question about fencing

[moody]

No, not the guys in white suits poking each other with sharp sticks, I'm talking about the stuff that keeps your neighbors (in this case, your neighbor's goats) out of your yard.

I need to build a fence between two existing fences, so it's basically just a straight run. I plan on bracing the end posts diagonally (like this: |\|--fence--|/| hope that makes sense). I've seen other corner and end posts that also have a horizontal brace above the diagonal one. Is that brace necessary? I've seen it done both ways, so I'm curious if it's necessary on end posts that don't serve as 90* corner posts.

As far as the material, it's the standard "pasture fence" type...wire fence, 6" grid, 47" high. I need to go about 250'. Planning wood posts every 50', and t posts every 10' in between wood posts (i can change this part if the consensus is that I need more structure to it).

If it were your fence, which way would you do it?

If this looks familiar to some, I posted it on another forum, looking to see what advice you garage guys have on this........

 

[longroof63]

The way my old man taught me was the horizontal brace route. This keeps the top of your posts square.

 

[Ray-CA]

You are going to put tension on the fence posts by pulling the metal material. The horizontal part between the first pair and last pair of posts helps hold the posts vertical and the tension in the fencing.

You'll regret not having them if you skip it.

Ray

 

[Racecarl]

The bracing with the horizontal pipe braces are better because you can put tension on the angle brace which will resist the force the fence is exerting on the corner post. A fence post is VERY strong at its base and relatively weak at its top. The rigid brace that goes from the top of the corner post to the top of the brace post transfers the fence's pull from the corner post to the brace post. The angle brace is commonly made from a loop of #9 wire. It is stapled securely at the bottom of the corner post to the top of the brace post. A small pipe is used to twist the loop, which shortens the length of the angle brace and will force the rigid horizontal brace to push against the force of the fence on the top of the corner post. This effectively transfers the pull of the fence from the top of the corner post to the bottom of the post, which is it's strongest point.

I have done LOTS of barbed wire fencing but not a lot of woven wire. You might need to make a couple line braces to keep the correct tension on your fence. A line brace is just a corner post with a brace post on either side. The fence is tied to the corner post from each direction so if the fence is broken in one section, the entire fence will not loose it's tension.

I would have posted some picture links but I can't figure out how to do it. Just google barbed wire fence images and you will find several examples.

 

[holmsteadfarms]

In the state of Fl, those having animals (cattle, horses, goats, sheep, etc) are legally responsible to keep their animals in - you are not responsible for keeping them out. If you decide to fence, buy the $35 fence stretcher from Tractor Supply - makes life much easier. Stretcher is 2 pieces of steel with several bolts going thru them. You sandwich the fence between them and hook the bars to a come along.

 

[kbs2244]

Goats and deer are the 2 hardest things to keep in or out.

I have not seen a goat fence that worked that was less than 8 feet tall.
They love to jump and climb.

 

[jwith68]

Between myself and my dad's places, we have a few miles of cattle fence to build/maintain. No experience with goats. However, Racecarl's advice on braces is right on. The angled braces can have the effect of pushing the corner post up out of the ground under a lot of wire tension, and you will have a lot of wire tension with properly stretched netting wire.

Also, I have been told that goats will climb up an angled brace 'til they can jump over the rest of the wire (this assumes the goats are on the side of the fence where the brace is.) Not sure if 47" is enough wire height or not, but do not leave any gap between the bottom of the netting wire and the ground, for either sheep or goats.

 

[moody]

thank you all....I think I will use the horizontal and diagonal bracing based on the advice from here and the other board. I appreciate y'all taking the time to share your experience.

As far as the goats, they're pretty short and the 47 in fence seems to defeat them (for now) in other areas. They don't really come over much, but this is just as much to keep my dog (and kids) in as it is to keep the goat herder's animals out (he just added chickens to the mix). Besides, good fences make good neighbors, right?

 

[Plombob]

And I got all excited thinking somebody wanted to talk about white suits and poking people!

It's quite enjoyable to stick a sword in someone's chest. Especially when they are trying to do the same to you!

I strung some barbed wire once. It wasn't anywhere near as much fun as sport fencing, and I got poked a few times too.