Farm fencing is a self-aggrandising disbursal , both in terms of time and money , but it ’s one of the most important purchases a James Leonard Farmer will make , and it ’s well made ahead of time in the appendage of set up your farm . After all , you ’ve achieve your destination of move to the country , but without the correct type of fencing for your farm , you could search out the window and see your stack of sheep and their protector llama heading down the route , your Capricorn the Goat enjoying the fresh plant fruit trees , or your pigs digging in the neighbour ’s garden . Oops !
History of Farm Fences
In the distant past , natural material were the only uncommitted supply for farm fencing . Then in the tardy 1800s , barbed telegram was invented , offer the brave farm fence builder an effective mean value of creating long - standing roadblock . Today , fencing technology has grown more humane and admit a much broad range of material , from the old understudy , such as forest , to new , high - tech materials , such as mellow - tensile polymer rail and electro - plastic twine .
Stan Potratz , possessor of Premier Fence Systems , has been instrumental in introducing many modern farm - fence products to North America .
“ While go to college in England in the late sixties , I found a used written matter of Andre Voisin ’s record , Grass Productivity , which outlined the principal of rotational , or intensive , grazing , ” he excuse . “ The college had an operating farm , and because of my setting , I got recruited to work on it , and I began experimenting with the musical theme . New material were showing up in Britain at the time , like low - impedance energiser , step - in posts , electro - plastic wire and mellow - tensile wire . ”
When Stan returned to the kinsfolk farm in the late seventies , he wanted to runsheep . He went to local farm - provision stores but could n’t find any of the materials he ’d been using in England , so he began importing them for his own use .
“ My neighbor looked kind of askance , ” he says . “ At the time in Iowa , you raise corn and bonce , maybe some hogs . But the economy of the late 1970s was good for sheep , and I was running 700 ewes using these products I ’d imported . Other sheep producers became really interested in what I was doing — as did staff from some of the agrarian colleges . ”
Stan did n’t intend to start a fencing supply business , but by the former 1980s , he had a viable sideline business sector .
Today his inadvertent line has grown because , as he explains , “ There has been a real increment in the availability and quality of these newer fence ware in the last couple of tenner , both with the spell products and the domestic ones . ”
Fence Laws and Regulations
Every state has constabulary that regulate possession and control of farm animal . In some areas where “ liberal - range of a function ” practice of law are still enforced , a landowner must fence out the neighbor ’s animals , but in most place , it is the farm animal owner ’s responsibility to hold in his or her creature with enough fencing .
Fence laws typically define who is responsible for for construct and maintaining a fence , who has liability when brute get out and cause damage ( include when they get on the road and get an accident ) , and a description of what constitutes a “ legal fence . ”
Some local governments also have fencing laws , which often proscribe the utilization of certain types of fencing — for representative , barbed wire or electric fence are often illegal in towns and subdivisions . Your County Extension Agent or local animal control officer should be capable to leave information on the fencing law in your arena .
Your Existing Fence: Fix or Replace?
If you ’ve inherit an former fence , you ’re faced with the quandary of fixate it up or replacing it . Some old fences still have mess of liveliness left in them , and with just a minor amount of repairs can provide years of divine service . But many are more hassle than they ’re worth .
To adjudicate which category your fencing fall into , take a stroll . Walk the entire fencing slowly and look at its condition . Are posts rotting and shine over ? Push them with all your strength ; do they move easily ? Are wires rusted to the distributor point that it takes little pressure to break in them ? If you answer yes to these interrogative , scrap the existing fence . On the other hired hand , if the post are still stout and strong and wires are n’t badly corrode , or if there are just one or two spot that are failing , you might be able-bodied to just tighten up up an existing fencing .
Map Out Farm Fencing
Before you start purchasing cloth , it helps to map out your fencing project . take out your farm on power grid newspaper publisher showing road , buildings , paddocks and significant natural features , such asheavy Grant Wood , pondsand rock outcroppings .
Paddock Design
hold multiple paddocks ( pasture subdivisions ) to revolve farm animal through improves grass management , provender quality and ruck health . The more paddocks the better , but at last , direct for at least eight . Paddocks can be well subdivided using impermanent electric fence to start out out , though developing permanent paddocks reduces the work load . When design paddock , keep in psyche that a square require less fencing fabric per square metrical foot than an oblong or triangular layout , though at times , these shapes work out well to meet other needs , such as access to water .
Gate Placement
Gates are best build at the onset , and extra gates provide greater flexibility , but they also be extra money . architectural plan gate layout for comfort of movement , both for animals and equipment that might involve to travel by through . mankind logic gate should be 4 human foot wide , and equipment gates should be 12 to 16 feet wide of the mark . Show attribute line , paddock lines and gates on your mapping . Take measurements for the credit line , and mark them accordingly .
Now with your design map out , begin pricing materials and comparing products or contractors .
Guidelines for Fence Posts
While the type of post you prefer count on the type of surround you ultimately quality , there are some oecumenical guidelines :
This article was take out from the Summer 2002 issue ofHobby Farmsmagazine .
