Fence Building

[a kind of magic]

We will be splitting out 10 acre field into properly fenced paddocks soon. All the previous fencing we have done has been post and rail (one boundary fence, corral area and a grass school.

For this we want to use wire as it would cost us a small fortune to post-and-rail it all. How frequently should we place the posts? Every 6ft as with post-and-rail or could we get away with them a little further apart? Would 3/4 rows of plain galvanised wire suffice?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[custard]

I really wouldn't use wire, even the plain galvanised sort can be lethal when a foot gets caught over it. If it were me I'd use electric tape which looks quite smart, is much easier to get tight and will probably snap if something gets caught up in it.

Mount the tape on decent thickness round posts and you can always add rails later if you want. With this in mind, the posts need to be either 6' or 12' apart as standard rails are 12' long.

 

[a kind of magic]

That is my problem, I should have said, sorry. My youngsters have no respect for electric wire. They know it will break and just push and push until it snaps, or the insulators pop out of the wooden posts. I was looking for something a little more hard to break than electric wire. Post and rails it is.

 

[HazellB]

We had the same problem 13 years ago when we bought bare land with no fences at all.

The puritans will hate this ... but wire is fine if you do it right.
We used 4 inch round posts 6 feet apart x2 then a telegraph pole every third post, if you see what I mean. You can really tension wire on something strong like a telegraph post and that's the key to getting it safer.

We also used not plain wire but pig wire (it's a series of squares - chicken wire scaled up if you like) set at least 18 inches from the ground and added a bottom rail over the bottom of the wire. The pig wire is 3 foot 6 tall, so I'd say put it higher if you can and make the bottom rail higher too. The point where a horse can squeeze under it by accident minus one inch is the exact right height!
As we afforded more rails we added a top rail, again on the wire's top. Recently we added more rails to some lengths and refenced the boundary without wire.

One thing I would strongly recommend is going to farming auctions. You'll see Victorian rafters and floor beams about 12 feet or so long for sale. They are Pitch pine, a stronger version of pine, and as strong as you'll ever need. I paid only £60 for 55 good ones and a dozen or so ropey ones last summer and that's about average. They have tiny nails in them but they snap or pull out or knock in very easily. The ones I got fenced over 100 yards (they were long, so each one made two posts) and they look far nicer than brand new (highly stealable!) posts.

I'd also say we hedged our land and it makes future fencing cheaper as it soaks up spare water, means you can use lighter timber near it and of course adds to the grazing area by offering tasty hedge nibbles. Puts thieves off, too!

 

[custard]

I'd also say we hedged our land and it makes future fencing cheaper as it soaks up spare water, means you can use lighter timber near it and of course adds to the grazing area by offering tasty hedge nibbles. Puts thieves off, too!

Some councils offer grants for planting hedges so worth checking. Unfortunately our local council's scheme ended just as we thought we might plant a new hedge

 

[Fiona]

I would suggest wire, but with an electric offset. That works with our horses, and keeps them away from the wire without the expense of post and rail.

Fiona