Perimeter fencing pasture

[grsthegreat]

She's an Anatolian Shepherd. 100 lbs of muscle. She's considered fawn colored. Her sister is bigger and more of a red color.

We looked into the BMC as an option. Wife wanted a bigger dog bred to guard livestock. She heard Anatolians were good around chickens.

My friend has 3…..one likes eating the chickens though

 

[redman135]

OP 1) put your fence on the outside of the posts, as the staples will work out over time, when on the inside.

2) Are you using treated timber? I have been told that horses chew treated timber for the salt in the treatment.

3) I am in New Zealand. We always run fence in straight section with stayed/braced corners. Going in a curve means you MUST stay each post otherwise the post will pull in over time and you have a slack fence.
4) Note,Deer farmers have found that slack straining internal netting fences for deer mean that when deer run into the fence they are tossed back without breaking their neck, like with a traditional tight strained fence. Would this work for spooky horses as well?

 

[drumminj]

OP 1) put your fence on the outside of the posts, as the staples will work out over time, when on the inside.

This thread is the first time I've seen the suggestion (saw the same about the boards/nails above). Everything else I've read states that putting the wire and boards inside is stronger as if an animal leans/presses against it, it's the strength of the boards + posts that resists them, vs just the staples or nails holding the board or fencing to the post.

Are you suggesting the staples will work out over time only if they're on the inside? Or that they're going to do that no matter what, so being on the outside makes it less of an injury risk for the animal?

2) Are you using treated timber? I have been told that horses chew treated timber for the salt in the treatment.

Yes will be treated lumber. Most likely we will have a coat of black paint over it so hopefully any salt or other minerals won't be as obvious from a simple "lick" or the board

3) I am in New Zealand. We always run fence in straight section with stayed/braced corners. Going in a curve means you MUST stay each post otherwise the post will pull in over time and you have a slack fence.

This makes sense to me, but in practice I wonder how much force is really exerted on each post for a gentle curve if they're spaced 8' apart and it's a 5" round post. Regardless I'm going to do my best to keep runs straight and used braced "corners" for any change in direction.

I believe it was the Bekaert installation guide that suggested if you are installing on a curve, to angle the posts 2" towards the outside of the curve. Here's the quote:

If your fence must curve, reduce post spacing in the curve area. Keep fence wire on the outside of the curve. The spacing change required will be determined by the severity of the curve. The sharper the turn the more posts it will require. A very gradual curve will not require post spacing to be greatly reduced. Set posts on curves with a two inch lean to the outside of the curve.

 

[drumminj]

I did the rounded corners, but that really only matters if your horses are too loony to not run into the fence line.

What was your method for this? Was it just post + board fencing so you could angle/sweep however you want?

I would NOT want to have boards on the inside of the fence. Over time, the nails and boards can come loose and create sharp hazards.

This concern makes sense, but many pictures I see and most comments I seen in equine forums speak to having boards or wire on the inside of the posts to avoid a horse "running through" the fence. Aesthetically it would look better having it on the "outside" along the fence and our drive so I'd love for that to be best, but most suggestions I've seen have been to run it on the inside.

 

[redman135]

1 item I forgot to put earlier is to put a "hot"/electric top wire. Stops horses and cattle from leaning over a fence and wrecking it over time.

 

[redman135]

drumminj, I went back and reread that part of my post. It should read ON CORNERS you put the wires on the outside of the post, as the staples will work out over time on the inside of the post. Otherwise you put the wire on the side of the highest preassure, as other have said.

 

[drssg]

What was your method for this? Was it just post + board fencing so you could angle/sweep however you want?



This concern makes sense, but many pictures I see and most comments I seen in equine forums speak to having boards or wire on the inside of the posts to avoid a horse "running through" the fence. Aesthetically it would look better having it on the "outside" along the fence and our drive so I'd love for that to be best, but most suggestions I've seen have been to run it on the inside.

I just used posts and boards, so rounding the corners wasn't an issue.

I agree that the fence is stronger when it is on the inside, but I have found that to be a non-issue. A strand of electric wire prevents the horses from challenging it.

On the rare occasion that they knock down a board, it is on the outside of the fence, instead of having a board with nails sticking up on the ground of the pasture.

 

[drumminj]

With respect to the discussion on which side of the posts to put things, here's what Red Brand has to say for the wire: Install Fence Posts on Proper Side | The Red Brand Post

However that doesn't speak to wood boards.

 

[Shawn T. W.]

You might also consider an "H post" setup on the sweeping turns ... This is a straight section, but helps to sturdy up a fence ... Can be wood or metal ... Some places sell them already made up ...

 

[gsganzer]

She's an Anatolian Shepherd. 100 lbs of muscle. She's considered fawn colored. Her sister is bigger and more of a red color.

We looked into the BMC as an option. Wife wanted a bigger dog bred to guard livestock. She heard Anatolians were good around chickens.

It never even occurred to me that it was an Anatolian, but I can see the longer fur now. The coloring was so similar to our yellow BMC, with the muzzle mask, eye liner and ears. You can see the similarities in the coloring. Anatolians are great dogs, our rancher uses them as guard dogs for their angora goats. Here's a photo of our BMC, a day or two before we put him down.

Also in the photo is a Border-Pit that we rescued as a stray dropped off on our road. She'd the most athletically agile dog I've ever seen. I yelled to her as she was jumping our 52" tall welded pipe horse fence and she froze mid-jump, perfectly balancing on the top rail on all 4's looking back at me. Other times, I've caught her 15' up a tree, climbing to get a squirrel. She's really muscular, like a coiled spring.

 

[RayIN]

I raised and trained horses for many years; never even considered rounded corners, never had a horse hurt in a square corner.

 

[grsthegreat]

All ive ever had are square corners……except for round pen.

 

[riptides]

I raised and trained horses for many years; never even considered rounded corners, never had a horse hurt in a square corner.

I have squares and rounds, corners, on our property.

The rounds are a whole lot better for pasture maintenance with equipment. Hands down.

I don't think the horses care.

 

[TheEquineFencer]

After you get quotes for the labor, I'd approach the CFO and request a review of that decision. I'm not sure where you are in Tennessee, But there's a post driver dealer next door to or was beside a Southern States dealer in Mocksville, NC, that's where I got mine from. It's cheaper to drive (no pun intended) to get it than ship it. If that doesn't work, fire the CFO and get one that'll listen to common sense. With really good equipment operator on the tractor, I can put a post in every two minutes. With a POS operator, 3-5 minutes once they get the hang of it.

As for as the fencing and type, Red Brand is top of the line. We used it for the sheep pasture here. An old friend of mine used regular, cheap as he could find, 2x4 dog kennel fencing around his pastures on wood post. Amazingly it held up to the horses and cows with a single strand of hot wire with electrified wire on standoffs inside.

No corners with horses is correct. I've gone back over the years and did away with our corners and "bobbed" them off into 45* "corners." We have either 1/2 round creosote post with 1x6 boards or electric tape. Horse Guard brand I've found works better than any other tape fencing. Premier1 is second best. I like the durability of the tape and connectors with the Horse Guard. On the tape fencing, I put board fencing in the corners, 16 foot section on most with the tape on the inside.

Spend the money and buy a Gallagher fence charger. We have one that's been struck by lightening twice! I'd open it up, see where the circuit board was fried, and solder a 18 gauge wire back in place and it still works!

When burying the electric fence wire, put it in electrical PVC conduit! Here's an easy way I bury conduit.

It works great! My "significant other" is a retired engineer and she thinks it's one of the neatest things I've come up with, other than it uses water. She's a "papered" civil engineer with a water background.

 

[think7]

If you are doing any radiuses (radii) [as opposed to hard 90 corners] have the posts in the radius pitch out a few degrees (3-5 ballpark) otherwise when the wire gets pulled around the curve the posts will get pulled less than plumb creating over time both out of plumb posts and loose no climb. We were on 15 acres with 1.5mi of fence/cross fence and used a mower mounted string trimmer so the radiused areas were purposely chosen to make string trimmer easier. Choose your donkeys carefully (likely geldings for this job) and they really need to be raised with the animals they are guarding. Lots of anecdotal stories about donkeys using sheep and goats as playthings. We raised mini donks for a long time so not quite the same as standards in terms of herd protection capability but personality and temperment is everything for herd protection. Pyrenees, Maremma, Anatolian all better choices than donks. We did our no climb 20 years ago but the 2 options then were either 25 or 50 year galvanized wire or 50 and 100 year - we went with the longer and it was still good 17 years later when we sold. This was in FL only 20 miles from the gulf.

 

[Aggie66]

I push T-posts down with the loader bucket. It's much quicker with a helper.

Of course, the type of ground may require something more meaningful than a loader bucket.

I had a contractor that we used putting in fence and on the bottom of his bucket he welded a steel coupling that fit over the T post and use the bucket to drive the T post

 

[Jallcorn]

I’m 78 and just finished a mile of fence along the road that fronts one side of our property in NE Texas. I used 2-3/8” oilfield pipe for posts and top rail and 3/4” oilfield sucker rod for the rest. I did it all myself, cleaned off the ancient barbed wire, surveyed and marked the posts, dug holes 40” deep with tractor and Danuser auger, set in concrete, welded top rail and sucker rod. Yes, I have a portable welder but I’m not a professional welder. It was a lot of work, if we wanted to have sheep or goats here we would add woven wire to the steel fence.

On another mile (not highway frontage) I pressed 6-1/2’ steel posts in with a front end loader. 6 strands of barbed wire were added. Braces every 100 yards or so were oilfield pipe “H’s” set in concrete. The ends were 7 steel posts with a top rail in concrete to give enough holding strength to keep the corners from pulling up.

I grew up on a Central Texas ranch and all the fences were (then) either cedar or mesquite for post a woven wire. 2 strands barbed at top and one bottom. We raised cattle, sheep and goats. The only problem there was the angora goats would sometimes get their heads through the wire panels and get stuck. Corners were always 3 posts with a horizontal in the middle with smooth wire (usually repurposed telephone wire) for X braces.

If you have curves, a fence under tension will ultimately make it sag, regardless of how you set the posts unless you put braces (standoffs) inside the curves. Not a problem if they will be on your side. They don’t work as well on the outside of the curve. The problem here is mowing along the fence line where the standoffs are.

 

[Joe Batt]

I have 50-150 Katahdin sheep (hair sheep). It sounds like you are trying to make things look nice, so you may want to run a hot wire at about 18". My sheep rub on the woven fence, which will stretch it. We've had a couple of steers and they leaned over the fence bending it down too (barb wire wasn't as effective as I expected). Most recently I had some 6 strand high tensile electric installed and really like it. It keeps a lot of the wild life out and the critters in. All of my future fence will be high tensile electric on wood posts. I had a professional installer do the perimeter, then I handle the interior fence and along the creek. The professional does much better work than I do; he has the equipment and knows the tricks to make it look nice.

I have a two rams, a llama, and goat to guard the flock. Before them, I did have a coyote problem.

 

[bordercollie]

I'm 73 & fenced by myself. We're in Virginia. There are 100+ ways to fence but I did it like here with 1 exception. I used tractor & auger (Danuser w/9" auger&spare bit & cutters).
If you have that...no big deal.
I ran string line on property lines. Only help was my wife I had long pole & a good rifle/scope (yes...unloaded). Pole had a level on it. She would hold it & I'd guide her L&R...then stick in ground mark.
Then stakes & string. Start at corner, auger down 2-3ft with PT 9s. go out 10ft each way & auger & another PT9. Then a PT5 w/ galvanized dowel...everything straight&level (level ground)...then X'd heavy galv wire & ratchets.
Now I had starting point.
Then all fencing a PT9 every 50ft, four 7ft heavy T posts between every 10ft. Then red-top woven wire. I wired up a foot (we have horses...they're not going under 1 foot & bush hog can mow under. I wouldn't want even galvanized wire touching the ground.
Every transition I used 3 posts, even a small angle.
Now wire. I used two 2x4s holes drilled & carriage bolts, washers, nuts. Use fence for guide. Idea is clamped tight to wire fence now with come-a-longs & ratchets I pulled so tight you could play a tune on it. Galvanized staples hammered in.
Corner posts I poured in quikrete. Others a 7ft tamping iron. T posts pounded in w/ tamper (good exercise).
18ft gates were fine for me.
Very top used T post insulators & post insulators, white flat elec. ribbon with solar charger. A driven ground plus I connected ground to fence.
I've never fenced but figured it out.

Treated post just don't hold up like they used to. We built a catch pen with 5x5 treated post and most only lasted 5 years. We found some good used railroad cross ties and they are night and day better. No caps needed neither. We used those to rebuild the catch pen and as brace post and one every so often in running our Cattletough fencing on some of our perimeter fencing .
We bought a wire spinner at tractor supply to unspool the net wire.It fits on the tractor and is night and day helpful. We have a lot of acreage so have a hydraulic auger and a hyd T post driver. Not necessary though on small acreage.

 

[gsganzer]

I have a Skidril gas powered post driver. It's heavy, but it works great, even driving 2 3/8" pipe. When I build my fences, I put a pipe post every 5-6 t-posts. My driver is an older model, but similar to this one. I have the 2-stroke engine and it starts and runs easily. Skidril G2XD

To help with longer posts, I have a platform with a handrail that slides onto my pallet forks.