Best all around fencing???

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We have appproximately 5 acres to fence this spring. The plan is to put a few horses and a steer in the pasture. What do you recommend for an all purpose fence? High tensile is our first thought... what does everyone else use?

Thanks!

--Mary

-- Mary (zoots25@hotmail.com), November 06, 2001

Answers

You got it .I use the metal t poles and plastic clips , so much easier than wooden poles.

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), November 06, 2001.

I use woven wire (330 ft roll), topped with an electric fence.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), November 06, 2001.

I'm with you. High tensile uses less fence post and is pretty easy to put up. Just make sure you have great corners and end post! We rotate our livestock using hot tape. Can't imagine doing it with another type of fencing. Kencove fencing catalog is a great resource. Happy fencing!! Suzanne

-- Suzanne (weir@frontiernet.net), November 06, 2001.

We have about 3 acres fenced for horses. We started with the metal posts and that yellow woven tape. The tape lasted all of two months. Each storm we had tore it in several places. We gave up on that and went to cedar post and electric barbless wire. I have heard that horses can get injured on the metal posts, so our next project will be to buy caps for the remaining ones we do have.

-- Lisa in WI (lehman16NOSPAM@vbe.com), November 06, 2001.

Mary, if I were starting from scratch I would use woven wire of a decent quality with a strand of electic to keep them from leaning on it. Over the years we have done a lot of fencing and the fencing that really lasts would be that. Even the hi-tensile will come down if a deer on the run hits it hard. I guess in reality it would depend upon where you are. We are very rural with lots of deer and lots of coyote.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), November 07, 2001.


We find that eletric fencing works the best for all animals!

-- (providencefarms2001@yahoo.com), November 07, 2001.

I have three strands of heavy gauge barbless wire. It works well for the horses but they do lean on it. I had a warmblood gelding (they're not called dumbloods for nothing) misjudge the fence and hit it full tilt. We had to cut him out of the bottom two strands of fence--all it did was scrap the hair off the front of his cannons. I'd like to get a yearling beef or two in the spring and I will run electric if we do-I don't think that cattle would respect a nonbarbed or nonelectric fence.

I'm not sure about high tensile fencing--it just looks like a giant cheese slicer to me (grin) If a horse hit that thin wire at a run I'm afraid they'd be sliced badly. Has anyone had a horse, or cow, hit high tensile fencing at a good clip?

Stacy in NY

-- Stacy (KincoraFarm@aol.com), November 07, 2001.


Thanks to all who responded.

The reference to high tensile being a cheese slicer left me with a horrible visual impression!! Hadn't thought of it that way before, but it certainly needs to be addressed. I'll check around to see if anyone has had a problem with it.

My main concern is that the fence be strong enough to keep a steer in, yet safe enough for a horse.

-- Mary (zoots25@hotmail.com), November 07, 2001.


Mary - I have heard of some very frightening accidents with horses and high tensile wire. It can and does act as a giant cheese slicer. I personally would not use it. I have wood posts with electric wire. Held the cows just fine. Horses have a healthy respect for hot wire, as do my goats.

-- Dianne (willow@config.com), November 07, 2001.

We use 4 strand hi tensil. It is supposed to be able to withstand 10,000 lbs of weight, and I tend to believe it. We electrify the bottom and third strands using a 4 volt solar fencer and blact plastic triangular insulators wired to galvanized steel posts (they, along with the high tensil wire, were free) via thin steel wire. Self tapping screws hold everything in place. Our year and a half old mustang, who we had just got at auction, hit the fence full tilt. No damage to horse, but she did break the insulator wires off a couple of the posts

-- kevin in NC (vantravlrs@aol.com), November 07, 2001.


My neighbor has metal poles and barbless wire. Twice now, I have helped her round up #1 a young heifer (I didn't see how she got out) and #2 a day old calf that went over the first wire and under the other two (I saw her do it, AFTER we put her back in).

I suggested to the neighbor that she use a piece of the barbless wire run vertically to the strands horizontals, between the posts, so the wires couldn't be separated and "stepped through"

-- MissJudi (jselig@clemson.edu), November 13, 2001.


Well, for best all around fence for the widest variety of livestock I'd go with 2" "no climb" or diamond mesh on decent wood posts. You can then either put a single strand of electric wire on the top, a strand of barbed wire, or a board. Even nitwitted horses can see no-climb unless they're in one of the typical equine blind panics when they fail to see four board wood fences...

Electric is good stuff but I have an abiding faith in Mr. Murphy who says in a driving thunderstorm a tree will fall on the fence and ground the entire damn thing out so that the whole fence is now innefective. A tree will take down normal metal mesh fence too but only in one spot.

={(Oak)-

-- Live Oak (live-oak@atlantic.net), November 13, 2001.


Live Oak, I'm not familiar with 2" no climb fence. (or maybe we call it something else??) Is it roll fencing? How cost effective would that be for fencing in 5 acres? Thanks -- Mary

-- Mary (zoots25@hotmail.com), November 13, 2001.

I'm surprised no one here mentioned Electro-braid fencing. All the benefits of high-tensile without injuring your horses. Extremely easy to put up and uses very few fence posts.

-- chuck in md (woah@mission4me.com), December 27, 2001.

Hi Mary,

I used high and low tensile electric fence. The key was to purchase the highest quality lo impedence charger that you could afford. I had about 200 miles of fence that varied from 4 strands (middle and top powered) and single strand at about 25 inches. This held the cattle just fine. In fact we used to herd and sort with a piece of twine...I guess it looked like wire. My perimeter fence was the 4 strand, and any heavy pressure fences like the bull pasture had 4 strand too. However, with a good hot charger, the bulls would just walk the fence when a cyclng cow was as close as on the other side of it (not standard practice, bot at times the deer would take out my single strand temporary cross fences. If you use electric, build a receiving pen about 50 by 50 for your new calf and 5 electric strands, or woven wire with a couple of electric strands on the inside. Periodicaly cross fence thepen with a single hot strand and in 4 or 5 days when the little guy respects the single wire, let him out and I guarantee that only a pack of wolves could get him to throw himself into the fence. For the horses, just put high visibility tape on the top wire until they know where it is. My context is intensively managed grazing beef worked on foot and occasionally with a dog. We rarely pushed them hard and never into a panic. A lightning storm hit the ground in one paddock and fried the fence but thankfully no cattle. The herd was a little white eyed,but they had not even broken through the single strand temporary that held them in the opposite corner. Cows that were chronic jumpers (believe me the average cow can step over a 25 inch fence but she doesn't know it unless you push her to do it) shipped. New born calves (all my calves dropped on lush spring pasture with moms and aunties and cousins attending) figured out the single strands after about a week. If the fencer went down for more than 2 days, some cows would start to take advantage...so keep a battery backup if your power is not real reliable.

Talking about this makes me miss it...retired 2 years ago.

Thanks.

Oscar

-- Oscar H. Will III (owill@mail.whittier.edu), January 02, 2002.



What about chainlink fence on wood posts? I was thinking of using the 2 X4 horse no climb fence but can get the chain link cheaper. Anyone see any problems with using the chain link on wood posts instead of the horse no climb fence?

-- Bill Lomando (blomando@yahoo.com), February 20, 2002.

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