# Replacing fencing



## EightAndAce (Mar 9, 2017)

I've been thinking of replacing the fencing around my property now the weather is warming up and I have saved up. 
I would like the pros and cons of each fence type and typically how expensive they are. What would you recommend are your favourite fence types and why? What wouldn't you recommend for horses and why?
I also keep sheep(adults no lambs) so the fencing has to be sheep proof, they are quite crafty for animals that look like fluffy clouds on legs.
thanks.


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## Kay Armstrong (Jun 28, 2015)

I have two types on my property. The more expensive type is vinyl flexible fencing from a company called Cenflex. Love this for young horses but it's attached to wood posts that the horses love to chew on.

The second type we are installing this summer would be t-posts with sleeves over the top and braided electric rope, for the more seasoned horses who I don't have to worry about getting caught up in the fence.


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## carp614 (May 24, 2016)

I've been told if you are going to keep sheep, then wire mesh is a must. 

3 board or 4 board fencing is pretty to look at, but an absolute pain to maintain. It's fragile and expensive compared to other options. 

Here is a video showing the type of fencing I think would work well based on what you described:






You'll have to look into the details to see how much such a fence would cost.


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## secuono (Jul 6, 2011)

I have standard 4ft woven field fencing for both my sheep, horses & dogs.

I don't care about how pretty or ugly it is, I'm not in the suburbs. I need it to be strong, keep everything in and not be a pain to maintain.


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## tim62988 (Aug 30, 2012)

will sheep stay in with high tensile electric fence?

if so put 2 strands low for those ******s and one strand a bit higher 

our horses stay in with 2 strands of high tensile (doesn't have to be tightened down even) some of it is on T-posts some of it is stapled to trees (with tube insulators) some of it is on pointed wooden posts pounded into the ground and stapled on with tube insulators. 

my mare will chew the wooden boards in the paddock but never gone after the actual fence posts.

as far as interior wires we just use braided poly wire on movable fiberglass posts and they generally respect those, wife's mare will get a bit worked up if i take mine out so she'll go through the poly wire but still stays in the hard wire


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## gunslinger (Sep 17, 2011)

I have woven wire, similar to Carp614....I put wooden post about every 50 feet, set them two feet deep and added a bag of concrete.....metal t posts every 10 feet.

I figure, my cost, doing all the labor myself, at $6 a foot, or $60 a ten foot section.

I think added a hot wire along the top, and another one about a foot off the ground....

Pro's, keeps almost all dogs, kids, ect, out......don't have anything chasing the livestock....

No cons that I can think of, except the extra weed eater cord.....


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## Cynical25 (Mar 7, 2013)

My perimeter fence is primarily 4 ft wire mesh livestock fence on t-posts set 10ft apart, pipe corner braces, and a single strand of electric wire near the top on 5" extended insulators to prevent the horses from reaching over. 2 strands of electric wire on t-posts set 10ft apart divide the pasture for rotation. Solar powered fence charger does the job affordably.


I have safety caps on the t-posts dividing pastures and on the spots visiting friends tend to reach over to pet the horses, but didn't bother using them everywhere.


Watch for coupons from Tractor Supply, Menards, McCoys, Home Depot, etc. Ask about bulk pricing even if it's not advertised. Same with delivery - some stores will deliver free or inexpensively if you reach a certain $ amount.


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

We bought 24 acres of raw land that was entirely perimeter fenced with 4", four feet high, woven wire. That fence has been there "Since MobyDick Was A Minnow to hold beef cattle. The only thing capable of taking that fence out is when lightening hits a big tree and lays it across the fence. Even then, only the section the tree fell on will buckle if it was installed correctly.

I cross-fenced with the same woven wire ---- I am also one of those folks who doesn't need pretty; I need strong with little maintenance .

We had to fence off the grove of trees below the barn because I keep finding barbed wire just under the ground surface. We used three strands of barbless wire for that as the horse who has the yard has no desire to push tnru the fence into nothing but thorny brambles and trees.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

"will sheep stay in with high tensile electric fence?"

No. Sheep by definition are non-conductive . Unless you get them on the nose electric won't do the job (the wool insulates the shock, they can lean right on it). Plus you MUST have a physical barrier with sheep (and goats) not a "mental" one which is what electric is, they WILL get out. Electric mesh as TEMPORARY fencing is fine with sheep though you must train them to it and make sure it's put up properly and hot. I would never put a horse in that fencing.

The only permanent fencing I'd recommend for sheep is woven wire. I would also never put a horse in that fencing... They do make "safe" versions but not going to test it, I don't want metal anywhere near my horses, seen far too many injuries.

Our sheep are not in with the horses but they are adjacent in a section. We simply have the 2 strand tape electric for the horses and the woven wire for the sheep and where they are adjacent the fencing is attached to opposite sides of the same post. That set up would be decent if they are in together as well, to have the wire as the physical barrier and the electric offset to keep the horses away. Or just get one of the "safe" wires and put horses + sheep in, but I would REALLY recommend something to keep the horses away from it.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

Similar to our sheep fencing, except minus all the wood (unsure of the point of that) and doesn't have that reinforcement piece (diagonal piece...is that a gate?). 4 feet high keeps our Shetlands in...they are small but they jump . And it looks nice and neat.

Basically put in posts hammer in staples to attach fencing to posts....and you're done.

You could probably get away with bigger holes depending on your sheep. We have 3 lb lambs and big horns so the smaller the better. At the same time I wouldn't want anything bigger with horses, so would probably stick with something similar.

Fencing is just one reason to have them separate imo, but I know a lot of people keep animals together.


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

@Yogiwick, the diagonal piece is a brace wire to keep the corner posts straight and the point of the board along the top is to keep the animals from pushing down the woven wire if they lean over it. It's pretty common around here to see that type of fencing for horses.


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## bellagris (Dec 6, 2010)

I am currently replacing my fencing as it was mainly barbed wire when we bought out farm. I am doing 3 rungs of steel pipe 3" on the top and bottom rung and 2 1/2" in the middle with steel posts. I have a pen in electric and one with wood...electric is okay if it is all hooked up properly and you have enough sun (if you run solar), but the wood is a pain if you have chewers and I am quickly replacing those. The main thing with steel is if they kick the pipe it can hurt -but I guess every fence type has its pitfalls and I have found you only have to redo steel once and the maintenance is minimal, no cuts from the fence and it does look nice.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

JCnGrace said:


> @Yogiwick, the diagonal piece is a brace wire to keep the corner posts straight and the point of the board along the top is to keep the animals from pushing down the woven wire if they lean over it. It's pretty common around here to see that type of fencing for horses.


But I thought that the higher end of the diagonal was supposed to go in the corner for reinforcement?

And I'd rather keep them off the wire then encourage them to lean! Needless to say that fencing isn't used much around here lol. I don't think I've ever seen wood reinforcement like that.


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

Yogiwick said:


> But I thought that the higher end of the diagonal was supposed to go in the corner for reinforcement?
> 
> And I'd rather keep them off the wire then encourage them to lean! Needless to say that fencing isn't used much around here lol. I don't think I've ever seen wood reinforcement like that.


The higher end of our wires go the same direction. It keeps the corner post and first line post from pulling apart and potentially having your brace post fall out. Wasn't taking a picture of our fence at the time but here are some where you can see the corner brace system. Looks to be the same as that picture.


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

Well, in the first picture you have to look beyond Cloud's tushy and cant really see the wore unless you click on the picture to enlarge it. LOL It's the same way as the second picture though.


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## avjudge (Feb 1, 2011)

Yogiwick said:


> But I thought that the higher end of the diagonal was supposed to go in the corner for reinforcement?


When you're making a brace you have to figure 2 things: how the rectangle you want to keep rectangular _wants_ to deform - which diagonal "wants" to get longer, which shorter; and whether your brace works in compression (a straight board/rail that can't be made to be shorter) or tension (wire, which ties things together and can't be stretched).

In the case of the corner post, the top wants to lean in. The wooden horizontal braces (the poles near the top of the fence) will stay parallel to the ground, which means the angle between top of post and braces will become obtuse, and the angle between the braces and top of 2nd posts will become acute. As the rectangle contorts out of square, the diagonals from the top of the corner post to the bottoms of the 2nd posts on each side will become shorter, the other diagonals - from the bottom of corner post to tops of 2nd posts - will become longer.

(It might help here to make a quick-and-dirty sketch of a leaned-over corner post!)

To keep this from happening, you need to fix the length of the diagonal. If you're doing it with a pole, in compression, you place it to keep the diagonal that wants to get shorter from doing so; one will go from the top of the corner post to the bottom of each 2nd post. That's probably what you're envisioning. It's often done with fences, and it's the one that's usually used on a door (going from bottom near hinge to top at the swinging side of door). 

But if you're using a wire, which works by keeping the diagonal that wants to get longer from doing so, you'll brace in the opposite direction. For the fence, that's as shown in the picture, bottom of corner to top of 2nd posts. 

Does that help, or, as usual, did I just make something straightforward seem all too complicated? I do have a talent for that.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

You were both very helpful and the pics were great (including the horse eye candy lol). Thanks!

We do have a brace on the sheep's gate but their pen is pretty small and the outdoor pasture is pretty big so no worries there. As I said the horses are in electric tape so the fence is pretty much left alone (and is pretty much non existent as a physical barrier lol).

Always good to learn stuff! My handyman skills seem to be the one thing that refuses to be developed so I can use all the help I can get!


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## avjudge (Feb 1, 2011)

I should mention that all these post-driving and -bracing concerns is why I use trees whenever possible as the "posts" for my electric fences. In northern & central NH there's usually no lack  - most "fields" are surrounded by woods - or even are sometimes mostly or all wooded. (My "winter pasture" was completely wooded.) The fences aren't high-tensile or anything, but a run that's pulled nice & taut can still put a good bit of strain on a corner.

Not practical for woven wire fences or board fences, of course. Just makes life easy for me.


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