# Overkill on fencing?



## Alexz7272 (Jul 18, 2016)

It has come to my attention that I am _perhaps _over-killing with my fence height and spending more money then I need to. I have been using 6 ft tall fencing for my sheep, goats and alpacas. One roll I scored for free and one I bought myself (to match the free one, duhhhh). I'm coming to the realization that _*maybe*_ I don't really need a 6 ft tall fence for my livestock. Especially since it could save me $20-$30 a roll. I know it would probably look funny to continue fencing with a shorter height but am thinking of using the higher fence along the irrigation canal that I have the pens against? (There is a decent hill down to it, so not literally right on it). What would you do? If funds were not an issue, I would keep doing the 6ft tall and if that is the best then I will, but could it hurt to go for a lesser height? 
We also do not have much predator activity if that influences it. We have 3 dogs, two of which are protectors of the property and us(not LGD just Catahoula's)and one old Lab that lets me know if she hears _ANYTHING_. Raccoons are our biggest threat and they go for our birds, never anyone else. 
Sorry for the long post and thank you!


----------



## Latestarter (Jul 18, 2016)

6 foot is a little "over the top" (sorry, hard to resist ) Many do just fine with 4 foot and a strand of electric on top. Other prefer 5 foot. Getting a roll of 6 foot for free is pretty awesome. Maybe at the bottom of a downhill slope... so an animal coming down the hill and jumping doesn't have that 1' more or less up hill advantage... I've always heard there's never such a thing as too strong, too high, or to "good" fencing...


----------



## Baymule (Jul 18, 2016)

How much do you have to fence? If you continue with the 6' fence, about the only thing that could go over the top would be a mountain lion. Your stock would be pretty safe. There is a high-wired ranch behind us and he not only used 8' wire, but offset his fence from the property line and laid down a 3' wire skirt on the ground to prevent coyotes and dogs from digging under. The ranch is 1,000 acres and has exotic deer. Overkill? Nah....

Ourselves, we used 4' non climb horse wire with 7' T-posts and 2 strands of barbed wire (in Texan speak that would be pronounced BOB-WAHR).  Only have one pasture with the BOB-WAHR up, 2 pastures don't have the BOB-WAHR, we have to finish fencing the entire property and it is just too hot to care right now. 

So, to continue with the 6' fence? Drop down to 4'??  If you like it, who cares if it looks funny to someone else? If all they have to do with their empty life is gaze at your fence and criticize, then let 'em-at least they'll have something to do.


----------



## Goat Whisperer (Jul 18, 2016)

If I could afford a 6ft fence, I'd be doing that too


----------



## babsbag (Jul 19, 2016)

I use 4' 2x4 no climb for my goats with no problems. I have a hot wire at knee height and the top but not to keep them from going over but to keep them from rubbing on the fence and to get the dogs in. I am not sure I would do 6' myself as on occasion I  need to lift something over the fence and that would be a pain.


----------



## Latestarter (Jul 20, 2016)

Well Babs, you know, they say "no pain, no gain"... You could consider that part of your "work out" disregarding all the OTHER physical "stuff" you have to do daily...   Just trying to help!


----------



## MrsKuhn (Jul 20, 2016)

Better to have more than enough than not enough? I would do 6 foot because I am OCD and everything has to match if I had gotten some for free and I didn't already have an existing fence. We are replacing some of our fencing to make it smaller holes because it will be too big for kids and I don't want to keep them confined. So I say if you can and want to, go for the 6 foot


----------



## misfitmorgan (Jul 20, 2016)

We do 47" page wire/field fence with a electric hip and top wire. Honestly we chose it because we are firstly doing a perimeter fence on 20 acres and then dividing that all into different pasture and fence the garden.....so at $150 per roll for 330ft compared to the other options yep we went with the page wire. Even with the page wire, fencing costs for us will be over $6,000. The non-climb i would love to have but at a compared $429 per 330ft our cost to do our fencing would be around $20,000 which i refuse to put that much money into fencing. If you can/did/will/plan on it....great that's awesome but we are just starting our farm still and we have many many things that need some money flow directed to them that are slightly more important then the fence....like building improvements and building stalls, new buildings, etc.


----------



## Bossroo (Jul 21, 2016)

Going with the minimum type of fencing means that you will be refencing if and when you decide to raise a beef, a pig, or a horse to add to / replace  your sheep, goats, and alpakas.  At what cost ?   Also, consider what happens if out of the blue ,you decide to move and the buyer doesn't put in an offer on your property due to fencing that the potential buyer finds lacking.  You do not what to overkill your fencing needs, but install a fence that is  sturdy enough and tall enough to accomadate any farm animals' needs.


----------



## misfitmorgan (Jul 22, 2016)

Bossroo said:


> Going with the minimum type of fencing means that you will be refencing if and when you decide to raise a beef, a pig, or a horse to add to / replace  your sheep, goats, and alpakas.  At what cost ?   Also, consider what happens if out of the blue ,you decide to move and the buyer doesn't put in an offer on your property due to fencing that the potential buyer finds lacking.  You do not what to overkill your fencing needs, but install a fence that is  sturdy enough and tall enough to accomadate any farm animals' needs.



Here everyone uses this type of fence if they dont want barbwire or just electric,for everything bigger then a chicken. Horses, diary cows, black angus, colored beef cows, goats, sheep, alpaca, beefalo, pigs, etc. The only people who use different fence are very well to do, from metro areas down south or out of state possibly. So i think it more comes down to your area....here a livestock perimeter fence and nice tight strung woven wire pastures are a huge selling point which would actually make our farm worth a lot more. If put up correctly the style of fence we use lasts 20-30yrs in serviceable condition, some cattle farmers have the same fencing and have had it up for 40yrs or more with livestock. So yeah if your concerned about re-sale value see whats popular in your area. If your concerned about budget, do what you can afford. If your concerned with how nice it looks go with what you like the looks of. Any fence put up well and tight with proper corners should service your needs for many years. Many here add barbwire or electric to the top and inside of the woven wire fences too.


----------



## chiques chicks (Jul 22, 2016)

In my area almost all fences are simply electric, anywhere from 1-6 strand depending on livestock. Only exceptions are fancy horse pastures with board fences. I'm guessing they have hot wires on the inside. I think the Alpaca farm has them as well, more for looks, since their primary business seems to be breeding and selling and tours. 

What it comes down to is - working farms use the most economically efficient, hobby farms make them pretty, but spend a lot of money.


----------



## Alexz7272 (Jul 22, 2016)

Thank you everyone! We have mobile electric fencing that I let the animals rotate through for pasture, this fencing would be for their actual pens where they sleep/hang out when they are not out rotating in pastures. We were lucky enough that our 5 acres was already surrounding my t-posts for the perimeter. We are currently running the 5 strand wires (3 of them will be electrical) and hopefully be completed by fall. We started with a completely blank space in terms of the property, so figuring out housing, pens, etc placement has been a challenge. We are definitely looking more for cost effective and functional over 'pretty'. You guys have helped alot, thank you!!


----------

