# Woven Field Fence in Woods for Nigerian Dwarfs



## stevin (Oct 27, 2014)

Is this even possible?
the terrain in not all that flat with some small hills and dips. could I use some of the trees as posts but still placing post between trees. what would be the greatest distance between 2 trees before I would have to install an actual post?


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## OneFineAcre (Oct 27, 2014)

I wouldn't attach to the trees myself.  Pick your path based on what you have to clear the least.  Then, start cutting my friend, and I say this based on very recent experience.


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## stevin (Oct 27, 2014)

That looks great! how tall is that fencing and how far apart are those posts?


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## OneFineAcre (Oct 27, 2014)

4ft fence posts are spaced 8 ft
I never took any more pics where it runs in woods I'll take some this weekend
In the 3rd pic you can see where I ran a hot wire about a foot high to keep them from rubbing on it and stretching


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## Baymule (Oct 27, 2014)

Do not nail fence to trees. I say this based on old and recent experience. Put up field fence 17 years ago around 16 acres. It was mostly wooded and naturally the biggest, prettiest trees were on the fence line. We couldn't bear to cut them, so wove the fence in and out of the trees with posts in between. That would have been fine, had we sold property immediately. But if you plan on keeping your property any length of time, sadly, you must cut trees for a clear, straight fence line.

Know what happens years later when trees die and your fence is nailed to a now dead tree? Know what happens when the dead tree falls down? Know what happens when suddenly your livestock has a downed fence and they escape to 700 acres of wilderness? Or worse, out on the road?

Do yourself a HUGE favor and do it right the first time. It will cost you more time, labor and money later to replace. Not to mention that every storm will bring it's own set of problems.

I rode that fence line just last week. We have sold that property, but still have our horses on it until we can fence the new property. You can't see it, but there is a fence in those trees.


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## stevin (Oct 28, 2014)

some great points here! thank you!
I will definitely not be bracing the field fencing to trees now.
how will the woven field fencing do on an uneven terrain? for the most part the ground is relatively flat with the exception of a few areas that have small hills and some small dips.  does the woven fence have more vertical flexibility versus the welded wire fence?


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## Baymule (Oct 28, 2014)

It depends on the size of those small hills and dips. Put a T-post on top of the small hill, stretch wire to it. Small dips, if just a hole, fill it in, if it slopes down, then back up, put a T-post in the middle of the dip. You might try to level some of these areas if you can.

I wouldn't use welded wire for serious fencing. It has a tendency to come apart if animals abuse it. Pawing the fence, butting the fence or any of the other things that the little darlings do. 

We raised our backyard fence 3 more feet with welded wire to contain our Great Pyrenees. She bites the wire and  shakes it and has torn the welds loose.


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## OneFineAcre (Nov 3, 2014)

I took some pictures of the fence running through the woods where the first pics of the holes are at.
Pick the path of least resistance.  You want the fence straight, but in the woods it doesn't have to be perfectly straight.  I didn't worry about making a slight turn if it was going to avoid taking down a large tree.

And what I did was start with a machete and prunning sheers to pick a path, basically just a walking trail.  Then as the trail became more defined, bring in the bush axe and the chain saw last.  And, you don't have to always have a very wide space either.


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## frustratedearthmother (Nov 3, 2014)

Dang, that's a good looking fence.  And in addition to being a good looking fence - that is a STRAIGHT fence!  We don't have those in my part of Texas, lol!  Not a Texas problem per se, more of a fence builder problem...


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## Goat Whisperer (Nov 3, 2014)

@OneFineAcre 

Did you install that fence yourself?! It looks AWESOME!


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## OneFineAcre (Nov 3, 2014)

@Goat Whisperer 

No.  If I had to install all of that fencing we would have never been able to move. 

I hired a contractor to do the initial fencing. I did have to cut the path for the fence.

We will be doing more eventually which I will do myself since it will be in smaller chunks.


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## OneFineAcre (Nov 3, 2014)

This is the area I fenced, sections 1 and 2.  Bucks are in 2, does in 1.





The earlier pictures through the woods start on the left side behind the building, go across the back and there are a couple of the section in the middle

Picture in front of 2 standing in the area not fenced.




Front of section 1.


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## Baymule (Nov 3, 2014)

Very good looking fence! Isn't it amazing how your values change? Barns, sheds, fences, gates are all greatly admired and on the wish list!


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## animalmom (Nov 8, 2014)

Oh, and then there is the lusting over a big pile of gravel!


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## Baymule (Nov 9, 2014)

animalmom said:


> Oh, and then there is the lusting over a big pile of gravel!


How did you know???  We just bought a new place, fixing up, painting, getting carport in 2 weeks, have to build fence.......and there is deep sand at the end of the driveway by the road. When it rains, it is slush. Diesel truck + deep sand = stuck. The rocks we want are not the diamond kind-they are the gray/brown/large chunky kind--and LOTS of them!!


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## greybeard (Nov 11, 2014)

Great looking fence OneFineAcre. A few things. 

I too have built fence thru woods, and like the fence in the pictures, it's straight as an arrow since it is on a property line & I did it myself, but it's not woven wire. My brother & I did the woven wire  (what we called hog wire, with 2 strands of barbed on top) thing on this place before it was cleared off when I was 16--1966 and it went ok, but it was nothing but work.

For my fences, instead of stringing a line as in the pictures, I just started clearing one tree at a time, until I could stand at the start point on one end, then sight down thru the woods with my rifle scope till I could see the end point 2250' away. (I put a t-post in at the end with a reflector on it) Then, I set my big posts on each end and unrolled one strand of HT 12ga wire, stretched it tight as a banjo string and that guaranteed a straight fence. A crooked fence places stress on posts and is not as attractive as a straight one. Along that stretched wire, I planted a post just every 100' or so to hold the wire up, then unrolled and stretched all the rest of my wire. I added all the other post after I had all the wire up--but again, that isn't  woven wire--it's HT and barbed wire. 

Using trees for posts--the only way I will do it is to nail a treated 2x6 to the tree then staple the wire to the board. Otherwise, the tree's bark will grow into and around the wire and if the wire ever gets loose or damaged, there is no way to easily retighten and repair it without a LOT of cutting and splicing. The original fence I talked about from the 60s was stapled to trees, and lordy what a pita it was to remove when I rebuilt it. 

Sand driveway. Part of mine is and it can get messy. In East Texas, gravel is just cost prohibitive because it is in such high demand from the concrete industry. (I live 45 miles North of Houston) 
The options are crushed concrete--trucked in limestone--washout from ready mix concrete plants, and iron ore. I used iron ore, as it is readily available and inexpensive. Don't remember how many yards³ I bought but it was 8 dump truck loads for about $1500 in 2011. There is a "using curve" to iron ore. Spread it, level it, pack it down by driving over it fully several times then wait for the first good soaking rain. It will turn into a gawd awful mess, as the rain settles it down, but within a day or two, it is solid enough for an 18 wheeler to traverse and forever afterwards will be solid. It's just that first time it rains that is messy. The longer it is in place, the more the iron particles rust together and the better it becomes. 

In small patches of loose sand, I have seen (and had good luck myself), just buying bags of sackrete, ($4/80lbs) dumping them on the sand, spread it out, and tilling the sackrete into the sand with a garden tiller or big tiller behind a tractor, then either wet it down good or wait for a rain. Don't drive on it till it sets up. Do NOT use plain portland cement for this. That makes what is known as stabilized sand. It works good for a base under culverts or for a seldom used drive with something else laid over it, but driving directly on stabilized sand every day will soon turn it right back into powdery sand. (If you do the sackrete/tilling thing, immediately afterwards wash the tiller good with a garden hose and pressure nozzle--cement is corrosive and will turn your tiller to rust if not washed off)


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## Baymule (Nov 11, 2014)

@greybeard that is a great idea for the sandy driveway. There's lots of iron ore in the Tyler area and I bet I can get some at a fairly decent price. Thanks for the info!


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## upsidedown (Apr 9, 2015)

nice looking fences!! That is on my to do list this spring


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## Hens and Roos (Apr 9, 2015)

fence looks great, are the posts treated and do you have problems with the goats eating them?


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## babsbag (Apr 9, 2015)

I live on probably the hilliest and rockiest land in all of CA. I DO use trees for fence posts, but I am OLD and won't be here long enough to watch the trees die and fall down. They are oak trees and even if they do die it could years and years and years before they fall over. Some of the oaks that are dead make the best posts; they are incredibly hard. I don't nail to the trees, I use wire wrapped around the trunk. If I had to cut trees in order to fence the stumps would still be in the way so I just put the trees to use.

I  use woven 2x4 no climb wire; it does hills and valleys better than welded.  When the dip in the ground is severe I will put a post in the middle of the dip and cut the fencing at the post, overlap it and start up the hill; some dips are just too big to stretch through. I use the steel t-posts about every 8-10 feet and if there are no trees I use a peeler core in concrete about every 100' or so, but I have lots of trees so really not an issue. I also use trees to stretch the fence, they make a great dead man anchor.   When I do have to deal with a severe dip I put a peeler core in concrete in the "valley" so I can stretch from it. I am a stickler for a tight fence.


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## OneFineAcre (Apr 9, 2015)

Hens and Roos said:


> fence looks great, are the posts treated and do you have problems with the goats eating them?


Yes they are treated
No they don't bother the posts
Most of the fence at this point has a hot wire one foot above the ground to keep them off of it
They love to rub on it and stretch it


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