wondering about how to set up fence...

[gruberguy]

Back when I had goats, they would jump and bulldoze any fence it seems.... My hair sheep now don't seem to even WANT to get out.... Even when my kids left the gate wide open for 1 1/2 days they never even got out!! My land is relatively flat except a few little "gopher hill sized" dips here and there. I don't over graze my pasture a bit. Currently have only 15 sheep, with enough pasture for triple that probably. We are constantly mowing even in this drought.

I agree with what my grandpa once said..... An animal born on your ranch is happy there. He raised/still raises cattle all his life, and has only bought cattle from a salebarn 3-4 times. Most of his fence is 40 years old, patchwork here and there. A lot of places he has 3 sometimes 2 strands of barb wire, but has never had a cow get out. He runs 40 head now, but has enough pasture to easily run 70 or so.

I see my neighbors animals constantly getting out, but their pasture looks like carpet! Then they wonder why they are constantly having to put them in!!!

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

wise words.

i have three goats (2 saanen does and 1 nigerian/pygmy buck) in a ~5acre pasture. open feild and wooded. creek runs through it.
they get out frequently enough... the fence is 5ft tall in a few areas but its 7-8ft tall most everywhere. the grass is varied and more then plenty of it. biggest catch is that about 30% of the fence is from when my grandpa had cows on the farm (so ~20 yrs old) and about 60% has been used and patched up, moved and patched again and used, and moved and used again. you can only do so much patching before you no longer have fence but wire/stick/twine/board something along some posts :/ the other about 10% was new like 4yrs ago and has been chopped up to use as patches...
needless to say i'm also saving up money for REAL ACTUAL FENCE for the goats. and i wont be putting it up the same way that fence was put up and not the same pasture even.... i could about that for hours though hahahha

 

[Southdown]

I would like to save up for the no climb horse fence with the wooden posts along my perimeter. Is there anything on the internet or a good book that teaches (simply) how to install fence?

 

[EllieMay]

There are lots of videos on YouTube showing how to install fencing.
That's how we learned.
We did a one-acre pasture (took down old barbed wire and installed field fencing).
We dug the holes by hand since we did not have an auger or pole driver.
We pulled the fencing with come-alongs.
It was a LOT of work.
We did an awesome job; especially for folks who have never done such a thing before.
Good luck!

 

[marlowmanor]

Our very own BYH memeber Straw Hat Kikos posted a tutorial on putting up a fence. Here is the link to his thread. http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=21439

 

[Cornish Heritage]

Putting up Hi-Tensile is actually pretty easy & you only need to support it (apart from the corner & gate posts) where the land goes up or down. SO when you have your corners in, run your bottom wire & then put the T-Posts in where you need to. Internally we use 5 strands with the first one being at 8 inches.

For external/perimeter fence we run one strand at 8 inches & then use the Hi-Tensile woven above that. That allows you to switch off that bottom wire if needed keeping the woven live at all times.

As for goats - I'm not sure what will keep them They are banned from here!

Liz