Fencing costs

[Katpau]

I have a question for those of you in the fence building business. We have never hired anyone to build fence and we have built and maintained all of the approximately 10-12 miles of fencing that is now in place. My husband and I are now in our late 60's and early 70's and we have to accept our limitations. I would like to finish the perimeter fence, so that we could graze those acres, rather than allowing the neighbors to do so. Any idea what we might expect to pay for a job like that. I am looking for a per foot estimate. I would love to get the neighbors to help with cost, but they have no incentive to do so, and I doubt they could be convinced. Our last job was replacing 1000 feet along the east border. I asked the cattle producer leasing that land to talk to the non-resident wealthy owner about doing some cost sharing on the project. They said okay, and I sent them the bill, showing materials and our hours of labor. She sent a check for ½ the materials. Apparently, our labor was worthless. I rather suspect the owner of the cattle may have led her to believe he helped. Most contracts around here make the lessee responsible for fencing. When we told him that fence was in serious need of replacement, he said he was too busy to help.

We purchased this ranch in 1991. It is a total of 925 acres, and much of it is steep and heavily wooded. The place had perimeter fence when we bought it, but most of it had probably been built in the early 1900's and it was in very poor shape. We have spent the last 30 years fencing and cross fencing the lower 550 acres. The northern slopes are the steepest and most heavily wooded and are accessible right now, only on foot or horseback. We never bothered to replace those fences, but concentrated on lower terrain, much of which could be accessed with an ATV. There may be as much as 100 acres in meadows up near the top and in small bench areas that would still make good pasture, but would require at least several miles of fence in tough terrain. This year, with the drought, I really wished we had access to those areas. Neighbors to the North and West have poor fences, and we usually end up with cattle coming in on us from their places and grazing this area. We never finished those fences, because of how difficult it would be and because we assumed water was unavailable up there. At least one small herd of the neighbors' cattle were there for several months and even open gates did not lure them down, so my water worries might have been unfounded.

 

[callmefence]

That's a tough one to answer.
It really depends on the outfit you hire.

Right now we're at around 3.85 for 6 barb and 300.00 per brace. 1.00 - 2.00 to clear the line. We clear a 10-12 ' road .

I've still got a half mile of air hose in the shop for those jobs you can't get a skid steer to. I haven't used it in several years and don't plan on ever using it again. If I can't get to a job these days , you either have to pay me to build a road in or I'm just not interested.
That said there was a time I would of crawled all over something like that and enjoyed it. You either are gonna have to find someone new enough to need the work (but experienced and with some equipment) or pay for the trouble.

On Using a new or hungry contractor......
I've always bought the materials myself. But
It might help if you supply materials, just keep a eye on things until your sure the work is being done properly. And never pay any labor for work not completed .

Is the location more accessible from the neighbors property. ? This situation is quite common and can help alot.

Good luck.

 

[Katpau]

Thank you Fence
That was exactly what I was looking for. The local Farmers Coop gave me two names for possible fence builders. I know one of them. He is young and a good rancher who leases a lot of land in the county. The other I was unfamiliar with. I left a message yesterday with that one, since my source at Coop said he had the equipment to cut the line and more experience. I haven't heard back, but today is the last day for deer hunting in the county, so maybe tomorrow. I was hoping to get a bid from both and wanted some idea of what would be fair. I would be totally fine with purchasing materials and having them delivered here.

I measured the distance using the GIS function on our county assessor site and it would be about 11,500-12,000 feet. The old fence was built along a ridge top and jogs along using both posts and trees. It was made using woven wire to keep in sheep and I have often wondered how they accomplished that. In some spots it would be easier from the neighbors, so I'll have to see if they would accommodate us in that way. I know some of them, but they are 6-7 miles away by road and I don't know them all by any means. That side is split into many small tracts above the river at the eastern end. I would love to have a road through there that could make ATV access possible, so I like that idea. It would not be good to follow the fence the whole way however. The steep areas would wash out in winter rains if we cut a track through them. If I could do this it would add 375 acres of pasture that I could add to my drought insurance. The USDA uses a 74 year rain average, so we collect most years, since unfortunately our total rainfall has continuously dropped over the last 30-40 years. I would need to pay up to $5,000 more for the insurance of course, but those 375 acres might have saved me several months of winter feed and brought in over $20,000 in additional drought insurance money, in just the last two years alone. Even if we go back to normal rain and there are no payouts, I still have an additional 100 acres of high meadow to graze. I had looked into buying part of a piece that borders us, and after hearing what it is worth now, I decided it made more sense to fence what we already have. Otherwise if this drought continues I will need to seriously cut back on animals. The last two years have been especially rough. I can't keep feeding like this forever.

 

[Ridgetop]

Fencing is going up since metal and wire prices are rising. Adding that much grazing to your property is worth the investment. Naturally the neighbors don't want to share the costs since they are getting your grass and water for nothing.

We just bought a small place in northeast TX. The cattle fences are very good but we are going to fence the perimeter with game fence as well. We have sheep and guardian dogs so keeping the dogs in and hogs and deer out is paramount. It is a huge expense (45 acres), but fencing is too important to try to do makeshift ourselves. We are in our 70's so will hire someone to do the fencing. Once done it will be worth the investment, add value to the property, and make it safe for the dogs and sheep. One side abuts the highway.

 

[Cattlelow]

I have a question for those of you in the fence building business. We have never hired anyone to build fence and we have built and maintained all of the approximately 10-12 miles of fencing that is now in place. My husband and I are now in our late 60's and early 70's and we have to accept our limitations. I would like to finish the perimeter fence, so that we could graze those acres, rather than allowing the neighbors to do so. Any idea what we might expect to pay for a job like that. I am looking for a per foot estimate. I would love to get the neighbors to help with cost, but they have no incentive to do so, and I doubt they could be convinced. Our last job was replacing 1000 feet along the east border. I asked the cattle producer leasing that land to talk to the non-resident wealthy owner about doing some cost sharing on the project. They said okay, and I sent them the bill, showing materials and our hours of labor. She sent a check for ½ the materials. Apparently, our labor was worthless. I rather suspect the owner of the cattle may have led her to believe he helped. Most contracts around here make the lessee responsible for fencing. When we told him that fence was in serious need of replacement, he said he was too busy to help.

We purchased this ranch in 1991. It is a total of 925 acres, and much of it is steep and heavily wooded. The place had perimeter fence when we bought it, but most of it had probably been built in the early 1900's and it was in very poor shape. We have spent the last 30 years fencing and cross fencing the lower 550 acres. The northern slopes are the steepest and most heavily wooded and are accessible right now, only on foot or horseback. We never bothered to replace those fences, but concentrated on lower terrain, much of which could be accessed with an ATV. There may be as much as 100 acres in meadows up near the top and in small bench areas that would still make good pasture, but would require at least several miles of fence in tough terrain. This year, with the drought, I really wished we had access to those areas. Neighbors to the North and West have poor fences, and we usually end up with cattle coming in on us from their places and grazing this area. We never finished those fences, because of how difficult it would be and because we assumed water was unavailable up there. At least one small herd of the neighbors' cattle were there for several months and even open gates did not lure them down, so my water worries might have been unfounded.

I put in 10 ares of livestock fence last October and Pais 1.25 per foot.

 

[Cattlelow]

I put in 10 ares of livestock fence last October and Pais 1.25 per foot.

*Paid 1.25 per foot with 5 gates installed as well.

 

[callmefence]

*Paid 1.25 per foot with 5 gates installed as well.

I'd like to see that....

 

[Cattlelow]

I'd like to see that....

That was just labor. Sorry...
The supplies were 8k.

 

[Katpau]

A square 10 acres would be 660 feet to a side or 2,640 feet around the perimeter. $8000 / 2640 = $3.03 per foot in materials. Adding on $1.25 per foot for labor gave you a cost of $4.28 per foot.

 

[wbvs58]

A square 10 acres would be 660 feet to a side or 2,640 feet around the perimeter. $8000 / 2640 = $3.03 per foot in materials. Adding on $1.25 per foot for labor gave you a cost of $4.28 per foot.

A square10 acres would be 4 hectares which would be 200 metres by 200 metres so 800 metres circumference. Just giving ya'll a lesson in the metric system.

Ken

 

[Silver]

A square10 acres would be 4 hectares which would be 200 metres by 200 metres so 800 metres circumference. Just giving ya'll a lesson in the metric system.

Ken

It's good to be bilingual

 

[Katpau]

Thank you wbvs58. I will remember that now. So simple, 10 acres is about 4 hectare. Much simpler to remember than one acre = .404686 hectare.

Here is another one.
A rod (sometimes known as a pole) is a measurement of 16.5 feet. Each rod is comprised of 25 links. A two-pole chain is twice the length of a rod, or 33 feet. Likewise, a four-pole chain, which is also known as a surveyor's chain, measures 66 feet

Our legal description was written out in long hand back in the 1870's. It describes the boundary in rods and chains and includes the statement,"following the fence" numerous times. That old fence was used to define our boundary, so that description is extremely long with a lot of statements saying something like following the fence for 2 rods at an angle of X degrees and then 4 rods at Y degrees and so on. The description of the north boundary alone goes on for several pages. Our legal right of way is described as starting at the ferry crossing on Military road and going to the big oak tree so many degrees and chains away on the hill. I have no idea what big tree they are referring to and neither the ferry nor Military Road now exist. Perhaps the large oak is also no more. We have accessed off a paved road and through a gravel pit, since we purchased 30+ years ago, and that was the access for the prior owner, but I have a hunch the actual legal description is from the other end of the ranch.

 

[Katpau]

It would seem that a rod was a little over 5 meters, a 2 pole chain just over 10 meters and a chain a tiny fraction over 20 meters. So back in the 1870's they were using measurements more easily converted to meters than feet or yards.

 

[callmefence]

80 rods = a roll of barbwire=1320feet =a quarter mile.

 

[Katpau]

Fence, how often do you put in a cross-brace when the fence runs in a straight line?

 

[snoopdog]

80 rods = a roll of barbwire=1320feet =a quarter mile.

Equals 1 side of a square 40 acre field.

 

[hillbilly beef man]

If the terrain allowes it at all get you a road built around the perimeter and build your fence on the edge of the road. This will make it easier on the builder to put in, but more importantly it will be easier on you to maintain it.

 

[greybeard]

Our legal description was written out in long hand back in the 1870's. It describes the boundary in rods and chains and includes the statement,"following the fence" numerous times

Mine, when my father originally bought this property in the 60s, said follow the river and it was still in Spanish varas. I sectioned off each of the three 41.4 acres that made up the whole property using that old survey.
A new survey done a year later showed it to right on the money.

1vr= 2.7777887139108 feet (ft)
1 vr[Texas]	1vr= 33.333464566929 inches (in)

 

[Katpau]

If the terrain allowes it at all get you a road built around the perimeter and build your fence on the edge of the road. This will make it easier on the builder to put in, but more importantly it will be easier on you to maintain it.

Terrain will not allow that unfortunately. There will need to be switchbacks in many locations, so I'm afraid the road might cost more than the fence. I have a guy coming to look next Saturday, so I'll know more at that time. The fence-line changes in elevation from about 700 to 1700 feet. In some places the slope is extremely steep, but that is usually for only a short distance where the fence drops over a cliff to get to a lower bench. The eastern 1/2 mile is the worse. The fence leaves the ridge and drops along a steep side-hill forest heading for the valley. Since the fence-line is what describes our property line, I would like it in the same place, but that will be a challenge. Much of the line is in the woods with some massive trees. The wire from the old fence is sometimes embedded 6 inches or more into oaks, which gives an idea of how long ago it was put up. Where it goes through confer forests it can sometimes be hard to follow. Maybe I have bitten off more than I can chew.