Insane fencing costs?

[secuono]

I'm not understanding how you want the fence. Can you draw up a picture?

I drew a pic and this is what I got from what I understand.
Each side of a 1 acre square is 208.7103 feet. So I'll say 209ft.
Not getting nitpicky, and with 14 sides of 209ft. That is 2,926 linear feet.



My fence project cost roughly 3k per 1,000 feet installed. But, we bought all the rolls, he bought the rest and installed.


So, 25k sounds way over kill.

Always get several estimates.

 

[maritown]

I'm not understanding how you want the fence. Can you draw up a picture?

I drew a pic and this is what I got from what I understand.
Each side of a 1 acre square is 208.7103 feet. So I'll say 209ft.
Not getting nitpicky, and with 14 sides of 209ft. That is 2,926 linear feet.
View attachment 38857



My fence project cost roughly 3k per 1,000 feet installed. But, we bought all the rolls, he bought the rest and installed.


So, 25k sounds way over kill.

Always get several estimates.

Yes, that is perfectly it with the middle part being totally open as an aisle.

I agree that it is crazy! Unfortunately this guy is the only livestock fencing contractor in the area. I guess I could call around regular fencing contracters, I was not sure if a residential contractor would work with woven wire!

It is looking like I might just try to hire a contractor to put in posts and then buy and put up the woven wire ourselves. Sigh, just another stress of moving!

 

[Mike CHS]

We got a cost estimate for a run of a hair under 1000' which came out to a little over $4000 so we decided to do our own. That run is several times longer than the original 1000' and covers a little over 3 acres but is also cross fenced and has training pens. That cost us a little over $3000 but we later ran two strands of electric over that and that wasn't included in that $3000. Unlike you though we were living here full time then and had the time to get it done.

If you animals are trained to electric fence you could run 4 or even 5 strand high tensile electric for a fraction of the cost but I realize goats aren't as easy to keep in. We have kept our sheep in 4 strand poly rope without issue (internal fence) but I wouldn't attempt to use it as exterior containment.

 

[greybeard]

We recently bought a property and want to fence in four 1-acre pastures. We want them connected in sets of two with an aisle in between, so each set of 2 pastures shares one fence line.

As I'm sure you know, an acre is a measurement of area (43,560 sq ft) not linear feet and thus can be any shape. A perfect square or a long skinny rectangle or even a triangle or circle shape.
A perfect square acre has 4 equal sides of 208.7 ft each, with a total perimeter of 834.5 linear ft.
4 sq acres would have a perimeter of 3338 linear ft of fence (not including the common alley and dividing fences)

I don't know what pastureland goes for in that area, but here, it's around $7000/acre.
At $8/ft, your fencing costs just for the 4 ac perimeter fence alone would be approaching what the land itself would cost.

I'm assuming this is what you have in mind:
(the dotted line is just to delineate the individual acres)

Add some dimensions to this from your survey plat and you will know how many linear ft of fence you need built and get some more quotes from other contractors. If the above is what you have in mind, I suspect the total linear feet will be close to 2500 ft.

(Edit, I now see you want each 2 acre section to share a common alley, not a common fence. You will need to add about 1/3 more ft of fence to your estimate)

 

[maritown]

We got a cost estimate for a run of a hair under 1000' which came out to a little over $4000 so we decided to do our own. That run is several times longer than the original 1000' and covers a little over 3 acres but is also cross fenced and has training pens. That cost us a little over $3000 but we later ran two strands of electric over that and that wasn't included in that $3000. Unlike you though we were living here full time then and had the time to get it done.

If you animals are trained to electric fence you could run 4 or even 5 strand high tensile electric for a fraction of the cost but I realize goats aren't as easy to keep in. We have kept our sheep in 4 strand poly rope without issue (internal fence) but I wouldn't attempt to use it as exterior containment.

Ha! I wish they were now but I don't think our buck would care about a shock and I definitely don't want to worry about training during the move. Hopefully in the future that is an option.

My dream fencing is crossfencing with no climb horse on the inside. I just think it looks beautiful! Woven wire is my idea of a pretty middle ground fence option. I mean, who has 25k to blow on 4 acres? The parcel is 20 total!

 

[babsbag]

I had my 6 acres perimeter fenced, about 1800 feet. One side was already done. I bought 2x4 no climb horse fencing 4' tall and T posts, I'm guessing that it was about $2000 for material, I know the wire was $1200. I paid a neighbor to do the labor, $15.00 an hour. For him and a friend it was two weekends at about $600 total labor. And my land was far from level and clear, they had to clear brush and trees. I did the corner posts myself. They price you have been quoted is insane.

 

[greybeard]

One of the reasons small parcel fencing seems so outlandish, is the startup/move-in costs for the contractor is the same for 4 acres as it is for 40 acres. They still have a crew they have to pay wages to, pay insurance on, tie up a tractor, trailer, drilling or driving equipment, so their costs per foot to the customer is going to be higher than if it was for a larger parcel.
You may well get a better price from the residential contractors in your area. They do small parcels routinely.

The longest single run I have built here was 2200 ft of 5 strand HT barbed wire. It was hard work. Had I known at the time that I could have gotten an equal or better fence built by a contractor for about $2.50/ft and never had to dig a single hole, drive a single staple or tie a single tee post tie myself, I would have jumped on it.
I spent over $1000 just in Tee post, another $500 in barbed wire, and I don't know how many big 8'X 8"+ posts for corners, mid fence H posts and it has 5 gates in it, at about $150 each. I had better thing to do with my time, sweat and blood than building than fence myself at age 60.

 

[maritown]

One of the reasons small parcel fencing seems so outlandish, is the startup/move-in costs for the contractor is the same for 4 acres as it is for 40 acres. They still have a crew they have to pay wages to, pay insurance on, tie up a tractor, trailer, drilling or driving equipment, so their costs per foot to the customer is going to be higher than if it was for a larger parcel.
You may well get a better price from the residential contractors in your area. They do small parcels routinely.

The longest single run I have built here was 2200 ft of 5 strand HT barbed wire. It was hard work. Had I known at the time that I could have gotten an equal or better fence built by a contractor for about $2.50/ft and never had to dig a single hole, drive a single staple or tie a single tee post tie myself, I would have jumped on it.
I spent over $1000 just in Tee post, another $500 in barbed wire, and I don't know how many big 8'X 8"+ posts for corners, mid fence H posts and it has 5 gates in it, at about $150 each. I had better thing to do with my time, sweat and blood than building than fence myself at age 60.

That is an interesting point. Still, there must be reasonable limits. I just cannot imagine anyone being willing to pay 25k for 4 acres of cheap fencing. I guess they must be out there though if he happily charges that much!

I will definitely get quotes from regular contractors. Hopefully there are some cheaper options because 25k is just not feasible.

 

[Baymule]

What about temporary pens made of sheep and goat panels? The goats might be mad at you for a while, but they'd get over it. Then you could get one pasture built and turn them out. And the sheep and goat panels will always have a use for lots of things.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/feedlot-panel-sheep-goat-16-ft-l-x-48-in-h

 

[maritown]

What about temporary pens made of sheep and goat panels? The goats might be mad at you for a while, but they'd get over it. Then you could get one pasture built and turn them out. And the sheep and goat panels will always have a use for lots of things.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/feedlot-panel-sheep-goat-16-ft-l-x-48-in-h

This is a great idea. If I can't get a decent quote from a contractor we will definitely go this route.