb I've heard is that you need about one joule per mile of hot wire.. I've got about 1-1/2 miles of hot wire connected to a 2-joule fencer.. Incidentally, it was advertised as a 50-mile charger, and the folks at TSC thought I was nuts.. Don't be fooled by the mileage rating like so many people seem to be, however. Output joules are all that matter!!!
C) When splicing wire, forget about the crimps or mechanical joints and use a square knot.. It's cheaper, faster to create, and it holds as well or better than anything else.
D) It's hi-tensile, not hi-tension. Strain the wire enough to keep it tight, but it doesn't need to twang like a banjo string.. Too much tension just puts undue stress on the corners, ends, out-of-line insulators, posts where the terrain dips, insulators where the terrain rises -- basically, everywhere the wire is restrained.. Plus, when it comes to an animal physically challenging hi-tensile, the only difference between too-tight and just-right is that you'll have more to repair with too-tight... The animal's going to win either way, so you might just as well leave yourself less to fix..
E) If your area is drought prone, hook the cold wires on your fence into your ground system.. That way, you don't depend entirely on the circuit travelling through dry dirt back to the ground rods.. For me, this bit of advice led me to install the ground rods about a quarter mile from the charger at the mouth of a little ephemeral draw where the ground's more moist and there's more topsoil to drive into.. I hooked all three cold wires on the fence to all four ground rods, unifying it all, and then hooked all three cold wires to the ground terminal on the box.. When it's dry like it is now, all they have to do is touch a hot and cold wire at the same time, and the circuit is completed in the space between the two.. That's about 9" of flesh, versus up to a half mile of bone dry dirt.. Works much better that way..
I'm rambling, so I'll stop there.. I just like hi-tensile a lot. :lol:
Scott I understand what your asking. I use to think that barbedwire was the cheapest fence I could put up that would keep my cattle in. With the price of steel right now I'm not to sure about that if your going to use T-post. !0 line panels arent going to to be cost effective either. I would really look into an eletric fence if I was building a fence right now. A 3 strand hotwire fence will hold 'em in. Of course if one just has it's mind set on getting out it's going to get out no matter what its behind.
lumberjack69201
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Have any of you folks thought about using cedar post?I do sell them for half the price of Creosote post.
C HOLLAND
Well-known member
I use a cedar post every chance I get, when I had my timber cut I cut down every one of the cedar trees and made some fine fence post out of them. The larger sections I split and made cross braces out of them.
I used quite a bit of cedar, as well as some valueless non-millable white oak in the working pen.. Cut a narrow hickory or two for cross braces, as well..
I'll pretty much use whatever's handy. Running fence isn't exactly a beauty pageant anyway.
I'll pretty much use whatever's handy. Running fence isn't exactly a beauty pageant anyway.
