Need help with fencing/fallen tree dilemma.

[dianneS]

Our property line basically IS our stream and/treed area. We actually followed the exact property line from pin to pin to put up our fence last year. The fence is on the far side of the stream and the horses are able to access the stream for water and trees for shade. Its nice.

However, we used woven wire field fence and we've had three trees come down on the fence since we installed the fence not even a year ago!

The two trees that came down in the storm last night are HUGE and they're gonna take a while to clean up. Meanwhile I have to keep the animals in the smaller pasture so no one escapes.

I'm not sure if we should just give up on having the fence line so close to the trees and just move the whole thing? The problem is, it would have to be moved in making the whole pasture smaller and the animals would no longer have access to the shade or water. The property on the other side is our neighbors who has no animals. The entire property was all one big pasture at one time, but it was subdivided.

I'm just trying to figure out some way to maintain secure fence despite the falling trees? Any ideas?

 

[patandchickens]

There is no way to make fences truly falling-tree-PROOF -- obviously whatever the tree falls on is going to be flat until you get your chainsaw out.

The simplest thing, by far, is to have an electric fence with good PLUG-IN charger (so you will not experience total permanent battery death when a tree grounds the fence out overnight) and keep some spare electric tape and step-in posts on hand, so that when a tree goes down you can say Oh, Poo! and detach the part of electric fencing it's squashed/grounded and reroute the fence, using your tape and step-ins, so it's fencing off the whole fallen tree area.

If that is what you've got right now and you're unsatisfied with it, the slickest solution is professionally-installed high tensile fencing of one type or another, which often requires little if any repair after the tree is chainsawed OFF them (often they just bounce back into their correct position and maybe you replace some brackets/attachments and you're bakc in business.)

Regular high-tensile fences can be rather unsafe around horses, though, especially if you try to cheap out on the number of strands. Stud rail type fences, where the high tensile wires are embedded in 2" to 5" wide vinyl belting, are quite horse safe; but PRICEY. And all high-tensile fences have very very stringent requirements for correct installation (which among other things includes setting large deep concrete-set corner/gate/dip posts) and the DIY jobs I've seen over the years have not tended to be good enough to withstand trees falling on them.

But if you really do want an EASY low-maintenance solution, by far your best bet is to get high-tensile, plus a chainsaw.

A sort of "poor cousin" second choice would be electrobraid or electric rope. This needn't require ownership of a chainsaw, although it'd still be better to have one. When the tree comes down, you can remove any branches that are interfering *along* the fenceline, so it is pretty much just the trunk crossing the fenceline, then detach or cut the braid/rope strands, add a couple of T-posts with insulators, and reinstall the braid/rope so that it goes AROUND the treetrunk (so the treetrunk is *in* the fence now, but not grounding it out.

Note that if your problem is not so much dealing with the tree on the fence once you get up the next morning, your issue is more that you're worried about animals escaping thru the damaged fenceline RIGHT AWAY, the most effective solution would be to run an internal fenceline so that the propertyline and its trees are in a separate paddock. Then you can close that paddock off when storms threaten. Mind, then the animals can't use that hedgerow for shelter from the storms; but, you can't have your cake and eat it too

Anyhow, hopefully there are some useful ideas in there -- honestly there is just a limit to how much you can do about the fact that trees fall down and squash fences sometimes.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[dianneS]

Lots of good advice there, thanks. I don't currently have hot wire, but should install at least a strand so that I can fence off an area if a tree does come down.

I guess there is only so much one can do about falling trees on fences. It happens and you just have to deal with it.

Luckily right now my animals won't even cross the stream to the area where the tree has fallen. The weeds are too tall. Plus, I surveyed the situation and the tree is so massive that it is really blocking access to the hole in the fence entirely.

Time to get out the chainsaw, but this is a BIG tree and going to be a big project. Lots of firewood though!

 

[elevan]

You're probably gonna want to "inspect" your trees on a regular basis. Certain trees are more susceptible to lightning strikes and therefore crack / falls. Hollow or diseased trees are more likely to come down in wind. Erosion around your trees bases will make them unstable and likely to fall. An arborist or your extension agent could possibly help you with this. Prevention of tree falls should be an important part of your future plan.

Best of luck to you!

 

[rockdoveranch]

A quick fix until you have time to remove the fallen tree and repair the field wire is to put hog/cow panels up, secured with t-posts, to keep your animals in and away from the damaged area. This way you loose only minimal pasture until the repair is completed.

 

[his1911]

our fence is field wire, but we keep smooth and barbed wire on hand for such occasions as have been mentioned, plus a few extra t posts. A quick fix measure is to string some smooth or barbed wire across the downed trunk until you have a chance to chainsaw enough of it out of the way to allow you to cut and land the good sections of field fence and install new wire ( and posts if needed) in the area damaged by trees.