Moving in the Right Direction

[Jeremy14]

Okay you guys, made some decisions since the last time I posted. Again, thanks to all of your replies as they really helped me.

While I am not scared of financing, I think that you guys have made it pretty obvious, at least to me, that you can't purchase both your land and your cattle and expect for your cattle to pay for your land. So, I was going to use about 25 acres and purchase a bull and 11 bred cows with calves.

So, I contacted a bank who suggested that I try FSA first. But, I hadn't farmed for a whole year in the past 5 years, so I didn't meet any of their criteria as a loan recepient. The agent recommended that I raise a few head for at least a year and then to call him back.

I think this is a great idea and can't wait. Come March, I plan to pasture two bred cows and two calves on about 4-5 acres.

The only question I have is about fencing. I've never purchased an entire fence before. If I were to have to fence an entire 5 acres (worst case senario only because I think the land I will use will already have 3/4's fenced), how much do you think it would run?

Also, is there a way to mark off roughly 5 acres without hiring a surveyor?

Thanks,
Jeremy

 

[Caustic Burno']

Yep Acre is 209 X 209 feet.

 

[Jake]

if your just going to run it for a year just up a 3 wire electric fence and be done with it. Cheap and will do jsut find for that amount of time.

 

[Anonymous]

You figure your dimensions and use CB numbers as a guide. Square, rectangular or many sided? All amounts to the same thing - just more corners but the area never changes.

Price of fence?

From a buck a foot to 1,000 bucks per foot - not being a smart @rse - the type of fence determines this - you do the work and it is cheaper - you want a no schitzen price? Ask someone within 5 miles of you that has a fence like the one you want to build - lots will guess at a price, but in the end it is nothing more than a guess.

Single wire on posts is cheapest - but will it hold cattle? It will hold mine, but not my neighbours. How much do you want to spend to prevent rodeos? It is worth more to some than to others

Your local farm store / hardware store / farmer can give you a better idea than any of us - local conditions also make a big difference.

You bring home any strange animals you had best have a SOLID pen for them to live in for at least a week. Keep the water in the pen at all times and they have to "catch themselves" at least once a day.

Good luck on this.

Bez'

 

[cypressfarms]

Jeremy,

I'm not too too far from Carencro. There's a guy who does fencing for cattle farmers in Kentwood, LA. He built some fence for me this year. It was $1.30 a foot. That included all materials and labor for a metal post 5 strand barb wire fence. Didn't include corner or brace posts. You can pm me if you want, and I'll give you his number.

It's much cheaper if you can build it yourself though. Do you know anyone who can help you out, or show you? If you can build it yourself, the price will be about half of the above number, not including the beer and er lemonade you'll have to buy anyone helping you.

Bez is 100% right. Don't bring new cows into a pasture that they can easily get out of. Many people do use electric fence, and that's great, but if you have a 1,500 lb. bull hit it running, he's not gonna even slow down.

You might want to look into the Equip program at your parish NRCS office. They have a lot of programs for new cattle farmers.

 

[C HOLLAND]

I agree on the good pen made with panels for bringing them home, A scared cow/calf can run right through 5 strands of barbed wire.

If you can get you about 12 panels and make a 24 x 48 pen, it will keep them for a week, just keep them fresh water and good hay. And dont forget to let them get use to you being their source of food and talk softly to them and it will help calm them down.

One thing to remember if you get the fence put in, the corner post is the strength of the fence, use 8" post or rail cross ties and I cement mine in, I ran 5 strands of B wire with top wire at 48" and 10" centers.

good luck to you

 

[Caustic Burno']

You had better not just depend on cattle panel for your pen.
Better include some cross ties 2 x 12's or drill stem is amazing what a spooked cow can go through or over.

 

[C HOLLAND]

Caustic, You are correct, I forgot to say I put an 8" post behind my panels every 12' I remember when I let mine out in the pasture a few weeks back, they kicked up their heels and ran 3/4 of the way across my pasture. I thought OH NO they are going to run through my fence wire, and these were very calm heifers too.

the only running they do now is when I go feed them some soy pellets every morning. I think I have spoiled them, but I have a way of catching them now to move them when I need to.

 

[TLCfromARK]

Jeremy, the 4 - 5 acres you're talking about, do you own it, does it belong to family, is someone just letting you use it?

If I didn't own the land I wouldn't put up a fence I couldn't take down fairly easy. To fence 5 acres you're talking in the neighbor hood of 2,500 linear feet, you can do the math on costs. You never know when someone else will change their mind about you using the place ( even family ).

Jake was right on about the three wire electric fence ( upper & lower wires hot, middle wire a ground, imo) keeping your cows in. Also it's easy to add on to if you need a little more room.

The panel corral ( with a few cross ties for support ) will be fine for starting with 2 bred pairs ( might not need to be as large as one poster said ) and would be easy to add on to if your herd increases or to move at a later date also.

Until you own the property I wouldn't do a lot of "permanent"
inprovements. Once you have your own place you build for the long term.

Just my thoughts, good luck.

;-)

 

[sidney411]

I actually just priced some fencing materials last night. With t-post 8 ft apart, 6 wire 2 pt. red brand will run about $1.50 per linear ft in materials, here.

 

[C HOLLAND]

Here is my numbers for 5 strand B-wire with t-post and 8" wood post

Gaucho brand 15 1/2 gauge wire @ $40.00 per 1320' roll = .03/ft
times 5 = .15/ft for wire

T-post @ $4.00 ea on 12' center 110 post per 1320' = .33/ft
if you do 8' center the cost will be .50/ft

37 each 8' wood post at $12.00 each for the total of 2500' = .18/ft I put 3 wood post at each corner and 1 every 100' (a 6" post for this 100' spacing will work fine and save you $3.00/post)

My total cost for above is .66/ft or .83/ft if you do 8' centers on t-post

maybe $50.00 for fence staples and cross brace wire and t-post driver.

 

[Arnold Ziffle]

If you're going to only fence in about 5 acres out of the 25 keep in mind that the most efficient layout, from the standpoint of fencing material cost, is a perfect square. If you can get your hands on some used creosoted utility poles and cut them into 8 to 9 foot lengths, IMO they make the best corner posts. My observation is that many of these newfangled "treated" posts just don't last very long if you have pretty wet ground conditions much of the year.