When we put the fence up we used some of the existing trees as fence posts, taking pains not to wrap the wire around the tree and making the overall fence cost less. While doing this I noticed that this property has some of the biggest alder trees I've ever seen. I put the dollar bill on this tree to show scale. I'm guessing this tree is 48" in circumference. there are maybe 25 of these giants on the fenceline, and more in the property proper. They're pretty cool.
This is a typical stretch point for the barbed wire fence. Anytime we had a run of more than 100' we put one of these in. The posts are set in concrete because the ground is soft, and it's X braced for the same reason. The X brace is constructed of smooth wire. Yes, you can do that with barbed wire, but I value my skin, and smooth wire is cheaper, too.
This it the path-side of the property. This fence is there to keep dogs out of the livestock area as I've discussed in previous posts. It's 5' tall, and has two strands of barbed wire on the inside to keep cattle from pushing on it or rubbing on it.
When you're putting in field fence and want it tight, you can take a pair of pliers and put a kink in the wire as shown in this picture. each kink consumes 1/4" of fence, so you can tighten an already-taught fence 6" or more between stretch points, making for a really nice, tight fence.
I make these bends with a 10" pair of linemans pliers. they work really well for it. If you're fancy you can work this kink all the way down to the ground, but I find that kinking the top wire is usually sufficient.
It's a little hard to see in the small version of this picture, but the gate is inset, at an angle. This allows me to back a trailer in easily. The gate is aligned with the loading ramp from the corral constructed earlier.
Here's the view looking through the gate at the new corral. All ready for the cows!
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4 comments:
Thats some nice looking fencing, wanna come do my place for me.....
Nice work, and thanks for the tip about kinking the field fence. It seems so obvious now that you mention it!
Plan on some different posts for those alder trees eventually. Alder is not very long lived, and will rot fairly fast. And here they break pretty easily in the ice. They will last a long time but not as long as a fir.
You built a great looking fence - good luck with the dogs, and the authorities!
How high up is the barbed wire section of fencing (top wire)? Is it also 5' like the woven wire section?
How far down did you place the posts (line and corner posts)? I'd read recommendations to create holes with wider bottoms (under the frost line) for better holding (cement base). Did you do this?
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