Greener Pastures Farm
Information on Building Farm Fences
Many people are intimidated by the idea of building their own fences, but it's not as hard as you might think. If you are armed with information, and are willing to put a little muscle into the project, you can build sturdy, tight, long-lasting fencing for your livestock. Listed below are the best books and websites about farm fencing.
Fortunately, pressure-treated posts are being phased out due to the fact that they are so toxic, but you still need to ask questions before you buy, as you don't want to get chemically-treated posts by mistake!!! At our farm we have used cedar or black locust for our corner posts and brace posts because they last so long. We used metal t-posts for economic reasons between the wood posts. Woven wire field fencing was stretched very tightly, as were the 2 strands of barbed wire we used above the four foot high woven wire. To date we have lost no sheep or lambs to 2- or 4-legged predators, even though our flock is pastured year round and a pack of coyotes live just behind our place. It may be
luck, it may be our tight fences, it may be the
variety of livestock (including noisy and alert
geese) or it may be the constant rotations of
livestock from one paddock to another that
flusters the predators. Whatever it is, it has
worked for years. But rather than continue to
tempt fate, we have now invested in Livestock
Guardian Dogs.
Some farmers are now using cattle panels
alone, or hog panels in conjunction with field
fencing. These panels are a heavier gauge
than fencing wire, are easy for one person to
move, and don't require a fence stretcher!
When deciding on gate placement, choose a
corner of the paddock. This will make it easier
to move livestock in and out of the pasture.
Creating and using alleyways is of great help
in moving livestock from one pasture to
another. Planning your alleyways to coincide
with your gate width, and planning the swing
of your gates to be useful for both your pasture
and your alleyway is to your benefit.
Useful Links:
- Fences for the Farm Excellent website for farm fencing information. Has some great descriptions of various types of fencing, including life expectancy and costs. References are made to the climate in Georgia, but the information presented here can apply to most any climate. Directly after the description of pressure treated posts is a life expectancy chart of various wood posts, treated and untreated, and you can see for yourself that natural cedar and black locust posts have a similar life expectancy to the poisonous pressure treated posts. The fencing descriptions at the bottom of the page are very similar to the techniques we used on our fences.
- Canada Plan Service Leaflets provided by the Canada Plan Service for the following systems maybe ordered from the links provided:
- Wire Fencing A photo and description of a fencing system similar to ours.
- Portable Fence Sections Photo and description of portable sections of board fencing for temporary use. While this is lovely to look at, welded wire hog panels tied together with baling twine will work just as well, and can be found at your local feed store.
- Working Chute We have managed this far without something like this, but I intend to build (or shall I say, assist my husband in building) something similar to this for easier management of sheep duties, such as hoof trimming, worming, rooing, etc. Photo and description provided.
- Sheep Corral Unit If you want to get really fancy, or if you have a larger set up than we do, here is a well planned system for sorting and treating larger numbers of sheep efficiently.
Books:
by Gail Damerow
This handy book will show you step by step how to build a variety of fences,
including wire fences, rail fences, electric fences, high-tension fences, temporary
fences, woven fences, snow fences, easy wire gates and lovely wooden gates.
