# Pallet Fence, Yes or No?



## CowboyGirl

Today, while looking at different fencing ideas i came across a picture of a fence made from pallets. Seems like it would be a perfect fence for a garden or such. The pallets were held in place by wooden/t posts on the inside at the ends, so you could just slide them off and on. Has anyone else seen these? Anyhoo, they struck me as genius and i kinda felt stupid for not thinking of it. What I'm wondering though is would this type of fence be safe for livestock use, or more specifically a round corral for horses? i saw that someone said it might be easy for horses hooves to get caught or hung up in the boards. 

http://thehomesteadsurvival.com/building-wood-pallet-fence-project-disassembling-needed/


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## NorthernMama

This is a great idea for some livestock, but I would not use it for horses, cattle or sheep and it'd never keep a goat in. Pallets are typically not well built and depending on their use may be made of different types of wood. Some are very brittle. Lots are stapled, not nailed. 

All in all - nail, staples, sharp pieces of large and small wood "splinters" (everything from finger small to 3" at one end, 7" long and pointy) -- a good thing to keep away from animals that are curious, pushy and/or easily injured.


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## Saddlebag

Some of my pallets are well made with good wood. The problem with using pallets is the number of posts required and driving posts in is sweat work.


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## gssw5

I built a pallet fence originally to keep the animals out of my garden. Now I use the space for my mini, for a short time I also kept our 12 hand pony in there and it has worked great. I put one of bigger horses in over night once when I wanted to be able to check on him over night and did not want to walk all the way out back. So far none of them have tried to breach it.

I used posts on the corners and then used scrape wood to hold them together in between the posts. So far it has been up for over a year with no problems.


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## Corporal

It seems great until you see the sharp nails and edges and you start LOOKING for pallets. A friend found me some hardly used pallets almost 30 years ago to use to store hay on a cement floor in a building I used. I still have two of them. If you look for free pallets, which I'm assuming you have factored into your pallet fence plan, hence your enthusiasm, they WILL cost you. Businesses buy them for their own warehouse storage and they don't let go of them until they're pretty useless. I had a prettymuch used up pallet under my old, leaky water tank/baby chick brooder. It's now on top of my every day burn pile, the one I recover metal from after a burn.
I don't even like the idea of using them to fence a garden in bc your seedlings won't get enough light.
A lamb or goat would jump it or break it. I suppose, if you clipped your chicken's wings and put chicken wire on top you could temporarily house them in this, but I would use it only if I acquired unwanted hens that were destined for "freezer camp."
Put a horse inside this fencing and he will give you a Vet bill trying to jump it if he steps into it. It's an accident waiting to happen.
Spend your money on 8 ft. long, 8"diameter wooden posts, and attach 2 x 8's or 2 x 10's or 2 x 12's to them and make a proper horse fence.


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## NorthernMama

Saddlebag said:


> *Some* of my pallets are *well made* with *good wood*. The problem with using pallets is the number of posts required and driving posts in is sweat work.


My bolding.

And that is a big part of the potential danger - pallets are not consistent.


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## Wallaby

I have a pallet fence for my goat pen and for the outside edge of my horse's stall and, so far *knocks on wood* it has worked beautifully. The goats' pallet fence, smooth wood side facing in, is actually the only thing that keeps my younger goat in - it's too tall for him to jump easily and, since the smooth wood is facing in, he can't grab a foothold.
In terms of my 16h horse, it's less sturdy. But he respects it just fine and I haven't had any issues. I don't lock him in with it overnight or anything though. I did lock the older mare I used to have [14h] in with it every night, and she was fine.

In the 2 years it's been up, I haven't had any issues, out of 12 pallets, with nails or ragged wood or anything dangerous like that. I mean, I _did_ pay $5/pallet and they are all pretty well made pallets...but still. Back when I was looking for pallets, I did come across some badly made pallets that were being offered for free - I quickly passed them up. 
Maybe you get what you pay for??

It was hard work putting it in though. I ended up doing 1 t-post per pallet and using baling twine to secure the post to the pallet, then tying the pallets together with baling twine as well. I considered running a t-post down through the pallet like I had seen on Pinterest and other sites, but that involved putting each pallet in the "tall" way and I didn't/don't have a need for that extra height. 

All in all, I'm really happy with my pallet fence and I would definitely make another one. I wouldn't use pallet fencing anywhere there's going to be a lot of pressure on the fence, or horses much taller than 16h though.


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## ChitChatChet

I made a hay feeder out of pallets.... works great.

Have had it 4 years, 2 donkeys, cows and now 4 horses/ponys use it


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## Delfina

My garden is pallets, t-posts on the inside and a layer of chicken wire all the way around. 

Pallets are FREE and plentiful IF you find a business that has their stuff delivered on pallets and doesn't reuse or return them. I work for a company that manufactures concrete mixers, all our parts arrive by the pallet load and leave on fully assembled mixers that drive away. We have TONS and TONS of pallets and no use so whenever we get a truckload worth, the shop guys load me up.


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## NorthernMama

Wallaby said:


> I have a pallet fence for my goat pen and for the outside edge of my horse's stall and, so far *knocks on wood* it has worked beautifully. The goats' pallet fence, smooth wood side facing in, is actually the only thing that keeps my younger goat in - it's too tall for him to jump easily and, since the smooth wood is facing in, he can't grab a foothold.


Wow. Is your goat teeny-tiny or are the pallets huge? Our kid goat would stand in front of the F250 4x4 we had and just jump straight up to stand on the hood.


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## mrwithers

Definitely wouldn't work for horses. The wood used to build pallets is usually not very good and only held together by large staples. I get a lot of deliveries with pallets and have spent a lot of time breaking them down and I know how easy they come apart. They do make good kindling for the fireplace though


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## Wallaby

The goat certainly isn't teeny-tiny [he's about the size of Great Dane :lol: ] so maybe my pallets are huge??
Or maybe he just doesn't care about getting out like other goats do? I've had very few problems with either of my goats being escape artists. I've always heard that they'll do "anything" to get out, but mine have always been pretty easy to keep in... If he can get a foothold in the fence, he's out. But if he can't, he just kind of gives up. :lol:

Here he is on the other side of the horse-pallet-fence.


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## Chevaux

As an aside, I was looking at building plans the other day that used pallets -- you made a traditional frame and used the pallets in lieu of plywood/osb for the walls. It looked quite decent after it was finished and a siding put on it.


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## Endiku

I think Atti just knows he has a good spread to live in and doesnt want to jump. I once watched a goat his size clear a 6 ' pen in one jump, so I put him in a 8' steel stud pen. He proceeded to scale the panels and go undo the chain of his friends pen. We ended up just letting him have run of the place.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## stevenson

I have seen some and A horse could be easily injured, Personally , I think they are tacky and slummy looking.


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## Cruiser

We used pallets for a fence for goats by putting on them in T like over and over, so no posts. Long as they were put so the slats were up and down, the goats couldn't get out but the other way they would use them like a ladder. These goats destroyed wire fences. But that was just there holding pen for the winter, they're fields were in wire and electric. 

Our pallets are 3 1/2 feet square, most are soft wood but you can get hard wood (they weigh 75-80 lbs easily). They are glued and nailed together, no staples and no way to get them apart without taking a saw to them. 

I know someone that uses them for mini goats, ours were large dairy goats (80-160 lbs Lamanchas), and for pigs. While I think the fence is ugly it's a good cheap fix when money is tight. I wouldn't use it for horses mainly because they are too short and the way we use them they could catch a leg.


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## NorthernMama

Tacky and slummy looking doesn't mean anything when it comes to usefulness or economy. If someone doesn't like the look and can choose to pay more for a prettier fence, fine. If not, a working tool is a working tool if it does its job. I don't think a pallet fence is a working tool for a horse fence though.

I don't know what's up with your goat, Wallaby or Cruiser's. Wallaby's can certainly could jump that easily if he wanted to and Cruiser's as well, I'm sure. The average goat can easily jump 5' from a standstill.


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## Delfina

My Nigerian Dwarf goats could EASILY jump a pallet fence! I only had one escape artist, the other was a fat, lazy thing. 

I don't think a pallet fence is suitable for a horse, mine is functional and sturdy (it's to keep bunnies, chickens and cows out of my garden) but I wouldn't use it for a horse or a pig, pigs LOVE to trash fences!! 

Myt husband spent some time on ours and it doesn't look tack or slummy. Just looks like a well-built fence and once the bushes I planted outside grow up a bit, you won't even really see it.


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## Zexious

I don't know anything about pallet fencing, but I know Wallaby's Atti is adorbs <3


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## updownrider

Corporal said:


> It seems great until you see the sharp nails and edges and you start LOOKING for pallets. A friend found me some hardly used pallets almost 30 years ago to use to store hay on a cement floor in a building I used. I still have two of them. If you look for free pallets, which I'm assuming you have factored into your pallet fence plan, hence your enthusiasm, they WILL cost you. Businesses buy them for their own warehouse storage and they don't let go of them.


Look in a tile store. When we had several floors redone recently we noticed all of their tiles comes on pallets. They said they throw away many pallets a day. They let us keep our pallets, and we could have had as many as we wanted.


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## Delfina

The nice thing about pallet collecting is whatever isn't suitable for building, stacking hay on or otherwise is great for BONFIRES!! 

We had a metal fabricator make us a Hexagonal Fire Pit. We can slide pallets out of the truck right on into the fire pit and burn them whole. All the staples and nails are contained in the fire pit so we drag a horseshoe magnet through after the ashes are cold. When the "backyard" is 10 acres, you need a giant firepit!!


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## Palomine

Problem also would be what type of pallets and what are they treated with. Some have been treated with some pretty nasty chemicals, and would not be good for an animal to gnaw on it.


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