JHP Homestead’s Journal

Well I had originally only posted the things I thought we did fairly “right” with our new pasture, but since trees as fence posts are not good, I guess I might as well post all the things we did bad as well Then this can be a lesson in what NOT to do for fencing

We used the cheap wood “landscape timbers” as fence posts where we didn’t attach to a tree. Except for two t-posts that we used in the tree line where the gap was too big between trees and it was too dense of woods to get the tractor w/ auger in.

We’re also using barbed wire and electric fence on 3 sides. The 4th side is adjacent to the chicken coop and garden, so we’re using no-climb horse fence there. The reason being that I think it’ll be a few more years before my young children have the sense to stay out of the horse pasture, so I want the barrier along where they’ll spend a lot of time to be more of a physical barrier.

Here’s some pics of the highlights:




All that being said, we have reasons for our “bad” fencing (not that I’m saying they’re good reasons, just saying we have given it thought). We live on one income; money is not tight but that’s because we’re tight with our money. Except for the no-climb fence, insulators, and nails/staples/etc; all fencing, gates, and posts were collected over the last 5 years at great sale prices or dirt cheap at auction. We probably have $200 into building this fence (not counting the no-climb) versus $1000+ (not counting any fencing but electric) if we did it the “right” way.

The barbed wire is mostly to keep the deer from breaking the electric fence, which happened almost weekly when we had the same area fenced in with temporary electric 2 years ago. The horse is level headed and smart enough to stay off it, being that there’s also a strand of electric.

The landscape timbers will probably need replaced in time, especially the ones in clay, since clay holds a lot of moisture. I expect the ones buried in sand should last a pretty long time.

Long term, I expect we’ll continue to stockpile t-posts cheap from auction and replace the landscape timbers with them as needed. I also plan on continuing to buy a roll of no-climb fence here and there. That way when the horse dies (he is old and probably only has 5 or so years left ) we can maybe put goats out there, which the area is better suited for anyways.

Well, there is it, feel free to lay it on me . I know we did lots of things “wrong” but it’ll be done this weekend so we can’t exactly change it now. Hopefully I’ll be journaling for many years here and can post about how it’s still looking several years from now.

JHP Homestead said:

Well, there is it, feel free to lay it on me

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Thanks for the "invitation"
I'm sure the landscaping timbers will last a decent amount of time. They are a smaller diameter that "usual" for fence posts but I think they will do. How long are they and how much is in the ground?

In the second picture, I'd say you have the brace wire too high. The brace post is usually 4/5 the height of the post out of the ground and the brace wire goes from that height down to the base of the other post. You don't want too much of an angle or it will try to pull the base of the other post up out of the ground. The ones going up the hill look about like mine. I puzzled over that for a bit.

I ASSUME you are planning to put a gate to the right of the lower right side brace? That is the only reason you would need brace wire in both directions, one to hold against the fence pulling one way and one to hold against the gate pulling it the other. ASSUMING that is true, in that picture the fence would only be on the 2 H braces and really put little tension on the posts given the short span.

Edit: I forgot to add, nailing the barbed wire to boards rather than directly to the tree will at least keep the tree from incorporating the wire into itself.

Everybody has to do "what" they can, as they can, with the best that is available at the time....ya have a Great "start" and have "learned" from the experience, and that is "knowledge" ya can apply in the future....everybody has stood in those shoes and that is why many give the advice they do....when I put up a fence I used 2"x4"x5' welded wire....it was all I could afford at the time, but soon found that it wouldn't hold up for very long with our goats....so, had plans to replace the fencing in a couple of yrs....the were family "difficulties" after my dad passed and my ex-sister took the land and kicked us off, so we moved....was sure glad at that time I didn't use more expensive wire.....something ya could do in the future is to buy a few 5"x8' treated posts at a time and have a few on hand to use if some of the timbers start failing....what will happen is they will be subject to water damage/rot from the end of the timber below ground and the top...and depending on the pressure of the stretch on the wire, they will begin to warp in the direction in which ya stretched the fence....they will last for a few yrs, or should....tho, it will depend on snow cover and the length of time the ground is frozen there....cause the constant moisture will promote the rot.....just have a few posts on hand to switch out with just in case....ya have to start somewhere, and it seems ya have a really Good start!!....I for one certainly won't "rake ya over the coals"....my wife is from Michigan....

Whew, it has been awhile. It seems like I’m on here all the time, but I get so caught up in reading others’ journals, I never make time to post on my own. There are some great stories here!

Anyways, we finished the new pasture for our horse. He seems happy in his new area. The next big project is trenching water and electricity out to our chicken/rabbit area. I’m so excited to not have to haul 10 gallons of water out there every day in the winter!

I had 2 litters of kits born 2 weeks ago. The one doe lost about half of hers (probably due to the heat) but the rest are doing well.

My limited garden is doing well despite being mostly neglected. I’ve canned up 26 quarts of wax beans. I don’t know much about beans and don’t remember what variety these are, but supposedly they’re a halfway decent black bean. So I think I’m going to let the rest ripen and dry out.

I'm the same way, I post on other's journals much more than mine.

Don't know beans about beans? Me either. The only reference I have to wax beans is that they are yellowish (and DW doesn't like them). Not sure how those would make black beans.

Bruce said:

I'm the same way, I post on other's journals much more than mine.

Don't know beans about beans? Me either. The only reference I have to wax beans is that they are yellowish (and DW doesn't like them). Not sure how those would make black beans.

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I grow Black Turtle black beans and the pods are yellow.

Do the best you can do. That’s pretty much what we all do. How do you keep your faucet from freezing in the winter?

It would have to be one of those that are 4' in the ground and drain back down when you shut it off.

Heck, water lines here are only buried 2 feet deep! I'd have to dig a pit for that thing!

Baymule said:

Heck, water lines here are only buried 2 feet deep! I'd have to dig a pit for that thing!

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Paris and Trip would help ya out with that job....