Looking for Advice and Experience

[CntryBoy777]

I am weighing my "Options" for some fencing needs and am looking for advice and expeience, along with suggestions on my best answer for a solution. I will admit here that I have absolutely no experience with proper techniques, terminology, or products available for this purpose, so there is a "Blank Slate" to work with here.
I need to fence off a fairly sizeable piece of land and am not only inexperienced, but handicapped too physically and monetarily. There has been much spoken on many Threads about cattle panels and the multiple uses of them, also have seen their use in many pictures shared of animals with them. My thoughts are if I used them instead of traditional fencing, the cost would be fairly comparative, or even cheaper, faster, and much less physical work to install them over the Woven wire fencing.
The only animals that would be inside the panels would be pygmy goats and poultry. There will not be any others added in the future that would be any different. If I went with the cattle panels 2"x4" openings, what would be the best way to install them to contain the animals? It doesn't have to last forever or even 20yrs down the road, because I won't be here then, and the animals that are left will probably be sold anyway. So, any thoughts, advice, and opinions will certainly be very Welcomed....Thanks!

 

[NH homesteader]

I use cattle panels for my buck pen, and will use them when we have a barn to fence in a small area outside for winter, and inside to divide kidding pens... But, they're kind of expensive. They're$20-25 a piece and only 16' long. I haven't priced out woven wire yet but seems like it would be cheaper. Seems like poultry might be able to fit through the holes unless you put chicken wire up.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Well, once you add up the wire, posts, concrete, and labor that includes stretching, and digging the post holes with a clamshell digger $22.50/16' doesn't seem to be that much more expensive in the long run and it should be much faster to put up for me, anyway.

 

[NH homesteader]

Concrete? Yeah we don't use concrete lol. Yes they are easier to handle! I do like them, and I'm guilty of climbing over them because I don't feel like walking over to the gate!

 

[Bruce]

Like everything else, Your Mileage May Vary

I have NO IDEA how much "pressure" pygmy goats put on a fence but surely they don't need a lot of height. Chickens put no pressure on the fence but will easily fly a 4' fence, some a 5' and some a 6' ... Though USUALLY they like to land on the top before they go over so you can sometimes solve that problem with a wire above the top of a 4' fence.

As far as keeping the chickens in, cattle panels have 8" wide x 6" high openings except the very bottom where there are two 4" high. My concern is that chickens can likely get through a 6" opening. My solution to that is cheesy I have a lot of old yellow or orange hot wire rope that was up on wimpy wood posts not deep enough in the ground. I'm filling in the first and maybe second 6" opening with a horizontal run of that stuff. I really don't know how high I would have to go up with that if the girls are intent on getting out. Not sure if they have the ability to fly up a couple of feet, bring their wings in and land on the horizontal wire of a 8"x6" opening. They aren't songbirds after all.

In my experience, limited though it is, chickens will pretty much follow their beaks along the ground if they have plenty to keep them occupied (ie plants and bugs) and nothing exciting on the other side. They may stay inside a fence line without too much extra effort on your part. Another consideration is "what is on the other side"? If there aren't neighbors that would get in a huff if some chickens wandered on their property now and then, less of a problem. And since I think you are home most of the time you could likely keep an eye on them. We let our girls wander the area around the house if we are home. Only Echo has ever crossed the road and that was after the fox dropped her and she ran, blindly I imagine. Some of the girls will go out into the edge of the road, no idea why and not a popular thing with me! That isn't real common though.

If the goats aren't a problem, you can use the strength of the cattle panels to hold up at the corners (put one T-post for each panel 4" from the corner where two panels meet) so you don't need wood posts and bracing like you will for a stretched fence. You will still need braced or concreted posts (bracing here is still good) on the hinge side of gates ASSUMING you are using structural metal or wood gates. Join the panels with hog rings. At @farmerjan's suggestion, I overlapped my panels one "opening". That makes each joint quite strong but I am keeping out predators and thought I was keeping in a large dog. You may be able to just butt them together and join with cheap hog rings or the $3.50 wire panel connector hinge from Premier 1. Don't try to put a T-post at the joint, that will make it really hard to clip the panel to the post.

You can make a gate out of a piece of cattle panel the desired width and "hang" that with the wire panel connector hinge. I don't think I'd want to make a wide gate that way but would be functional for a 3' or 4' "people" gate. That sort of gate wouldn't need to be hung on a braced wood post. Put a T-Post midway between the vertical pieces at the end of the fence as you would for the end of that panel anyway. If you want a 6' or 8' gate, you could hinge a 3' or 4' piece of panel on T-Posts on both sides. You would need to clip the cattle panel gate high and low.

Note, however, that cattle panels don't do "rolling ground". You'll either have to dig a trough or mount the panel higher on the posts to accommodate somewhat non flat ground.

Sheep and Goat or Field fence frequently comes in 330' rolls. That would be roughly equivalent to 20 Cattle Panels. TSC sells them for $22 each or > $450. Woven Field fence is $150, Sheep and Goat $280. Figure 1 T-post every 10' for stretched fence, I used 1 every 8' for the cattle panel part of my fence. As you noted, a single cattle panel is a LOT easier to move around than a 330' roll of woven fence of any nature. Those rolls weigh ~200 pounds and up vs 36 pounds for a 16' cattle panel. And you can move a cattle panel without lifting most of it, just pull it along behind you.

Not sure how big an area you are planning. It would help if you used the Google Area Calculator https://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-area-calculator-tool.htm to define the area so those who might have an opinion can see what they are dealing with.

Pounding T-posts can be pretty hard on the body unless you have really nice rock free ground. Not sure what it would cost to rent a power pounder and even those have a certain physical impact given they are heavy. Quick search found a rentable PD-55 and it WEIGHS 55 pounds. There might be others that are lighter. I know NOTHING about these things but: How one gets that up on top of a T-post, even by putting it on then tilting, is beyond me. The generic manual one I bought at TSC weighs 17 pounds and that seems heavy enough to me when I am messing with it over shoulder height.

 

[CntryBoy777]

This is the area to be fenced, except for the line ontop between the 2 northern points, when looking right to left. There is already an existing fence in thet area. The calculator says it is 0.17 acres. Since all I have is a phone I had to take a screenshot to be able to post it, hope it helps.

 

[babsbag]

@Bruce, they do make a cattle panel that is 2x4 square and 4x4 square, they are the only ones I buy anymore but they aren't cheap... $$$$. I would never use field fencing or the cattle panels with the big squares. Chickens go out and other things come in. Also baby goats go right through them.
You still have to use t-posts with cattle panels so you don't save any money there. You can use t-post corners as well, they kit is called 'wedge lock' and they do work so no concrete or wood posts except on gates.

At a minimum I would use the sheep and goat woven wire fencing and hopefully find some one to help you stretch it.

Best thing since sliced bread. I bought it before I retired when I actually had money. That was before goats too...hmmm. I think I am on to something there.
http://www.rohrermfg.com/post-drivers/98e-basic-t-post-driver/

 

[Bruce]

@babsbag That pounder is only 26 pounds, definitely more reasonable if one can be found to rent.

Regarding the panels, yep I know they make different size openings in different panels. TSC only calls the one I referenced (the cheapest) a 'cattle panel'. Though @CntryBoy777 said 'cattle panel' he also said 2x4 openings. I should have paid more attention to that! Those are "horse panels" on TSC and cost $90 for a 16'. That definitely makes the fence WAY more expensive.

I didn't find actually stretching the wire to be the hard part though it would have been easier to have someone helping to raise it as I cranked.The longest piece was about 170'. The HARD part was digging all the holes in rocky ground for the wood posts. Still need a lot of T-posts either way. For stretching I had to buy 2 come-alongs and make 2 stretchers from 2x4s and bolts.

As you know, I am unimpressed with the Wedge-Locs and surely wouldn't trust them in even a semi-permanent fence. TSC isn't carrying them anymore so they weren't good sellers.

@CntryBoy777 Quite the odd shape! Is that related to topography which is not obvious from these satellite photos? Or maybe there is an angle from which the satellite photo was taken?

What are the linear dimensions? On regular Google you can do a "measure distance" once you click on a point. A quick check on my property with those 2 'calculators' suggests .17 acres would be about 380' total. In $90 horse panels that would be over $2K! Yes there is existing fence on one side but still!

I don't suppose there are some local teens that would dig you some post holes for cheap? If you can get them down 3' you shouldn't need to use any concrete. If you aren't hanging a gate off the corner you can use floating braces as shown by @greybeard instead of an H-brace. That saves 2 posts and holes. If you are putting a gate there, you can use a floating brace on the strike post. I did that in the 'middle' of my west fence line. The NW corner of my fencing is in concrete since I hit ledge at 2' down and is floating braced. Not sure how I can get a gate in there unless I want to concrete in more posts

 

[CntryBoy777]

Well, as far as the angles go the lines go straight, and mine will end up more curved, because of the layout, and that other side is the existing goat pen. which as you can see has a hill in it, the basic lay-of-the-land is relatively flat. this looks back towards that area, and the fence is behind yonder goat. This new area would tie into that and come to about where I was standing to take this pic. This next pic is me turning to the left... ...as it dog-legs to the right, so the fence would too. Guess I was just looking for an easyway out, cause it is just me and tho I can dig post holes by hand, I'd prefer not to and handling rolls of fencing is getting much tougher. I can't handle a 330' roll only 100', so I get it 5' high. I get posts and fence from the Co-Op in town, much cheaper than TSC that is 45mins away, town is 20.
Concrete is the less physical way to set the posts, because of the tamping involved, and is faster for the same reason. I've never said it before, but the fencing I have put up is hand stretched, so it isn't "Ping" tight. Tho the boards I have put between posts does tighten it up some and lends support, too. I used them because of the slope of the land to take the slack up of the fence not being grounded. Really not thrilled with the height of the panels anyway, but Easy makes it "Swallow" much better.

 

[Bruce]

Yep easy has it's benefits! That is why I have the cattle panels on the south line. WAY too many braced wood posts needed to go around that tree and the giant rocks with stretched fence.