Fences

[simme]

My son is a full time fence builder. He recently did some fence work for my daughter. Her house burned in January and building a new house requires changing some of the fence. I took a few pictures.

They do a good job getting the posts straight and plumb. Pull a wire/string tight, measure and mark/paint on ground every post location (mark fence side of post, not center). Use a level on each post when they drive it.


Here is the bracing method they use. A wood post driven deep with a galvanized steel post installed at an angle for the brace. Posts drilled to hold the brace on each end. No brace wire, twisting or strainers. Called a Rance brace.








This fence is all wood posts, no metal t-posts. In the past, they used a wood post every 100 feet with t-posts between. Time it takes to attach the wire ties on the t-posts, increased cost of t-posts, being able to drive all the posts in one pass instead of two, better strength in the wood posts are some considerations. The cheaper farm store t-posts don't hold up as well when cattle rub on the fence. There are heavier duty t-posts available - but they are more expensive.

 

[simme]

Here is the driver rig they use. A breaker style driver but mounted on a strong frame system that can rest on the ground with positioning, tilt and leveling ability and lots of hydraulics/controls built into the frame. It will raise the driver head very high to drive long posts for tall fences. Some breaker style drivers just attach directly to the skid steer quick attach without all the frame functions. Those rely on the skid steer tilt and raise lower and are difficult to keep level.





Building their first tortoise fence here. Those tortoises will dig under a fence. They decided to drive posts deep with a very close spacing. Required a little planning and layout and good control of the driving. Four hours to drive the posts. That big tortoise in the picture is plastic. Look a little and you can spot the 2 real ones.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Looks like they do good work.

Always liked the look of the woven wire fence but the maintaince and upkeep make it pretty much unusable here, but it sure looks nice.

 

[Ky hills]

Looks good. Here folks use mainly woven wire, a strand of barbed wire on top and wood posts for cattle.
The old fence that was on this place was about 16' between each post, and maybe a T post (iron post as we call them) added in the middle. Now the fences I have had put up in recent years have had wood posts spaced 8' apart.
In Oklahoma where my wife is from it seems most fences are 5 strands of barbed wire and pretty much all T post.
Never seen a turtle fence before, it might hold goats, might hold hogs for a while too.

 

[Silver]

Nice work. I really like the way that driver is set up. Does he put a pressure treated wood protector in the hole the galvanized pipe goes in? Up here the melting snow and other moisture would run down the pipe into that hole and rot it out.

 

[greybeard]

the turtle fence isn't tall enough to hold goats.

Net wire is great as long as ya don't live where there is occasional running water carrying debris perpendicular to how the fence runs. Bad enough on 4 and 5 strand barb and barbless hi tension wire.. At least the barb wire lets some of the crap go thru so the whole fence doesn't go down.

 

[Dsth]

anyone that has built a fence can appreciate the look of a nice straight fence with evenly spaced wire throughout. great looking fence.

 

[Rafter S]

the turtle fence isn't tall enough to hold goats.

Net wire is great as long as ya don't live where there is occasional running water carrying debris perpendicular to how the fence runs. Bad enough on 4 and 5 strand barb and barbless hi tension wire.. At least the barb wire lets some of the crap go thru so the whole fence doesn't go down.

. . .and it's a lot easier to patch when needed (and it will be needed).

 

[WFfarm]

I would think one strand electric, really low, would keep a turtle in.

 

[SBMF 2015]

My son is a full time fence builder. He recently did some fence work for my daughter. Her house burned in January and building a new house requires changing some of the fence. I took a few pictures.

They do a good job getting the posts straight and plumb. Pull a wire/string tight, measure and mark/paint on ground every post location (mark fence side of post, not center). Use a level on each post when they drive it.
View attachment 58412

Here is the bracing method they use. A wood post driven deep with a galvanized steel post installed at an angle for the brace. Posts drilled to hold the brace on each end. No brace wire, twisting or strainers. Called a Rance brace.



View attachment 58414

View attachment 58415
View attachment 58416

This fence is all wood posts, no metal t-posts. In the past, they used a wood post every 100 feet with t-posts between. Time it takes to attach the wire ties on the t-posts, increased cost of t-posts, being able to drive all the posts in one pass instead of two, better strength in the wood posts are some considerations. The cheaper farm store t-posts don't hold up as well when cattle rub on the fence. There are heavier duty t-posts available - but they are more expensive.

View attachment 58417

And that is why any real fence project I hire the pros! NICE fence!

As hard as I try I still can't get a fence that straight.

 

[WAnabee]

I would think one strand electric, really low, would keep a turtle in.

Yeah well you wanna make darn sure they dont get out because if they do you will have a helluva time getting one back in i imagine

 

[Lucky]

Really nice Fencing job Simme. The Rance braces are supposedly the strongest brace but haven't seen any around here.

A lady in town has had a tortoise for a long time now. Every now and then the thing will get out and she'll post on Facebook that it's escaped. Someone always finds it but it's surprising how far it'll go.

 

[cowman82]

they do a very nice job.

 

[Ky hills]

the turtle fence isn't tall enough to hold goats.

Net wire is great as long as ya don't live where there is occasional running water carrying debris perpendicular to how the fence runs. Bad enough on 4 and 5 strand barb and barbless hi tension wire.. At least the barb wire lets some of the crap go thru so the whole fence doesn't go down.

Yeah you're right, I thought about that later after I posted that reply. It would have to be taller for goats. They'd jump up and run across that for the fun of it.
Had a few goats in a lot once with a regular height wire fence with maybe 2x4 inch stays. There was an old dog house style chicken coop a few feet away from the fence. The male goat jumped up on the roof of the coop and then jumped right over the fence. Found him running through a neighboring yard, finally cornered him about 4 or 5 houses from there between a garage and boat.

 

[farmerjan]

12 inch stays on the wire fence in the picture? Is that common or normal in that area?

Putting in posts here at the house soon. Going to do wood every 16 with T-post inbetween. Not going to be much pressure of cattle, maybe raise a few calves here or a couple sheep during the grass season... but want to keep the dogs out and chickens in... using 4 in stays with the "sheep and goat" woven wire. Just a couple of acres... but have deer through here alot and a dog will help to keep them out... DA@# deer can go around it and go through the christmas tree farm next door instead of through my yard and garden. Elec netting keeps them out of the garden now. I have some fruit trees, and some raspberries, and blueberries now... and being able to let the turkeys and chickens in there to scratch around to eat the bugs will help when they are done fruiting.

We use all 6 inch stay woven wire at the farm... all wood posts except sometimes in the woods will use a few T-posts here and there when needed.

 

[simme]

12 inch stays on the wire fence in the picture? Is that common or normal in that area?

Putting in posts here at the house soon. Going to do wood every 16 with T-post inbetween. Not going to be much pressure of cattle, maybe raise a few calves here or a couple sheep during the grass season... but want to keep the dogs out and chickens in... using 4 in stays with the "sheep and goat" woven wire. Just a couple of acres... but have deer through here alot and a dog will help to keep them out... DA@# deer can go around it and go through the christmas tree farm next door instead of through my yard and garden. Elec netting keeps them out of the garden now. I have some fruit trees, and some raspberries, and blueberries now... and being able to let the turkeys and chickens in there to scratch around to eat the bugs will help when they are done fruiting.

We use all 6 inch stay woven wire at the farm... all wood posts except sometimes in the woods will use a few T-posts here and there when needed.

I think the picture is 1348-12. 13 horizontal wires. 48" tall. 12" vertical spacing. That's what I have at my place. General purpose for cows and goats. The 12" vertical spacing gives a horned goat a better chance to turn their head and get the head/horns out of the fence. The 6" spacing is not good for horned goats. For cattle only, the 949-12 or 949-6 is enough. The key to the fixed knot hi-tensile is good braces, getting the wire TIGHT and using the hi-tensile knot to tie/terminate the ends. My fence has a wood post every 100 feet with t-posts in between spaced at 20 to 25 feet. I have not had problems. When I built it, people told me that I had the posts too far apart. But those are the people who typically have the old Red Brand hinged joint fence.

 

[SuperiorIan]

My son is a full time fence builder. He recently did some fence work for my daughter. Her house burned in January and building a new house requires changing some of the fence. I took a few pictures.

They do a good job getting the posts straight and plumb. Pull a wire/string tight, measure and mark/paint on ground every post location (mark fence side of post, not center). Use a level on each post when they drive it.
View attachment 58412

Here is the bracing method they use. A wood post driven deep with a galvanized steel post installed at an angle for the brace. Posts drilled to hold the brace on each end. No brace wire, twisting or strainers. Called a Rance brace.



View attachment 58414

View attachment 58415
View attachment 58416

This fence is all wood posts, no metal t-posts. In the past, they used a wood post every 100 feet with t-posts between. Time it takes to attach the wire ties on the t-posts, increased cost of t-posts, being able to drive all the posts in one pass instead of two, better strength in the wood posts are some considerations. The cheaper farm store t-posts don't hold up as well when cattle rub on the fence. There are heavier duty t-posts available - but they are more expensive.

View attachment 58417

Out of shear curiosity...

Why are wooden posts so popular on the East Coast and Southeast? I hardly ever see steel posts and pipe fencing around those parts.

 

[simme]

Out of shear curiosity...

Why are wooden posts so popular on the East Coast and Southeast? I hardly ever see steel posts and pipe fencing around those parts.

Look for a source of steel pipe posts in this area and you would need to travel a very far distance and take a lot of money. Go to your local farm supply store and they will have plenty of pressure treated wood posts. Ask about steel pipe posts and they don't have them, don't know where to get them, and probably would say that they have never had a customer ask for them. We got lots of pine trees, chain saws, hammers and staples, but not used pipe. I think the areas with pipe fences are generally located close to oil and gas production.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I have to have my pipe hauled in from 12+ hours away. Best money spent on fence IMO.

 

[ClinchValley86]

very nice