Fencing Advice

[Kacey88]

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I am looking into fencing a site, its 4 acres and in a year or two I'll hopefully be building on it. So I'll have to fence inside the hedge and then divide into paddocks, etc.

I'll be looking at something smarter/more expensive for the drive down and then save money for paddocks behind the house maybe. Here are some types I'm looking at. I'm assuming post and rail would work out too expensive, and I think some of these look just as your smart.

Looking to hear experience/advice/things to keep in mind!

 

[hock]

Temporary fencing until You decide how you want your lay out to be I would suggest. I’m now just starting to replace my wooden posts and rope electric with post and rails, it’s taken 3 years of tweaking but I’m happy with the layout now. Personally the horse fencing is way more important to me than the driveway, I’d do that last. And all post and rails are not created equally, pressure treated all
singing all dancing is the way forward. Even if it means just doing 50m at a time, get the good shit. I would love to get the sheep fencing and it would save me a fortune but those holes and dainty little hooves imho don’t mix. I’ve left a track around the rim of my big paddocks so I can walk around it amd get the tractors etc around and I’m so glad I did.

 

[Patterdale]

Horse net is almost as much as post and rail, it’s really expensive. It’s fantastic stuff and worth the money as it’s so safe, but worth noting that it doesn’t work on hilly areas as there’s not enough give in it to fence on hills.

Any kind of plain strands are awful for injuries I would steer clear.

I would say your options are post and rail, horse net, or horse rail electrified. The trouble with normal electric tape is that the electric WILL fail and then it becomes an injury/escape risk, whereas horse rail is still robust if the electric fails.

Either way it’s very expensive. But buy cheap and buy twice is more true with fencing than most things.

 

[dorsetladette]

Like @hock says, I'd do the perimeter first and then temp fencing until you know your land, wet bits, dry bits, where gates work and where they don't, water troughs etc etc. We're 4yrs in now and just about happy with our set up and ready to make the remaining internal fencing permanent.
Post and rail is not as expensive as you may think. I was quite surprised at the price when we bought our last lost of fencing. We did do the work ourselves which obviously saved us a lot of money.

 

[Orangehorse]

Have the top rail high enough, so the horse can't lean over and bend the fence!

 

[Abby-Lou]

Tornado fencing every time, with a run of slape wire on top. Post and rail doesn't stand up to wear and tear in my opinion.

 

[hock]

Tornado fencing every time, with a run of slape wire on top. Post and rail doesn't stand up to wear and tear in my opinion.

I will check this out, like good but not as pretty as post and rail.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

Post and rail is only pretty when it is in good order. If you make sure that horses can't get close enough to rub on it or chew it then fine. Also it doesn't stop dogs so might not be practical if dogs are to be kept in or out.

 

[hock]

Post and rail is only pretty when it is in good order. If you make sure that horses can't get close enough to rub on it or chew it then fine. Also it doesn't stop dogs so might not be practical if dogs are to be kept in or out.

Wouldn’t they rub on tornado fencing?

 

[Muddy unicorn]

Sorry to hijack your post OP but I was wondering what the best option would be for fencing when you want to keep horses, dogs and probably sheep safe? Our new place (keeping everything tightly crossed we exchange and complete ok) has post and rail fencing but there are some places where it will need attention - and obviously it’s not dog/sheep-secure

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

As per others, I'd do perimeter 1st. I have high tornado with a top rail above, so it's well over 6ft at the top, on the nearest paddock and then tallest tornado on rest with a wide tape fixed above. Internal fencing is post and rail, with at least 1 strand of tape below bottom rail as I have a tiddler too.
The tornado keeps my dog in and others out.
Happy fencing!

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Wouldn’t they rub on tornado fencing?

I put a strand of tape inside to prevent rubbing to start with, it was only the minis that tried! Now tho the tape is there, it's not been on in a long while.

 

[dorsetladette]

Sorry to hijack your post OP but I was wondering what the best option would be for fencing when you want to keep horses, dogs and probably sheep safe? Our new place (keeping everything tightly crossed we exchange and complete ok) has post and rail fencing but there are some places where it will need attention - and obviously it’s not dog/sheep-secure

We have hedgerow external fencing which keeps everyone safe. Then the internal fencing is a mixture of post and rail and electric fencing at present. The sheep stay put with the post and rail but just trash any kind of electric fencing usually trying to hang themselves in the process (if you don't know, sheep spend their entire life trying to die). Our sheep are quite large sheep though and won't fit under or over the rails.

 

[eggs]

I have redone most of my fencing with high Tornado fencing with an electric stand off to stop then leaning/rubbing on it. Has stood up very well and had the advantage of keeping my dogs in other dogs out. The deer however just jump it.

The holes at the bottom are smaller to prevent hooves getting stuck and then get bigger higher up the fence. I don't have a wooden top rail but if you are worried about looks you might want to splash out on one.

 

[Muddy unicorn]

We have hedgerow external fencing which keeps everyone safe.

Do you mean your external ‘fence’ is a hedge or something specific? Google’s not coming up with anything for hedgerow external fencing.. one of our dogs would be fine with a hedge but the other one wouldn’t notice it if she were charging after a small defenceless animal ?

 

[dorsetladette]

Do you mean your external ‘fence’ is a hedge or something specific? Google’s not coming up with anything for hedgerow external fencing.. one of our dogs would be fine with a hedge but the other one wouldn’t notice it if she were charging after a small defenceless animal ?

Yes it's an old hedge. About 6ft deep. It does have a 3 stand barbed wire fence in there too, but we usually cut it back to about 6 inches inside the barbwire. The hedge is mostly hawthorn or blackthorn.

 

[CMcC]

Sorry to hijack your post OP but I was wondering what the best option would be for fencing when you want to keep horses, dogs and probably sheep safe? Our new place (keeping everything tightly crossed we exchange and complete ok) has post and rail fencing but there are some places where it will need attention - and obviously it’s not dog/sheep-secure

Have just fenced the back of my land with deer fencing to about 6’ to keep dogs and horses in. Obviously wouldn’t have done it that high for horses but have dogs who can jump so needed for them. I was surprised that it wasn’t that much more expensive that stock fencing. Sadly, the dogs are still sulking as I have blocked their route For rabbit chasing!

 

[Kacey88]

Thanks so much everyone. I don't have dogs or sheep, but not ruling it out either.

Makes a lot of sense to do temporary for the internal bits for now, thank you so much for the advice.

What sort of temporary fencing would people suggest?

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Thanks so much everyone. I don't have dogs or sheep, but not ruling it out either.

Makes a lot of sense to do temporary for the internal bits for now, thank you so much for the advice.

What sort of temporary fencing would people suggest?

3" round posts with electric tape fixed to them. Can be easily pulled out later on, buy more firm than plastic electric posts.

 

[PeterNatt]

I fence with heavy duty Post and 3 Rails with Equi-Fencing (smaller holes than sheep fencing) attached to it so that the horses can not kick through the fence line and dogs can not get in. The posts need to be pressure treated if they are to last (Jacksons manufacture and pressure treet excellent Posts). Mine has lasted over 30 years without any maintenance. I also use plastic water troughs so that if the horses kick out at them they don't get injured.

 

[Abby-Lou]

Wouldn’t they rub on tornado fencing?

in my experience horses knock rails loose when rubbing, but with tornado fencing it stands up to rubbing. I have had mine up 10 years now and still looks good compared to normal stock fencing. The key is to get someone who is experienced to fit it to get the correct tension

 

[hock]

in my experience horses knock rails loose when rubbing, but with tornado fencing it stands up to rubbing. I have had mine up 10 years now and still looks good compared to normal stock fencing. The key is to get someone who is experienced to fit it to get the correct tension

Thank you I have been looking today and I am considering it.