fencing

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D.R. Cattle

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I know I've brought this issue up before but I want to check one more time. I just gained a 530 acre lease and I'm looking for a seriously economical but usefull method for fencing. I'm seriously considering the electric route. The lease is guaranteed for five years, no gaurantees after that. The landowner is happy to accept the fence as payment for the five years. I was thinking of setting posts every 100' with poly battens in between, and using three(or four if necessary) wires. My cattle are pretty docile, and my bulls are OK if the fence is electrified. Any suggestions on construction, methods or materials?
 
I would rather have a good barbed wire fence around the perimter, or even better, a net wire fence with 2 strands of barbed wire on top. I would use 6 1/2' T-posts, put 2 3/8" steel posts every 100', and build steel corners for streching.

If the owner would accept a new fence as payment on a 5 year lease, I would think he would want a nice permanent fence.

If you paid $7.00 acre for 530 acres = $3,710.00 x 5 years = $18,550.
You could probably build a nice 5 strand barbed wire fence around the whole place for $19,000, not including labor. That seems like a lot of work! :shock:
 
For perimeter we sue either feild fence with two strands of barb on top or 5 strand barbed along open areas or roads. Single strand 12 1/2 gauge heightensile through woods.

dun
 
I have no intentions of spending 19K. I could do barbed wire for 4 to 5K, or electric for 2-3K. He doesn't care if it's permanent. He cares about saving 15,000 per year on his tax bill. I want cheap but no loose cows. We usually talk the landowners into doing the fencing (since they will own it), but then we pay anywhere from $2-$6 per acre annually to lease. I need to save every penny for stocking!
 
Even at $4.00 an acre your still spending almost $11,000 for the five years of the lease. If you can build a GOOD perimeter fence for less than $11,000 then go that way. Most times good and cheap do not work!
 
How many linear feet of fencing are you talking about? Dont forget to add in cost of gates and braces / corners! 530acres is a lot of area, dont see how you could even put barbed wire / t-posts down for $4-5K.
 
Should be around 19500 linear feet because it has more than 4 sides. My latest line of thinking is 4 strands of HIGH TENSION, with the bottom wire being a ground and the other three hot. They say the beauty of high tension is not needing as many posts. Some schematics show posts every 100' with battens in between at every 25', but the battens I've priced are almost as much as the post. The cost is way up from my original estimate. How does the four wire electrified high tension sound?
 
Still don't like it for perimeter fencing. But if you go that way, don't forget to add the cost of the signs indicating that it's hot

dun
 
sounds like you'd be better off trying to find some fenced land for $4/acre if possible...that's "only" $2K a yr, but it's gonna be hard to fence in the 530 acres for less than $6-7 grand! At least with the already fenced land, you should'nt have to pay the next yrs lease until after you sell some cows, then hopefully you'd have some $ to pay for it with.
You might want to ask landowner if he is willing to help out in any way, especially since he's saving all that money in taxes! Having my cows are saving me around $9k a yr on my taxes, being zoned agricultural vs. residential.
 
hmmm...just pulled out my J & I catalog....19,500 ' / 10' spacing posts=

1,950 t-posts @ $1.50/ea= $2,925

19,500' / 1320' (roll of barb wire)= 14.7 rolls per strand

15 rolls X $25/ roll= $375 / per strand X 4 strands= $1,500

$2925 + 1500 = $4,500 ......throw in another $1000 for gates / braces....

probable less than $6k if you do all the work yourself!

You're saving about $4k over leasing the land, but when its all done, you can take the posts with you and reuse them / sell them .
 
I've never used T-Posts before, only wooden posts with tractor mounted auger. Are they pretty sturdy for a line post? How far down do you drive them and what do you use to drive? Sledgehammer? Thin wooden posts are $2.84 but maybe discounted for volume. Still, the T-Post sounds good at $1.95 if it is feasible.
 
T-posts beat wood posts every day of the week and twice on Sunday. They don't rot and they don't burn. You can pick up a post driver about anywhere. It's a pipe that's open on one end and has handles on the sides. You just drive them into the ground. When they first came out I kept telling my dad those handles didn't fit my hands, but they were better than the handles on a post hole digger. If you're in rocky country you can order them without any fins. The fastest way in rocks is to use a jackhammer drill to make holes and drop them in. Fortunately we're not that rocky in most areas.

Craig-TX
 
Yes, t-posts are very sturdy, and they come with 5 clips to hold the wire on with. Buy the driver Craig mentioned, it is a life saver (and finger/hand) saver..much faster also. The posts are $ 1.69 when purchased in 200+ lots, but I bet you could find someone to drop it to $1.50 if you buy 2000 of them. You drive them in past the welded on spade , about a foot-foot and a half deep. Been around for yrs and they even have some plastic clips you can put on which holds the electric wire off of the steel posts.
 
eric":2b4pdkm3 said:
hmmm...just pulled out my J & I catalog....19,500 ' / 10' spacing posts=

1,950 t-posts @ $1.50/ea= $2,925

19,500' / 1320' (roll of barb wire)= 14.7 rolls per strand

15 rolls X $25/ roll= $375 / per strand X 4 strands= $1,500

$2925 + 1500 = $4,500 ......throw in another $1000 for gates / braces....

probable less than $6k if you do all the work yourself!

You're saving about $4k over leasing the land, but when its all done, you can take the posts with you and reuse them / sell them .

I don't think you'll be able to put in that much fence for $5,500. I just put up about 900' of 5 strand barbless wire, 6' T-posts 10' apart, and it ran me about .75 ft in materials. The wire and posts were relatively cheap, but what upped the cost was the corners and H posts I put in for streching. I used all steel for these. You could probably get by cheaper by using big cedar posts or something instead of steel.
 
:D I think you could cut cost by using High Tinsel wire with a high voltage intergizer. It is sold in 4000 ft rolls and is stronger than barb wire. You could use a bracing system called Push-A-Post that is easier to install and uninstall. It is strong and reusable.
 
D.R. Cattle":2j7s74tb said:
what do you use to drive?

we use a front-end loader to push them in the ground. the person holding the post usually has a stick or board about the height of what the post will be after being pushed in and they hold this along with the post while the person on the tractor SLOWLY & CAREFULLY lowers the bucket to push it in the ground. the person holding the post will signal when to stop (when the post is equal in height to the marking stick). quick & easy.......takes no time & hardly any labor (just holding the post or working the levers in the tractor) to do a whole fenceline.
 
TX funny you should say that, I was just thinking I could use the bucket on a bobcat to do it faster than driving by hand. Done deal. Thanks for the help guys.
 

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