fencing questions

[Anonymous]

I am buying 85 acres to run my registered brangus herd on. any tips. what to do, what not to do. electric, high tensile,barb wire.bull pens. holding pens. i have used just about every method there is but I am always looking for thr easiest with the least amount of upkeep. thanks

 

[Matt]

Electric is the best, your animals will be the least likly to get out, however, you will need to keep weeds under control, to prevent shorts.

 

[D.R. Cattle]

Look into high-tensile electric. The high tensile wire seems to hold up the best under pressure and it's cheaper to build than barbed or woven wire.

 

[Hawk]

I'm sort of old fashion, but I am a firm believer in five strands of tight barbed wire on the property line. Electric fence is fine, and I use it from time to time for cross fencing, but when it comes to keeping the cattle at home, and off the road, I am just more comfortable with a well constructed barbed wire fence. The only way I would utilize electric fencing on my perimeter is to run a hot wire along with the barbed wire fence. Just my opinion.

 

[D.R. Cattle]

I'm sort of old fashion, but I am a firm believer in five strands of tight barbed wire on the property line. Electric fence is fine, and I use it from time to time for cross fencing, but when it comes to keeping the cattle at home, and off the road, I am just more comfortable with a well constructed barbed wire fence. The only way I would utilize electric fencing on my perimeter is to run a hot wire along with the barbed wire fence. Just my opinion.

Barbed wire is a form of high tensile wire. The wire I spoke of in the above post is a wire which has a breaking strength much higher than conventional barbed wire. The difference is there just aren't any barbs. Take tensile wire and crank it tight, then throw some voltage into it, seems to be the best cattle fence around nowadays. I fenced off a small plot at the home place with it and I am well pleased. No more barbed wire or woven wire for me. It ended up being more cost effective because of post spacing. It was real esy to put up. I spaced the posts about 50 feet apart and put some wire stays down through all the hot wires. I made the bottom wire a ground and used it tap in ground rods every so often. Best darn fence I've ever had.

 

[TXBobcat]

I'm with Hawk on this one. As far as a perimeter fence, I prefer at least five, probably 6 or more strands of barbed wire. The only time I would use an electric fence is to seperate between pastures, or something like that. But I guess it all depends on how you build the electric fence too. The ones I am referring to are 1, 2, or maybe 3 strands of electified high tensile wire.

My neighbor put up a 9 strand barbed wire fence. Heck, my dog couldn't even get thru that one.

 

[D.R. Cattle]

I'd bet there aren't too many dogs that will go through my 5 strands of high tensile electric.

 

[dun]

There may be some liability issues that would need exploring if you use powered fencing on a perimeter. I prefer barbed or field fencing with a couple of sdtrands on top for perimeter fencing. Arround the calving lots we use field w/barbed. All other internal fencing is single strand powered.

dun

 

[J Baxter]

If your near the highway I would run a five strand barb wire with a single strand of hot wire about 30 in high on the inside of the barb wire.

 

[Anonymous]

Look into high-tensile electric. The high tensile wire seems to hold up the best under pressure and it's cheaper to build than barbed or woven wire.

What do you power with? Are the solar chargers powerful enough? Will they stay charged?

 

[D.R. Cattle]

There may be some liability issues that would need exploring if you use powered fencing on a perimeter.

Good point. My quest to find a better alternative to field fence ended up at high tensile. Most field fences I've ever seen including my own just have too much memory, so when they are brushed aginst or an animal put's their head over the top to graze the other side, the fence looks crappy and goes downhill from there. For barbed wire, I've had cows walk through 5 tight strands when they get excited (ie gathering and pushing to the pens or other pastures) and horny bulls pop it to go to the neighbors cows. The solution was to add more strands and space posts closer but the cost was getting out of control. I hear there is now a high tensile field fence that bears investigation?

 

[dun]

What do you power with? Are the solar chargers powerful enough? Will they stay charged?

Solar chargers connected to a deepcycle wet cell battery with a solar panel will keep working just fine. We use one solar but it only puts out about 5700 volts. Another is a straight battery type, puts out 6800 volts, but that's a matter of model as much as anything else. Once they become trained to it, you won't need much voltage.
But, there are some animals that just never become trained. They'll grit their teeth, close their eyes and just keep fighting it. Those are the kind that need to grow wheels, they'll never really respect any other type of fence either.

dun

 

[D.R. Cattle]

What do you power with? Are the solar chargers powerful enough? Will they stay charged?

I bought a solar unit from Tractor Supply. They work well and stay charged, but then I'm in what they call "The Sunshine State". Solar chargers are a lot more pricey than conventional. I'd go conventional if power supply is available. Dun has a good point...check with local laws before spending your capitol.

 

[Matt]

To bad you don't live in New York, my dad sells and builds high tensile fence. BE WARNED, iron and steel prices are through the roof right now. The dang Chinese have bought a ton of our ore and scrap iron. We're charging $70 dallars for a roll of wire and not making a heck of a lot on it. Hey, after things subside, you can buy matierials from us (you ship it).

 

[TheBullLady]

Boy, you're not kidding about the price of steel! We priced pipe braces a month or so ago and about died! Cedar posts are looking like a better option than T posts at this point!

 

[TexasCountryWoman]

For our perimeter fence we use six strings of good "bob wire" and cut our own cedar posts. We stick metal posts in between in some areas. This is an old ranch and each fence is built to last a long time. Cross fencing is four bob wires and not as fancy.

 

[C & C Land & Catt]

We use all types of fence and have found that the best (though not the cheapest) is 48" hog wire fence with 3 barbwires on top and one on bottom. We are currently taking down 15 mile electric fence and replacing it with this. Just make sure you are sitting down when you get the bill! It also seemed to cut down on the dog chasing cow problems we were having. Also there is virtualy no upkeep. Also no matter how high steel prices get do not use cedar posts! Lots more digging and they rot long before steel rusts.

 

[TXBobcat]

We use all types of fence and have found that the best (though not the cheapest) is 48" hog wire fence with 3 barbwires on top and one on bottom. We are currently taking down 15 mile electric fence and replacing it with this. Just make sure you are sitting down when you get the bill! It also seemed to cut down on the dog chasing cow problems we were having. Also there is virtualy no upkeep. Also no matter how high steel prices get do not use cedar posts! Lots more digging and they rot long before steel rusts.

I like hog wire on bottom also. Seems to keep the calves from slipping thru as much.

As far as steel vs. cedar (wood), I like steel also, but Dun claims that wood posts lasted longer in some parts of the country where he has lived. Has to do with the acidity of the soil I believe.

 

[hillbilly]

We have a two lane highway on one side of our property. I put a sevin strand barbed wire fence on that side. Stout, tight and not more than 8" gap between. 12' between posts & stays...
Other 3 sides are woven wire [32" to 36"] with a couple of strands of barb wire on top....not great, not tight, just standing.
We have only had three out.
All three were on the highway side.
I think woven wire is as good as it gets for cattle perimeter fencing.
I would not use electric on perimeter.
Hillbilly

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

At Running Arrow Farm we have about 1/2 mile frontage on US 83 (heavy traffic) and about 1/4 mile frontage on a "county" dirt road. Our other 2 sides of about 3/4 mile are next to neighbors who are running about 80 head of black X-breeds and ?? along with at least one bull.

Our fencing on the "neighbor's" side is a new T-post 7 barb wire fence in front of the old fence (didn't know who owned the old fence and didn't want to take it down). Our fence on the road frontages is new T-Post 7 barb wire. Our bulls are kept in internal pastures with their females for company. Additionally, we don't keep our bull(s) in pasture which is next to neighbor's who also have bull(s).

With all new perimeter fencing 5-1/2 foot high and all new internal fencing and alleyways, I don't worry very much about our bulls or cows getting out (or) another's getting into our place. Sleep well at night! :cboy: