Fencing.... Feeling REALLY stupid right now..

[Wisteria Farms]

Well, maybe this comes from owning horses too long and cattle not long enough. We fenced in some acreage for the cattle with 3 rail wood fence. It looks great but in the last 2 weeks, we've had a 4mo old calf go through it in two different places. I don't know if a dog is spooking him, if he's squirtin around and head butting it...or what.

Question, do you all prefer barbed wire (a no no with horses) or wire cattle panel or what? Its going to cost me a fortune replacing the fenceboards at this rate... so when I do the next run of fence I'm going to reconsider what I use. I've got more cows coming so now I'm freaked out that I'm going to have a mess on my hands. I'll be fencing 25 acres around the house.. any suggestions? Cattle panel with barbed wire across top? Thanks.

 

[dun]

For internal fences it's hard to beat a single strand of high tensile electric. You could use 2 strands if your paranoid. For external parimeter fence 5 strand barbed wire us hard to beat. For smaller areas that will contain very young calves a feild fence with a single or double strand of barbed works great.

 

[cfpinz]

Before you scrap your present board fence, run a hot wire on the inside under the bottom board and another just over it.

cfpinz

 

[usernametaken]

For internal fences it's hard to beat a single strand of high tensile electric. You could use 2 strands if your paranoid. For external parimeter fence 5 strand barbed wire us hard to beat. For smaller areas that will contain very young calves a feild fence with a single or double strand of barbed works great.

Is a field fence for perimeter ( red brand goat/sheep) going to work for adult cattle ?

untaken

 

[dun]

For internal fences it's hard to beat a single strand of high tensile electric. You could use 2 strands if your paranoid. For external parimeter fence 5 strand barbed wire us hard to beat. For smaller areas that will contain very young calves a feild fence with a single or double strand of barbed works great.

Is a field fence for perimeter ( red brand goat/sheep) going to work for adult cattle ?

untaken

Yes, that's what the majority of the older fencing aorund here is. 48 inch with barbed on top

 

[Wisteria Farms]

Before you scrap your present board fence, run a hot wire on the inside under the bottom board and another just over it.

cfpinz

Well, I wasn't going to scrap the present board fence... was just going to reconfigure who's in what pasture. Wanted to get away from electric, only because I've had a hard time keeping it charged... don't know if its the ground rods needing driven deeper or what. But, will probably take your suggestion til I figure out what's next. Thanks

 

[Wisteria Farms]

For internal fences it's hard to beat a single strand of high tensile electric. You could use 2 strands if your paranoid. For external parimeter fence 5 strand barbed wire us hard to beat. For smaller areas that will contain very young calves a feild fence with a single or double strand of barbed works great.

OK Dun, that 5 strand barbed wire... you don't see any injuries with that? I mean they stay off it? I was avoiding it because of the horses... was going to keep rotating everyone through pastures and didn't want the horses in with any barbed wire but I'll keep the horses off the barbed pastures if you say its pretty reliable. To clarify... I don't presently have barbed wire fences. Thanks so much.

 

[msscamp]

It looks great but in the last 2 weeks, we've had a 4mo old calf go through it in two different places. I don't know if a dog is spooking him, if he's squirtin around and head butting it...or what.

It sounds like he is just taking his job description seriously - that is, he is just being a calf. ;-) :lol: :lol:

Question, do you all prefer barbed wire (a no no with horses) or wire cattle panel or what?

For permanent fences - I, personally, prefer a 4-5 strand barbed wire fence. 6 strands for perimeter fences. For what it's worth - we've used this method for 50 years, and had very, very few problems with our horses.

 

[usernametaken]

For internal fences it's hard to beat a single strand of high tensile electric. You could use 2 strands if your paranoid. For external parimeter fence 5 strand barbed wire us hard to beat. For smaller areas that will contain very young calves a feild fence with a single or double strand of barbed works great.

OK Dun, that 5 strand barbed wire... you don't see any injuries with that? I mean they stay off it? I was avoiding it because of the horses... was going to keep rotating everyone through pastures and didn't want the horses in with the barbed wire but I'll keep the horses off the barbed pastures if you say its pretty reliable. Thanks so much.

I'm not Dun but FWIW, the main difference that I have seen between barbed wire and tensile wire is that the tensile wire may not cut them as often but if it does it will go all the way to the bone. Barbed wire can make a mess if the horse doesn't have much sense. If the horse does have sense he'll either not run himself through the fence or he'll stand and wait for you to untangle him . ;-)

 

[usernametaken]

For internal fences it's hard to beat a single strand of high tensile electric. You could use 2 strands if your paranoid. For external parimeter fence 5 strand barbed wire us hard to beat. For smaller areas that will contain very young calves a feild fence with a single or double strand of barbed works great.

Is a field fence for perimeter ( red brand goat/sheep) going to work for adult cattle ?

untaken

Yes, that's what the majority of the older fencing aorund here is. 48 inch with barbed on top

Thanks Dun. I need a fence that will work for both sheep and cattle and only want one fence!

 

[usernametaken]

Before you scrap your present board fence, run a hot wire on the inside under the bottom board and another just over it.

cfpinz

Well, I wasn't going to scrap the present board fence... was just going to reconfigure who's in what pasture. Wanted to get away from electric, only because I've had a hard time keeping it charged... don't know if its the ground rods needing driven deeper or what. But, will probably take your suggestion til I figure out what's next. Thanks

Another option, Wisteria, would be to nail woven wire to the board fence. It makes a nice permanent fence. The hot wire would be cheaper but if you happen to have some woven wire and/or don't like fooling around with hot wire it would work.

untaken

 

[Susie David]

Fences are the most single important part of your facilities.
Lost a cow this summer by not ckecking and repairing old fences on one of our leases.
We run five wire with the calves and perimeter and four for cross fencing and with the older cattle...both have a hot wire with a 11 joule charger. l like to see a blue spark from 1/4 mile and the animals soon learn real respect for the fence. Two hot wires for the calf pastures, one 18'' and another 30''. We even have some cross fenced with only two hot wires and haven't had it disturbed in four years. Do need to replace some insulators every so often but then that is just part of fence work.
Just my two bits worth...asked for or not.....Dave Mc

 

[t&d farms]

Is a field fence for perimeter ( red brand goat/sheep) going to work for adult cattle ?

untaken[/quote]

yep it will work, thats what we have plus two strands of electric. we did however have a problem when the electric went off and the bull decided the grass was greener on the other side...smashed the fense down. :shock:

 

[Gate Opener]

At our last place where we kept the horses it had a pipe and red top horse fence(the little squares). On the places where we had t-posts we put the caps on the tops.

Here the horses are in barbed wire. I think the key to that is to take them around the perimeter the first time to let them know where the fence is. Otherwise, they might get excited when you just turn them out and run through one. I wouldn't suggest putting any babies in barbed wire.

 

[Wisteria Farms]

Thanks for the replies everyone...
As for the horses/barbed wire issue...I don't be-grudge anyone for doing what works for them. HOWEVER... my aunt lost her horse due to getting spooked and running through the barbed wire. It sliced her sides open and she had to be put down. So, I guess I'm a little wigged out about putting my horses anywhere near the stuff.

We've also gotten old rusted out sections (laying on the ground and unseen) get caught in the mower... always good for putting the husband in a ripe mood.

But its clear I have to do something... I've been lucky not to go out and find a calf with a board stuck in his side.... will let you know how we proceed. Thanks again.

 

[J&T Farm]

We use 5 strand barb wire fences never had any trouble. Our weaning pen is 5 ft cattle panels nailed to cross ties every 8 ft, with a treated 2x6 top and bottom, our working pens are 6ft cattle panels welded to pipe post and pipe runners top and bottom. We have never had any trouble with the cows getting hurt on barb wire. And around here barb wire is about the only kind of fence you will find.

 

[grannysoo]

Sounds like you've got a calf that has learned to get out and likes it. After they have got out 1 time, they will remember and always like the grass on the other side of the fence. I would run a strand or two of hotwire and give him a little excitement in his life.

 

[Alan]

I also like a good hot fence. When I started out with cattle a few years back I made the fence 2 strands of barbed and 2 strands of hot. A very hot fence works so well and the cattle respect it enough that I now just build new fence with 3 strands of hot wire, but only the top two are hot.... they know they will suffer the wrath if they touch the wire. For hot wire I used the hot string with wire woven in, it's much easier to tighten when it sags. I would just run 2 hot wires around your wood fence, one on top and just under the lower board. These days there is no need to worry about grass fires from fence and weeds or shorts in fence from mild weed growth.

I had a problem with my ground a couple of years ago, I drove in 3 ground rods, connected them together with wire. To drive them I dug a small hole for each, soaked the ground, used a T- post driver to drive them as far as possible, then finished driving with a sledge. I will admit that on one I cheated, the last couple of feet I hit hard pan clay, so I could not get the last 18" of rod in. I dug a trench about 18" deep and bent the rod into the trench and connected it to the other rods and buried it. Ground and hot fence work great.


Alan

 

[peg4x4]

By the way ~ Sell that calf soonest..

 

[backhoeboogie]

Wisteria,

This post was on my mind and got me to thinking. I once thought my dad and grandad exercised overkill when it came to fencing. It certainly seemed like more effort than everyone else put in to it. Now, having had some experiences of my own with neighbor cows coming on to the place, I do more than they did. It is much easier to handle things when cows cannot penetrate the fence in any way.