Pasture Fence

[Double R Brangus]

I've got about thirty acres to fence and cross fence and I run Brangus cattle and may have some horses. I wanted to do a four board horse fence but they dont seem to hold up too well with the cattle on the property I already have fenced. Any other suggestions for that look but something that will last? Has anyone tried PVC or steel and how does the cost compare. My neighbor has Watusi and longhorn bulls so I want to keep mine in and his out. He's running barbed wire on his side.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

A board fence may look pretty but it is essentially useless with cattle...just something else to scratch their head on and play with. If neighbor has Longhorns, well, he already knows about fences.

IMO, with any cattle, you need a nice tight barbwire fence that is anchored on corners with strong corner brace units. I would suggest the fence be at least 4.5' high and at least 5 barb wires. Five foot high and 6 wires would offer you even more peace of mind.

You could do a welded pipe & rod fence; however, be sure to have those "oil well royalty checks still coming"...lol.

Another thing, I do not recommend the "welded wire" mesh type fencing for cattle (may be ok for sheep or goats, not cattle).

 

[backhoeboogie]

I agree with Bill.

I never use wood. Wood burns. Nothing worse than planting posts and then some fool tosses out a cigarette and you have to start over. For me it is pipe or tube steel corners, braces, and gates. T-Post a minimum of 6 1/2 feet and I prefer 7. I don't know why anyone would ever buy 6 footers because if you drive them deep enough, you don't have enough left.

For your corner posts, 3 inch pipe (that is 3 3/8" for the O.D. pople) is good enough.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Watusi brangus cross, sounds like bucking stock in the making. A good 5 strand barbwire fence with a hot wire about a foot out on top on both sides.

 

[EAT BEEF]

Board fence is high maintence,it will work for the cows with a couple of hot wires but the horses will still chew it.PVC is for looks only imo but I've built miles of the junk for horse people.You might look at the coated hi-tensil if your looking for somthing that will stand out a little you can put juice to it because some of the coated wire has three graphit(I can't spell) stripes in it that carry the current.You can also look into wooven wire with a board on top but horses will eat your board.Wood posts kinda depends on your location (if you have lots of grass fires not the best idea if not they look nice and last longer than most people on this board will live.)Barb ,Hi-tensil,and wooven wire (not welded wire)are the best bets for price and security.

 

[jfranseen]

Double R Brangus,
We use about eight foot long wooden posts buried four feet deep. We get a lot of frost so to keep the post in we dig the hole a little big and pack sewer stone around them very tight. Then we use wire that they call horse cable (barbed wire minus the barbs). Fasten it to the posts with ceramic insulaters wired to the post. If you have electic fence you know what I mean. We also use spring at one end of the wire. String out the wire then tighten it with a fence stretcher. Use steel posts and plastic insulators to pick up the sag. Two wires one at 3.5 feet one at 2 feet. Then connect the wires so that current will flow to all wires. Lastly buy the strongest fencer you can afford. I wish I could remember the name of the ones we use. They can do 100 miles of continous fence and burn off weeds and grass. Touch the wire and you will want to cry. We have our bulls in a lot adjoining our cows. Some of which are open. The bulls don't even think about it. Also make sure your animals are familar with electric fence before they go to pasture.

 

[grannysoo]

At least 4 strands of barb wire and maybe a strand or two of hot wire to keep the horses from hurting themselves on it.

Boards rot/burn - pvc is garbage - steel is not affordable.

 

[Double R Brangus]

Allot of great information. Thanks for all the replies.

A Watusi Brangus cross would be interesting I bet. Not something I want to try though. :lol:

Steel would be nice but probably cost more than the property. I guess no matter what you do, the electric wire is the thing to do. The farm that I bought some heifers from had barbed wire and the electric wire and he was able to keep the bulls separated.

Thanks again!

 

[ArrowHBrand]

Watusi brangus cross, sounds like bucking stock in the making. A good 5 strand barbwire fence with a hot wire about a foot out on top on both sides.

Pretty close to what we have. We have T-posts with 3' of woven wire on the bottom, two strands of barbed on the top, and a hot wire about knee high and a hot wire about waist high. I like the woven wire because it keeps the tenacious calves in and helps with keeping coyotes out, IMO.

 

[SRBeef]

i like to use a used RR tie every fifth post with 7 ft steel tee posts in between. On my rolling ground the RR ties keep the posts in the valleys from pulling up and the posts on the ridge tops from leaning over. Run 5 barb wires with a hot wire 5" inside about cow nose height. The thing I have been using both to build and repair fences lately is the "gripple" system. Once you figure out how to use it I think it is the cat's meow. You can repair a section and tighten a line wire or brace easily and fast.

I throw a bag of concrete mix in the bottom of each RR tie hole. No water, just the sakrete. Then back fill the rest. Those posts aren't going anywhere.

 

[rancherbob]

SRBeef, how deep do you go on the RR ties?

 

[iowafarmer]

We go the same with a rr tie as with a regular wood post. I would go with 5 or 4 strand barb wire fence with one electric aout nose hieght of cows like SRbeef suggested. Pipe fence is much better than pvc. What is pvc going to do to stop a cow except be a deterentas there is something standing there. Pipe costs a lot more than barbed wire but is pretty much maintaince free and a good bared wire fence that is well maintained will last a long time. With pipe fence you have to weld it all togetehr and it takes quite a bit of time.

 

[SRBeef]

SRBeef, how deep do you go on the RR ties?

RR ties are usually about 8 ft long, putting 3 ft in the ground is about one std auger length without an extension (which are a pain) leaves about 5 ft out of the ground, same as a 7 ft T post driven 2 ft in the ground.

 

[alftn]

I use electric poles cut to 8 feet long, 3 feet in ground.. I get them free , that is the use one from the electric company..I have to cut them into the 8 feet length. I also set them by hand with a post hole digger, in the spring when the ground is still soft.. I set about 45 this spring. I also use 5 strands of Red brand barb wire... But if a cow wants out or Bull in they just walk through I think the only way to truly keep cattle in is a pipe fence 7 feet tall with electric wire also.. I do not have wild cattle but I have had more than one walk through a 5 strand fence...

 

[alftn]

I use 3 per corner and 2 in line in a H shape cross hatched (braced) and I do not waste time on quick crete, I put pea gravel around them. The gravel works better..

 

[leboeuf]

What is the difference with the various colored or # of barbs on the wire. Is one suited better for cattle or calves....etc

 

[mack]

Double R Brangus, if you would like a board fence then by all means build one. There are the obvious maint. issues with them which I'm sure you're aware of. However you can easily turn a 4 board fence into an effective physical AND psychological barrier by adding two strands of high tensile wire on offsets to the inside. You will get the aesthetics of the board fence and the effectiveness of an electric which can be basically "hidden" from the outside of the fence. There are hundreds of thousands of miles of black 4bd here in KY (especially Cent. KY/Lexington area). Many of these farms are home to Horses and/or cattle. If you're looking for added safety a couple of companies make a conductive coated high tensile that is black and blends in very well with board fence. Gallagher makes one called Equifence, I'm not sure what the other is called. I've also seen several horse/cattle farms fenced entirely in black 4/5 strand equifence that looks pretty sharp.

It all depends on what you're looking for...
1)board= mild/routine maintenace, will need electric, relatively safe, nice looks, costly
2)high tensile 4/5 strand all hot(depending on where you live)= economical, functional, very low maint., psychological barrier, must be installed properly w/o shortcuts unless you want to get on the list with the disgruntled anti-electrics
3)woven wire= expensive, effecive physical barrier, can be high maint, spend the money up front for a class III galvanized-hightensile-fixed knot for less maint, offset hotwire still helpful to prevent rubbing
4)barbed wire= safety factor, expensive, can be high maint, pain in the rear to repair period, good physical barrier unless you have cattle that have any reason whatsoever to walk thru it as stated in earlier posts (I've cut up a couple of nice young bulls with this junk)
5)coated hightensile electric(Equifence)= medium cost factor, very safe, treat it the same as electric hi tensile, looks good

I'm partial to electric... and have a little bit of all of the rest.
On a side note, please dont consider electrifying the barbed wire itself.

just mho, as there are many schools of thought on fencing. I know what works for me and my area.

 

[Double R Brangus]

Double R Brangus, if you would like a board fence then by all means build one. There are the obvious maint. issues with them which I'm sure you're aware of. However you can easily turn a 4 board fence into an effective physical AND psychological barrier by adding two strands of high tensile wire on offsets to the inside. You will get the aesthetics of the board fence and the effectiveness of an electric which can be basically "hidden" from the outside of the fence. There are hundreds of thousands of miles of black 4bd here in KY (especially Cent. KY/Lexington area). Many of these farms are home to Horses and/or cattle. If you're looking for added safety a couple of companies make a conductive coated high tensile that is black and blends in very well with board fence. Gallagher makes one called Equifence, I'm not sure what the other is called. I've also seen several horse/cattle farms fenced entirely in black 4/5 strand equifence that looks pretty sharp.

It all depends on what you're looking for...
1)board= mild/routine maintenace, will need electric, relatively safe, nice looks, costly
2)high tensile 4/5 strand all hot(depending on where you live)= economical, functional, very low maint., psychological barrier, must be installed properly w/o shortcuts unless you want to get on the list with the disgruntled anti-electrics
3)woven wire= expensive, effecive physical barrier, can be high maint, spend the money up front for a class III galvanized-hightensile-fixed knot for less maint, offset hotwire still helpful to prevent rubbing
4)barbed wire= safety factor, expensive, can be high maint, pain in the rear to repair period, good physical barrier unless you have cattle that have any reason whatsoever to walk thru it as stated in earlier posts (I've cut up a couple of nice young bulls with this junk)
5)coated hightensile electric(Equifence)= medium cost factor, very safe, treat it the same as electric hi tensile, looks good

I'm partial to electric... and have a little bit of all of the rest.
On a side note, please dont consider electrifying the barbed wire itself.

just mho, as there are many schools of thought on fencing. I know what works for me and my area.

Excellent post. I decided to fence off ten acres in the four board with two electric wires. I'm going to look at the Equifence as well. Sounds like that would be the ticket for what I'm looking for. May even do that on the balance as well depending on how it works and the cost.

Didnt want to use any barbed wire and I removed all the barbed wire from the property when I bought it. I have three boys and about five years ago someone elses boy ran into one down the road on a dirt bike and it almost killed him. Too many kids around here riding bikes and atvs.

I'll let you know how everything works out and post some pictures. Thanks again.

 

[TexasSimmentals]

Yep, No wood.....I would go with plain old fashion barbed wire......

 

[tup]

some good ole locust post and barbed wire. its all i know. round here, most horses are savvy about barbed wire. i say, buy a smart horse