Fencing Options for mutpiple types of livestock

[hilly11]

Hi All,
I have a fencing question. We are planning on fencing in a small area (about 1/2 acre) for hogs. (Background story: we are newlyweds and bought a 5 acre plot with an old farmhouse and barn, but no existing fence, we have been spending much of our time renovating the house, and are planning on fencing in a farmlot parcel by parcel, not all at once, due to finances) OK, so we want to fence it in for hogs, but in the future we may want to put a cow or horse in there, so I don't want the type of fence we choose to prohibit us from have cows or horses in there.

So, considering the types of fences, board seems too expensive, hotwire seems no good for pigs. It seems that panel fencing may be best, whether hog, cattle, horse, or there was something called combo? here is a link for the combo at TSC. http://www.tractorsupply.com/-361034199 ... ing_PRODZ1

I guess my question is, do you have any better suggestions other than paneling for fence or do you agree that that's the best choice? And also, do you have any suggestions of where I should look to buy panel fencing other than TSC and Rural King?

 

[Scroote]

Welcome to the world of losing money! It is fun sometimes and there is a lot of company here too.

Here ya go:

5 inch posts for corners and build H braces

powerflex, fiberglass, or good ol' fashioned T-posts every 10-16 feet

4 foot woven wire with eventually a hotwire on top for cows

This will contain bovine, ovine, and porcine friends. Even some emus that some cowboys here are banking their retirement on!

Let texasbred know I was being helpful please, don't want him mad at me anymore.

 

[backhoeboogie]

If your fence will hold water, it will also hold goats.

 

[backhoeboogie]

If you are going to use panels, the 4 inch grid wire panels work fine for hogs. I'd buy the 5 foot tall version.

The ones called "utility panels" are 16 feet long.

The same ones in 20 foot lengths are called sheep panel and are a better value.

Pigs or shoats (and hogs) get their heads through the holes in the cattle panels and waller them out or break the welds. They don't work. The 4 inch grid variety will work - even on feral hogs I have trapped.

 

[jerry27150]

electric will hold anything but goats sheep. for them you would need 1 strand barb real close to ground, woven wire 2 inches above, then another strand of barb 6 inches on top of woven. for hogs no matter what kind of fence you have you will still need a strand of electric inside so they won't dig under. hogs that are trained to electric will stay anywhere with one strand of it

 

[gonzo]

Where you at hilly. pigs are escape artists . I raise a couple feeder hogs every year . I KEEPM on a concrete floor 12 x16 shed they have a 20 x 16 out door area 3hog panels and a gate. The area they have is enough for hogs . I dug a 8 inch trench buryd a stran of barb wire and the bottom of the pannels unless you ring there noses they'll tunnel under fence if you don't bury some. If you decide to get a cow or a horse later you can use t-posts & barb wire.

 

[1wlimo]

5 inch posts for corners and build H braces

powerflex, fiberglass, or good ol' fashioned T-posts every 10-16 feet

4 foot woven wire with eventually a hotwire on top for cows

This would work well, I would have a hotwire around the inside of the fence about 12 inches off the ground to stop the hogs digging out or eating the fence.

Or you could just use a single hot wire these work really will for hogs,

Or the sheep/poultry electric nets work well too. They form a visible barrier as well as electric and are good for every thing. They also have the added benefit that they are easy for you too move. Then you can have the hogs dig up different areas or your garden, and as soon as you build a fence you will realize it is in the wrong place for some reason.

 

[dun]

For horses the best wire fence I've seen is the V Mesh type that they can;t walk down. Works with goats also if you run a hot waire about 18 inches off the ground a foot inside of it.

 

[Farmerjon]

Electric will keep all of the animals you listed in. BUT, you can't go buy a cheap fence charger. You have to spend at least $250-300 bucks for a good one. At least a 12-13 joule charger. This will teach respect and keep them where you put them. I know that sounds expensive, but peace of mind is worth something and one car hitting your loose critter will cost 100 times that amount.

 

[dun]

Electric will keep all of the animals you listed in. BUT, you can't go buy a cheap fence charger. You have to spend at least $250-300 bucks for a good one. At least a 12-13 joule charger. This will teach respect and keep them where you put them. I know that sounds expensive, but peace of mind is worth something and one car hitting your loose critter will cost 100 times that amount.

I agree that electric will work with all of them, just takes a different set up for each type. Back in the 60s a hog farmer friend of mine used a single strand of hot to keep his sows in, around here we use 5 strand hot/cold/hot/etc for goats, the cows are behind a single strand 28-32 inches high, in the 50s we used 3 strand hot for horses.

 

[Scroote]

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[hilly11]

thanks to everyone for the valuable input. i live in central indiana by the way.

 

[spinandslide]

The vmesh dun posted is the best fence, Ive found, for horses..but its dreadfully expensive..we used Red Brand no climb for all our pens, with a pipe toprail, welded pipe braces and pipe posts (pipe was cheap when we did all this)..the no climb has been gradually torn apart by the $%&#$ horses..in hindsight, I would have run electric on the top and bottom to keep them "off" of it.

Panels are OK, provided they have some electric to keep the animals off of them..exercise caution with the type of panels with the horses..some of panels' holes are big enough for a horse to catch his hoof in..then you've got a problem.