# Cheapest perimeter fencing?



## happydog (May 7, 2008)

Finally !!! (been looking for 2 years) we just bought 17 acres and I'm feeling really overwhelmed. We were only looking for 5 acres but this just fell in our lap so we snapped it up fast and now we're walking around in a daze. I don't know what to do first. There's an old barn in the middle of the property and about 3-5 acres of old horse pastures fenced with electric tape (but no charger.) I feel like perimeter fencing should be a priority. We'll be moving out there in the spring along with a half dozen or so guinea hogs, a milk cow and calf, possibly a pony or horse, and assorted poultry. 

Dh says fencing the whole thing will cost $10,000 so he doesn't want to think about fencing yet. I want to make sure our animals and kids and dogs stay in, and neighbors dogs stay out. Is there any kind of fencing that would only cost a few grand? 

I have no idea how many feet that even is. We walked it today and man, it seems like an awful lot. It's got a ridge along one side and a lot of it is wooded but not densely, at least not this time of year. Seems like this is the best time to put up fencing, with all the leaves off. We saw a deer stand just outside our property line, which made me hot all over again to put up fencing.

Or should I forget perimeter fencing and just adjust the electric fence from horse size to cow and pig size and keep them out of the woods? I'd like to let everyone be able to graze in the woods and pastures, partly because there's a stream in the woods so I wouldn't have to carry water and partly to cut down on feed costs and shoveling manure. (I'm seriously inspired by Walter and Agmantoo.)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I apologize in advance for all the newbie questions I'm fixing to start asking here.

Thanks much!

happydog


----------



## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Electric is the cheapest and easiest.
Price will vary according to where you are and the lay of the land


----------



## fantasymaker (Aug 28, 2005)

The cheepest fence is the one that will do the job ! Remeber you may add more livestock later and a lot of times what the fence keeps out is as important as what it keeps in.
If you can only do a limited area start in a corner and work outward with GOOD fence. Some Logically seperated areas might be good places to start. Say from one corner up one side of the drive across to the boundry and back to that starting corner.


----------



## norcalfarm (Feb 11, 2009)

I would do as fantasymaker said. I did my property in the cheapest thing possible (electric) and now I'm having to go back and redo all of it with woven wire fence a little at a time. It would have cost me much less and been far easier if I had just done it with good fencing in the first place. 

I have found electric does not work well in heavily wooded or brushy areas and requires a huge amount of upkeep when doing large areas. Nor does it work well in rough terrain.


----------



## muzzelloader (Feb 20, 2006)

I second that the best is the cheepest. That means that good fence will last you for years without a lot of repair work every time you turn around.Start with encloseing where you will have your barn lot. Next a pasture area. Lay out a plan on paper as to what you want the whole area to look like. You can clear out where the whole fence will be now. That way when you do finally get the fence started you will have a clear work area. As you will have livestock you will end up needing more than one pasture or enclosure. Do these one at a time adding to them as needed. As any country place is allways a work in progress you will find out that eventialy you will have it all enclosed. Oh yes allmost forgot, fence in the garden area otherwise the critters will help out way more than you want. Do this earley on.


----------



## johnghagen (Feb 3, 2004)

You will have to keep manure out of creek to avoid trouble


----------



## wwubben (Oct 13, 2004)

High tensile electric fence is real popular around here.No brush or trees to contend with tho.


----------



## emulkahi1 (Apr 22, 2006)

I agree that livestock mucking about in a creek can do damage to the waterway, so maybe there is a way to still get that advantage (not carrying water) while mitigating the problems....might take some looking into. 

I wanted to say though, that we've gotten quite a few roles of good fencing from the metal scrapyard. We spent a couple hundred on what would have been much, much more if it was bought new. It does take some patience though, and regular stops just to wander about the yard, seeing what was brought in. The scrapyard has been a source for a great many things that would have been very pricey otherwise (flail (sp?) mower, various motors, a big sander, lots of fencing, a really cool trellis, etc....it's amazing what people throw away!). So you might check that out!! Good luck and congrats on your new property!!

Erin


----------



## highlands (Jul 18, 2004)

High tensile smooth wire is the cheapest and best in the long run. Harder to setup but worth it.

For quick fencing polywire on stepin posts works great. It will last for many years but it does not conduct as well and has no physical barrier effect.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
in the mountains of Vermont
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/blog/
http://HollyGraphicArt.com/
http://NoNAIS.org


----------



## plowjockey (Aug 18, 2008)

$10,000 for fence?

You can put up an electric 6 wire high tensile for 20 cents per foot, not inlcuding posts and insulators. Wood corner posts and metal "t" post for line posts, will save some money, especially on labor and buying used posts.

At least fence in the pasture. Personally, I would never consider cattle or hogs for a minute without a good permanant fence and strong gate.


----------



## haypoint (Oct 4, 2006)

Livestock in the creek is not a good way to go. Livestock in the woods isn't either. Many farm animals will strip the bark off trees killing them. 

Just to mark off what is mine, I'd start with, as you suggested, the whole perimeter. High tinsile electric is fairly easy to do and lasts a long time. I'd run two or three strands to start off with. That'll keep horses and some cows. Then add more strands as you can afford it.


----------



## rambler (Jan 20, 2004)

What you need is a good livestock _yard_ that is very well fenced. This is a small area to keep the critters locked in when it is muddy, or they are ill, or you need to work with them (shots, birthing, etc).

A pasture you can more lightly fence - as little as a single strand of electric wire, if you are there to watch the livestock & perhaps lock them in the yard over nite.

The cheaper fence can be built with making it better down the road - if you find good used T-posts for cheap, space them at 32 or 24 feet, so if you wish to make a more durable fence later you can add posts to make a beefier 16 or 12 foot spacing. Your single electric wire can remain as the top wire as you add woven wire to contain hogs or smaller critters much better. Things like that.

This doesn't address all of your concerns, some of which this country fella doesn't really comprehend to begin with, but anyhow it would be a cheaper start to getting wherever you want to end up.

Often woods don't make very good pasture unless you have a pretty thin stand of trees; some areas water & livestock don't meet with govt aproval; kids shouldn't need the whole property fenced in - if toddlers they only need a small backyard fenced for their safety, if bigger they need to learn respect for property lines - not fences.

17 acres is ~740,500 square feet, or a square about 865 feet on each side - or a total property line of 3460 feet, or a little less than 7 tenths of a mile. I'll assume your property is more rectangular, which will make the property lines longer - the more narrow the property, the longer the property lines.

--->Paul


----------



## NCLee (Aug 4, 2009)

While I understand the desire to fence in the whole place, I wouldn't do it until you've been there a while. You may find that you don't need it. If you have good neighbors, they'll respect your property lines. Just keep it cleared and/or well marked. Nothing fancy, just clear enough so that you can walk it from time to time. 

The amount of fencing for livestock depends on how many animals you plan to keep. I'd wait until you've lived there long enough to determine how many of what you'd like to have over the long haul. I've never kept horses, but from what I understand, their ideal fence requirement are different from some other types of livestock. 

Another thought, is that after you live there a while, you may want to change things around for better access, convenience, or whatever. For example, you may find that your garden will do better on the right side of the house, rather than the left. It's hard work to move fences to accomodate changes. 

When we had goats, we had about 2 acres of pasture fenced in for them, along with a feed lot, where they could be locked in, as needed. That size made it easy for us to keep an eye on them and give assistance, if needed. Several times we had to go to one of them for some reason. Had they been further away, especially in a wooded area far from the house, I doubt that we would have heard them and realized there was a problem. Probably wouldn't have known it until milking/feeding time. 

For the long haul, consider what you'll need in terms of maintenance, etc. when you get older. I can't do things today, that I could do 20 years ago. There's no way I could properly maintain 17 acres of fencing. Getting too old to dig post holes for replacement posts. In our area, a fence that doesn't have browsing animals (goats) eventually gets overtaken with honeysuckle, cedar trees, wild roses, and other things. Keeping those out takes effort. (Or Roundup). When going through wooded areas, trees fall and damage the fences. (Ice storms, trees killed by age, disease, lightning, etc.) When you get older, will you be able to maintain a perimeter fence, as well as the interior ones?

Check out the surrounding farm land to see what type of fencing they are using. Especially the ones that are approximately the size of your planned operation. Chances are that if it's fairly new, those folks have chosen what's best both in terms of cost and application. Take those folks a homemade apple pie to introduce yourself. As you make friends, you'll surely get a lot of good advice on how to proceed.

Hope some of these thoughts are helpful.

Lee


----------



## Cheryl in SD (Apr 22, 2005)

Start watching the paper. Here there is often fence to be removed for free or a small amount, you do the labor. We got ours (enough to do 3.5 acres) for labor. It included everything. Farm auctions are good places to find fence posts and sometimes fencing. Start picking up cattle panels. You can use & reuse them almost indefinitely.


----------



## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

I have a perimeter fence with thousands of feet of high tensile electric with four stands of wire. It was cheap but do I like it? NO. I am for installing a full perimeter fence as you mentioned. To reduce the cost I would do the following: Use pressure treated wood posts with properly installed braced corners. Install a single strand of high tensile barbed wire at the base. This wire needs to be about 6 inches off the ground. Then get the newer design high tensile woven wire suitable for a hog pasture. This will be a short height wire around 36 to 39 inches. Install this wire 6 inches up from the previous installed barbed wire. Above the high tensile woven wire, again 6 inches up each time, install two strands of either barbed or smooth high tensile single strands. Electrify the smooth high tensile. The lower strand of barb will be a sacrificial wire that may need replaced in 15 to 20 years. It is not justifiable to try to seal the perimeter fence to prevent small predator type animals from crawling under in mountainous areas. The high tensile woven wire will last a long time as it will be off the ground. Off the ground also lets you keep trash plants from growing into the fence. The top 2 stands of barb or high tensile will keep the livestock from "riding" the fence. Use all fasteners and fence materials that are class 3 galvanized. Buy posts that are stamped to verify the grade of preservative. It should cost no more than $1.75 to $2.25 per foot to hire this professionally built. If your property was a square 16 acres the perimeter footage would be roughly 3328 feet. Get some quotes and you will know what it will costs to have a quality fence. A good fence will let you sleep soundly. PS....never spray Roundup on any galvanize fence as the chemical is corrosive!


----------



## happydog (May 7, 2008)

Thanks so much for all the thoughtful replies. Agman your fence idea sounds awesome. And thanks to you and Rambler for figuring out the math for me. 

I was thinking woven wire with maybe smooth ht over it, like this:
www.premier1supplies.com/fencing.php?mode=detail&fence_id=23

Raising it up 6 inches and adding barbed wire at the bottom sounds like a great improvement. I don't care about small predators coming in so much as I want to keep my animals in and fence out 2 legged wanderers.

I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and pay someone to do it. Dh is an awfully good sport but he's 63 and has his hands full with prepping to start construction on the house. I've been waiting to bring up that solar pit greenhouse I need...

I do have good neighbors but they aren't going to feel real friendly if my pig or goat gets into their garden. And one neighbor sounds kind of iffy so I'd like to fence that section before I need to. I've read a lot of thread on here about neighbor problems and don't want to add another, lol.

How big an area around the barn should I fence for a livestock yard? What's the best choice of fencing for that? The barn is surrounded by several large fenced paddocks (pastures? what is the difference?) but they're only fenced with the electric tape, although it's good wide tape. 

I was going to get enough hog panels (cattle panels? again not sure of the difference, lol) so I can make a small pen for when I bring the animals home while I train them to the electric. Then I can turn them out into the pastures.

But I thought I could let the pigs run in the woods. Guinea hogs are a lot smaller than regular hogs. Not a great idea, huh? 

One more dumb question - can you attach ht wire to existing trees or do you have to buy posts? Since buying and setting the posts would be the most expensive part of the fencing, if I could attach the wire to trees maybe I could use 8 strands of smooth ht in some sections. Like the steep ridgeline where the animals won't be going. 

Thank you guys SO much!!


----------



## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

Just my opinion...Unless you are fencing hundreds of acres, I would never use barbed wire with horses, dogs or goats. I have seen and treated the injuries from barbed wire and it's REALLY BAD!


----------



## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

You will want to consider the fixed knot 12 gauge materials for the woven wire and grade 3 galvanized is a must IMO. Using the barbed wire at the base will reduce the cost as the height of the woven wire can be shorter since the wire will be installed a foot off the ground. With some shopping for materials and labor the price can be significantly less than I posted. Those prices I posted are local advertised prices for installed fences. I would put the posts on 12 ft centers. We do not nail fence to trees at my place. Cattle or hog panels from Tractor Supply are electro galvanized. Panels are available from independent farm suppliers that are hot dipped galvanized. The hot dipped cost a little more but last many times as long. Get hot dipped staples also. Build the fence once and build it right and it will last. Have a dozer to clear a path 60 ft wide around you place. You will never regret that expense. It doesn't cost all that much and the area can be planted in grass, the fence will remain in good condition and accessible. There will be not problem with trespassers as anyone cna tell where your property begins/ends.


----------



## Callieslamb (Feb 27, 2007)

We didn't want to do a complete perimeter fencing our first year here. We opted for 2 paddocks with woven wire fencing. That keeps the calves in. To give them more grazing, we added sections with elec fencing - nothing else. IN the beginning, I was afraid to leave the house for fear the calves would get out. But so far, they haven't. Feed and water is at the barn only - that keeps them a little closer anyway. We will continue to add permanent fencing as we can over the next few years. I really don't like too much woven wire though- it is hard to keep the grass out of it and looking neat. We will go for the high tensile fencing. I use cattle panels to simplify rotating the pastures. 

I really don't see why panels couldn't be used as animal tractors like a chicken tractor - just move it every day to a new set of posts. I thought perhaps adding a water trough in the middle of a 4-plex of panel-pastures might work also by rotating the panels around the water trough.


----------

