Q. Farm fence corners

[eCRX]

My neighbor is fencing off a 90 inside-corner right on the property line. He is using 8ftx5" posts about 40ft apart. Wire 'farm fence' is being used.

I noticed that he didn't use horizontal or diagonal bracing on the corners like I see all along the country roads. This is on soggy ground in a 4 season climate.

How critical is corner bracing? I feel like I should say something... My gut tells me that the post will be leaning 45deg by this time next year.

 

[POC]

I'm no expert, having put up only 1fence myself. It is sagging and I did use braced corners and cedar posts every 15 feet. So I'll say your assumptions are correct.

 

[bcp]

Welcome to TBN.

Posts 40 feet apart doesn't sound like a great idea, either, unless he plans on T-posts in between later.

Bruce

 

[Fastball]

If he is not bracing the corners...that is gonna be a problem.
40 feet apart also sounds a little iffy, IMO.

 

[mddorange]

:welcome:
To the TBN forum 2oint2. You have come to the right place to get any questions answered.

Even though working in clay here, I put 6", H corners on my fence as well as 6" H post on high and low spots in between. Then I used T post in between those.

On ground like you are describing, he will be back very soon to fix it.

 

[countrybumpkin]

Is he finished with the install or still setting post? If single posts at the corners and only one ever 40 foot, then yes he will have a leaning and loose fence before long. Just curios as what type of livestock is he running behind the fence?

 

[Ritothebull]

If I didn't have corner bracing on my fence my cows would flatten it in no time at all.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Unsolicited advice is always difficult.

I've put braces on corners after the fact. Pull the post straight with a come-along and then put the brace on.

 

[jaxs]

He might be using screw in ground anchors,faster,stronger and cheaper. Don't knock 40' line post spacing with stays between until you try crawling through,under or over it and you see how well it contain's livestock. Not uncommon to see posts twice that far apart.

 

[rgr33]

My cows would be overjoyed to see that kind of fence put up on my place, they would roam the neighborhood as if it were a cow buffet.

 

[D2Cat]

" My gut tells me that the post will be leaning 45deg by this time next year."

No it probably won't be leaning in a year, with no brace on a corner post with field wire pulled off that corner, it will have a noticeable lean in a week. Since he appearantly doesn't know how to install fence correctly he'll soon be out there attaching guy wires on the back side of the corners trying to pull the wire tight again...if he ever had it tight in the first place.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

He's not pulling any fence of distance without braced corners , his corners will be steady giving when he try's to tighten the wire , I try not to go any further than 15' on line post unless as someone else already stated about putting steel t-post in between.

 

[BrokenTrack]

A lot of good information has already been said about corners, but there is also a need for a good H-brace at the ends of field fence to act as good anchors to help hold the tension in the fence if it is over 330 feet long.

 

[Birdhunter1]

If it’s high tensile fence you can get away with 40’ between posts, but if you don’t have good corners your fence will sag within days or as soon as it rains.

 

[oosik]

Good corner bracing keeps the corner post where its supposed to be. In 1982 & '83 I installed a five wire barbed wire fence around my 80 acres. It a "pure rectangle" - 1320 x 2640. One corner is a ten foot rail road tie buried five feet(sits on bedrock at five feet). It is back braced with a 3/8" wire rope to a rock bolt screwed & glued into the bedrock. It has not moved a measurable amount in 36 years. The second corner is a large pine tree. It four feet inside my actual corner but that's OK with me. The pine is a great anchor and the fence simply bends 90 degrees around the tree. Third anchor is a 4' x 4' x 4' metal gabion filled with rock. My fourth corner is out in the middle of my larger lake and I just don't even worry about that. The fence ends about 25 feet out in the lake at another metal gabion. Tried everything we could but the ice will "remove" anything placed out in the middle of the lake where the actual corner is located. My fence included 645 T-133 posts - driven in every 12 feet or so.

 

[Sugar Creek Farm]

ALWAYS brace corners when fencing......period!

 

[goeduck]

The corners and end caps are the most important thing. I use concrete corner and end posts and both H hard braced and X braced with wire. It will only work the way he is doing it if he clotheslines the wires and puts no tension on them. i.e. to keep people out. Livestock will go right through and/or pull his corners down.

 

[rd_macgregor]

A high-tension steel wire fence will pull the corners in faster than a slacker horse tape/rope fence. Soil type, post diameter and mounting depth will also play a big role. I have heavily-creosoted, recycled bridge piles (12"-14" dia) as corner posts in one of my fields. These are buried to about 4 ft. Two corners are braced and two are not. In my soils, with my (relatively) low-tension horse fence, all of the corners are still acceptably upright after nearly 20 years in place. Having said that, there are a lot of variables but any unbraced corner post will eventually lean in.

 

[goeduck]

. Having said that, there are a lot of variables but any unbraced corner post will eventually lean in.

Exactly.

 

[rockingclawhammer]

I agree with all the above. You could put a 20" post in and it will be leaning soon. We do corners with H braces and we go 5' deep. It may be over kill but our corners do not lean or come out, the deeper the better IMO