Opinions on fencing

[KLJcowgirl]

Hello again all,

So my dear Miss May has again, given me one more thing to do around the barn. There used to be neighbors with horses next door, and the fencing between the two properties is a wire electric fence. He had it supercharged and NONE of the horses would even think of touching it. It was enough to knock an adult on their bum. Well these neighbors have since moved, the charger went with, and the family that moved in does not have horses and are planning on turning the two acres into yard (HOLY COW).

Well Miss May the other day finally discovered the fence was no longer on when I turned her out and ducked under it. The neighbors have been tearing out the paddock and the fencing by their house is gone. I wouldn't worry to much about her getting under, other than I don't want her getting out into the street.

I already have a roll of fencing similar to this that her pen in the back is made of. And I can put this up on that side as soon as possible. But my husband thinks we should just add a couple strands of wire to the fence, and get us a better charger than the one we have now.

So I'm curious what you guys would do. I am planning on putting up some more permanent fencing within our pasture area, so I will be buying wire soon anyways.

Thank you!

 

[Marsha Cassada]

We have electric fencing using T posts. The top wire is knee high on my husband, nose high on the horses. We can step over it, but it works great to keep our miniature horses in. We only plug it in for a few days every month or so, just to remind them what it is. If you make the wires too high they will go under. We put the T posts 10' apart.

We've watched some of our horses get right up to the wire; I think they are feeling with their whiskers if it is charged. When we see them get that brave/reckless, we turn on the fence for a few days.

I would love to have permanent fencing every where, but doubt that is going to happen, so the electric fencing works for now. We've used it for 15 years. The down side is keeping the tall grass from growing up into it to short it out.

And sometimes wildlife goes through it.

Oklahoma is a free range state. Legally, fences are to keep animals OUT, not in. If my neighbors don't want my horses on their property, they have the responsibility to fence them out. If one of them gets out and a car hits it, we have no legal responsibility because of the free range law. Of course, we do not let our horses roam anywhere! But it sort of explains how the fencing law works. Do not know if your state is free range, but it may be something for your neighbors to think about.

Maybe you can see the electric fence wires in this photo.

 

[Cayuse]

I have a two board fence with the wire fencing similar to what is shown in your picture. I also have one strand of hot tape that is about chest high on my minis.

 

[Chamomile]

I have woven wire fences topped with smooth wire, some barbed, cattle panels and round pen panels. Of course, if I could afford it the barbed wire would be gone. But we rent and hubby doesn't want to put too much more money into things around here. I love the cattle panels as the minis like to scratch their butts on the fence and kind of poof out the woven wire. The cattle panels are heavier duty. I have to be careful where I put the round pen panels as they catch the snow and pile it high. I can't use electric fence year round because we get so much snow and high winds that the fencing gets buried. Sometimes my permanent fence gets buried!

Here is a picture of the woven wire, field fence. You can see where they scratch their butts on it...

Here are the girls. Bonnie is peeking over

Here are the cattle panels. Please excuse the manure. I had a hysterectomy two weeks ago and haven't been able to keep up like I usually do!

These panels are nice and heavy duty. They are 16 feet long and about 50" tall. I love them as it's quick and easy to build a fence! My boys and I built this fence in an hour and it's totally redneck with the twine.

This fencing works great for stallions because they can't get over it!

My round pen panel gates.

And this is my favorite gate on the place! It's a pallet I came across. I knew exactly what I wanted to use it for and where it was going to go when I saw it!

The panel beside the gate is a hog panel. I love these as fencing as well. They are shorter so the minis can see over. I would fence my whole place with them if they weren't so expensive! When I had my farm most of my fence was hog panels.

I stay away from welded wire fencing for the minis and horses because they break the welds. My backyard is fenced with welded wire for my dogs and even they break the welds. Sigh.

Anyway! This is probably overkill. I know I like to see lots of options when I'm shopping around.

 

[Ryan Johnson]

I have ring lock fencing as in the 1st Pic in the above post. On the inside I have one strand of electric tape down at knee level that is connected to mains power, one shock is enough to knock you off your feet.

You can get some really decent portable solar monitors these days that give a fair zap too.

Im sure we all have that one Mini/ horse that's middle name is "Houdini"

 

[Marsha Cassada]

Chamomille, what do you do about the snow piled against the fences? I grew up in SD and sometimes the snow drifted over the fences and cattle would wander. It was a problem.

 

[KLJcowgirl]

Thank you so much for your replies guys. I guess I was mostly worried that adding a few more strands wouldn't be enough, but if you've been using it forever Marsha, it must work. Thank you so much for pictures as well! Marsha and Chamomile, your places look awesome.

Never even heard of "free range" states, I'll have to look into that.

We have a solar charger as of right now, but it's pretty puny. It gives a bit of a tingle, but it works wonderfully for my pansy QH. Miss May has much thicker skin haha. I have been meaning to look into a better one that will work on them both.

 

[AngC]

Good fencing is crazy-expensive; forget paint or stain.

We have 4x4 posts with 2x6 rails; 4 each on the rails. I have an envelope marked "Fence" (to track costs) and don't even like to look in it; I once tried to measure/estimate linear footage and came up with approx 2,500 linear feet. And then somebody ran into one of our corner posts, so the husband started replacing the corners with 6x6's. ouch!! We've been replacing wood fencing as it rots. ...forget nifty stuff like painting it to look nice.

I genuinely don't know whether we fall into the "free range" bit-of-business. We started stringing electric wire on the outside of our wooden fences after I observed a neighbor trying to stuff her toddler in between the fence rails towards our semi-blind (at the time) stallion (since injured and even more blind; he's a good-natured guy but he has his limits.) When I requested she stop, she informed me about how much she knew about horses. (yeah, f--ck you.) We strung electric fence between the 3 gaps of wood fencing on the outside and posted No Trespassing signs. One benefit is that it keeps the coyotes out. (...not too concerned about single coyotes, but when there's a pack yowling around it makes me nervous.)

Anyway, I was more concerned regarding the "attractive nuisance" lawsuit potential than I was willing to "push" the limits of my "free-range" rights. Anybody can sue you for any darn thing; doesn't matter if they win; you still have to pay to defend yourself.

Edited to Add: We bought a fence charger with the most "oomph" we could find and leave it on all the time. To date, no horse has broke through it, but occasionally the girls will bust a bottom wire... I guess, because their manes are thick enough they don't feel it. ?

 

[Miniv]

I know this is probably not even on your list for consideration.....BUT...for anyone else looking at fencing ideas reading this.....DO NOT EVER CONSIDER A VINYL FENCE!!!

Vinyl fence was what we got for part of our property when we moved into this place.....It cracks, shatters, pulls apart...you name it! I do not know WHAT the previous owners were THINKING!!!! And yes, they had horses!!! As a section disintegrates, we are replacing with metal cattle panels and either wood posts or T-posts. It's not pretty right now, but once all the vinyl is down, it will look better.

 

[Chamomile]

Chamomille, what do you do about the snow piled against the fences? I grew up in SD and sometimes the snow drifted over the fences and cattle would wander. It was a problem.

Well it's been a problem! This will be the first winter with the minis. I had a couple of big horses that figured out they could just walk over the fence lines. Luckily they like me so they just stuck around the house, but they made a MESS! And we have a big ranch that borders us so the cows are always a problem. This year I am going to shovel along the fence lines as it snows or get my butt out there as soon as I get up in the morning if it snows all night. It's not going to be fun but at least I won't have wandering ponies!

Edited to add: Montana is a free range state as well. It's my responsibility to fence out the cows and horses of the surrounding ranches. And believe me we DO! My entire property line is fenced and we have two big gates at our driveway. Most of the winter we have to keep the gates shut because once the snow flies the cattle guards quit working and the ranch cows and horses are free to wander. It only took one time of having them get into my hay stack for me to start shutting the gates! (And I put my hay stack in a pen of it's own, surrounded by round pen panels...)

 

[amysue]

I like the red brand wire fencing as I find it to be very durable. I got a pist hole digger for the tractor, so now have just begun replacing fence posts. I used to ride at a stable with that vinyl fence, in the winter time, if you hit the post toppers with your foot while riding....they would shatter. The concept of free ranging livestock seems so foreign to me, coming from Connecticut, where people sue each other for everything and believe that your business is also their business so if you free ranged cattle up here...you would get blamed for livestock abandonment, destruction of property and trespassing and I'm sure a bunch of other dumb stuff.

 

[Ryan Johnson]

Its the same here Amysue. Legally, Its the responsibility of the owner of the property to ensure that Livestock remains on your property. If any livestock gets out you are liable for any damage caused to other properties, accidents causing vehicles ect. Hence the reason I have 7 foot electric gates at the front of the property and entrances to each area that my horses are paddocked have 2-3 gates.

I would be furious If someones horse/cow got into one of my paddocks and ate all the pasture, especially if it was one of the winter ones I let grow throughout summer months.

Has anyone ever had that happen ?

 

[Marsha Cassada]

One of my neighbors has trouble with another neighbor's bulls. His fences are poor and the bulls get out. They start to fight the bull of my neighbor through the fence and sometimes the fence doesn't hold. Their bull has died before from this. All they can do is make their fences better to try to ensure the neighbor bull can't get in.

Our last cry to any guest leaving here after dark is "watch out for deer--and black cows!" I think if the ear tags would have a luminous piece on them, like running shoes, it would help alot.

I know some people who live in an urban neighborhood. It is gated. This spring, a pig farmer outside the gated area had poor fences and two sows came into the gated community. They rooted up lawns and even caused a concrete patio to cave in from rooting. One even brought her litter with her. If you've ever seen a large full-grown sow you would know that a bunch of town folk would have trouble dealing with them! The most the sheriff could do was notify the animal owner. Their community opted to have an ornamental fence erected on that side of the housing area. No more hogs have come since.

The loss of an animal worth hundreds or thousands of dollars pretty well motivates folks to keep their animals fenced IN, however.

 

[amysue]

Out of curiosity, when these free ranged animals do damage to personal property, who is responsible for paying for it/fixing it? What is the policy on dangerous livestock ie: bull charging at someone? If a bull is charging at you, do you have the aurhority to shoot it? The laws on the books here (although varyibg by county and sometimes not enforced) allow farmers to shoot nuisance wildlife/predators with the necessary permits if they are harming their livestock under the "right to farm" ordinance. If a stray dog is chasing or killing livestock, you shoot it and call the warden. I can see where each has its positives and draw backs, but worrying about other people's livestock would probably deter me from moving to a free range state. Sometimes, hubby and I fantasize about getting out of this heck hole, but fear of the unknown keeps us from doing it. I don't always have a lot of faith in other people, so if the safety of my property and livelihood depended on someone else to accept personal responsibility (not let a bull roam loose) I would have a hard time with it. What are you supposed to do? Put up cement walls around your whole property? How do you afford that?

 

[KLJcowgirl]

I know this is probably not even on your list for consideration.....BUT...for anyone else looking at fencing ideas reading this.....DO NOT EVER CONSIDER A VINYL FENCE!!!

Vinyl fence was what we got for part of our property when we moved into this place.....It cracks, shatters, pulls apart...you name it! I do not know WHAT the previous owners were THINKING!!!! And yes, they had horses!!! As a section disintegrates, we are replacing with metal cattle panels and either wood posts or T-posts. It's not pretty right now, but once all the vinyl is down, it will look better.

Haha you are correct, it is not on my list. I absolutely HATE vinyl fencing. There are a ton of people here that have it to pen in horses, and I just don't get it. It just looks terrible, there are always sections falling down or cracked like you said. My QH isn't very mischievous but when he has an opportunity he takes it, and he would be gone so fast. Good thing to bring up

 

[KLJcowgirl]

Wow this free range livestock is very interesting. I always assumed it was your responsibility to keep animals in.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

The neighbors with the bull issue--do not know what happened with that. But I know several folk who have hit black cows at night and the driver just has to deal with it. If my neighbor's horses or goats or whatever break through my fence, they don't fix the fencing, we do. As a courtesy they could offer to fix it.

The Open Range law has been in effect since Oklahoma was Indian Territory. I am thinking other western states could have this also, such as Wyoming or the Dakotas.

Loose livestock doesn't happen that often as owners definitely don't want to lose them. Okies are not sue crazy.

I have accumulated a nice pile of old bois d arc fence posts. Someday I would like to use them to replace the electric fencing. It is pretty far down on my husband's list of priorities, though. I think those old fence posts would look awesome on our property!

 

[AngC]

I think I jinxed myself by commenting on this topic. The day after I posted, Nicky took his gate down. I've been focused on fences and got bit by a gate.

The gate is one of those tubular livestock gates: 12-ft wide or maybe 16-ft; I don't know. On one side it's mounted on u-shaped "screws/pins" and on the other it's chained to the post. I have no idea what he did, but the "pin" side was bounced up and off. I had been shopping for a few hours and when I drove in, I freaked when I saw the gate pretty much laying on the ground. I was looking around for Nicky while quickly trying to figure out whether I should run to the barn for a halter or just steer him in by grabbing his neck. ...well, no need for that, he was puttering around his pasture and only approached when he heard me. And I swear, his expression was WHUT???

He had several hours where he could have just left. He didn't. ....things that make you go hmph???

I don't think we're open range here. I read some more (just in case Nicky escapes and lawsuits, etc.) but haven't figured out a definitive answer to that. Regardless, I prefer our horses be under our control so we can protect them from overeating and varmints and whatever else.

Happy Thanksgiving all.

 

[chandab]

I think I jinxed myself by commenting on this topic. The day after I posted, Nicky took his gate down. I've been focused on fences and got bit by a gate.

The gate is one of those tubular livestock gates: 12-ft wide or maybe 16-ft; I don't know. On one side it's mounted on u-shaped "screws/pins" and on the other it's chained to the post. I have no idea what he did, but the "pin" side was bounced up and off.

Happy Thanksgiving all.

We have several of this type of gate, we turn the top pin down, so the gate is essentially trapped between the pins and can't be lifted off by usually scratching critters.

 

[amysue]

I agree with Chanda, If we do not hang our gates on the bottom pin facing up and the secure it with the top pin facing down, the cows lift the gates right up and take off with them. It is sort of funny to see a group of 6 or 8 all stuck with their heads in a gate trying to work together to get it off.