Constructing a woven wire field fence - PICS

[bonbean01]

 

[SheepGirl]

Thanks!

We still have to chop off the tops of some of them with a chainsaw because some of the posts couldn't go in all the way due to tree roots, rocks, or the septic tank. So right now all the posts are at different heights lol.

And we have to add the barbed wire along the bottom. The boys will be taken to auction on Tuesday and the ewes will be turned out on Wednesday after I fill 'em up on hay. Then I will be getting my new ram here in the next couple weeks

 

[BrownSheep]

Feel free to stop by Idaho and redo my fences... There's only an acre or 60 that need redone.
EDITTED to say soooo preeeeeety

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Looks great!!!

 

[marlowmanor]

I understand your idea with the barb wire on the bottom, but wouldn't it be an issue too that they could possible step on the barbed wire too if they got too close to the fence?

Your fence looks great!

 

[bluebirdsnfur]

Okay, here is the long, extensive update...

My uncle came up Friday night with the family. We stayed up late talking about where the fence is going to go and gate location, etc. He gave us lots of good advice, esp since (what I learned) he has put up 100s of acres of fencing with my great uncle (so his uncle).

Saturday morning I had a meeting with the counselor at college to discuss my classes and everything, so my mom and uncle dropped me off and then they went to go pick up the post pounder. So my grandmother came to pick me up and then we ran to the grocery store. We headed home and they had only a couple posts up. They did manage to break a couple posts from hitting rocks lol.

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/uploads/4485_dscn6004.jpg

Soo we were still clearing some brush right along the fence line where we marked it at to make the post pounder fit better.

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/uploads/4485_dscn6017.jpg

We got the entire back done.

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/uploads/4485_dscn6036.jpg

Making sure the post is level...

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/uploads/4485_dscn6042.jpg

My mom had a change of plans, so we made the fence parallel with the back of the house and then it went straight out (sorry if that doesn't make sense lol, but instead of being a rectangle, it curves a bit).

This morning we started at about 8:30 or so. The had to finish pounding in the posts this morning on the front and on some of the side. So while they were pounding in posts, my grandfather, my cousin, my brother, and I rolled out the first roll of fencing and we stretched it by hand (with hammers). It actually worked really well and it made the fence really tight. We put the top of the 47" fencing at 50" so we can have a string of barbed wire at the bottom, so that way if the sheep try to push out, they'll prick their noses on it first and they won't try to do it again. That's what my uncle suggested, so we did that. We haven't put up the barbed wire yet. But here's the portion of the fence we hand-tightened.

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/uploads/4485_dscn6082.jpg

So by the time we nailed in the fencing, they got done pounding in the posts and my uncle brought out his fence stretcher (he brought it along so we didn't have to buy it ). We managed to put up 3 rolls of wire in less than 2 hours--course it helped that my uncle had it stretched over 6 posts and then us 6 kids all nailed in a post, so 6 posts all got nailed in in the time it takes to nail in 1-2 posts.

Here's what we did with the fence stretcher:

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/uploads/4485_dscn6059.jpg

And here are some pictures of the finished product...

Here's how we did the corners.
http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/uploads/4485_dscn6061.jpg

There was a HUGE trench/hole with boulders in it, so instead of putting a post on either side of it (like I suggested), my mom decided she just wanted to go around it.
http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/uploads/4485_dscn6073.jpg

You can see the amount of brush we cleared.
http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/uploads/4485_dscn6075.jpg

You can see how we un-rectangle'd it here.
http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/uploads/4485_dscn6087.jpg

Here's our gate. They accidentally put the post 2.5" too far away so now there's a big gap in between the post and the gate. But it's okay, because it's too narrow for any critters to fit through. Also the chain was too short.
http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/uploads/4485_dscn6088.jpg

Nice job...looks great! We used Red Brand too (made in the USA! ) but bought the woven wire no climb horse fence with smaller squares to help keep critters out. There was a large gap between our posts and gates like yours so we attached 2x4s to the posts to fill in the gaps and keep the sheep from sticking their heads thru. We also had the same wire fencing attached to the gates (we have the red gates too) to prevent any escapes that way.

Well done!

 

[Roving Jacobs]

What a nice looking fence! Great job and how nice to have the whole family chip in.

I would be really worried about low strands of barbed wire. Seems to me that it's just asking for baby lambs or big wooly adults trying to nibble outside the fence to get torn up or caught. That's just me though. I have goats as well as sheep so I have a hot wire on the top and at grazing level inside to keep nosy creatures from busting through.

 

[Straw Hat Kikos]

What a nice looking fence! Great job and how nice to have the whole family chip in.

I would be really worried about low strands of barbed wire. Seems to me that it's just asking for baby lambs or big wooly adults trying to nibble outside the fence to get torn up or caught. That's just me though. I have goats as well as sheep so I have a hot wire on the top and at grazing level inside to keep nosy creatures from busting through.

I love your avatar. Jacob sheep are so neat.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Yeah, I am also a little worried about a low strand of barbed wire. My sheep tend to get caught in things, so I can only imagine what they'd do with it. The good news is that it'll be pulled tight, I imagine, but I still think it may not be needed.

 

[SarahFair]

The SO and his friend put the gate post a little too far too, to fix it they just hooped some extra fencing to close the gap