Why I hate barbed wire!

[Eagle1]

True pretty much it stays until it becomes a hazard but it is bastard to removed when it is still live. Those coils will cut you to no end when it is not rusted yet, Well the high tensile at least. 500 pound of tension will make it shoot around when you cut it. I have a lot of cross fencing that could come down but most likely won't, never know if I need it again. On the other hand never had a deer cut up or tangled. I stay under 50" and it never slows them down. No way I want to pay for or run field fencing around 60+ acres of hills, trees and rocks. Doing a 1/3 of an acre for the dogs was too much, then I had to go to 8' to keep one from jumping it, her sister just climbed out never did stop her until she died.
Dogs and calves just walk through like it's not there, so will fawns.

 

[riptides]

Twenty years...still finding it the wrong way. Have removed miles of it. This is not the way. Lol.

 

[Dftodd]

I've been fighting with it on my property.

My property was fenced off pasture years ago.

Then the previous owner fenced off a section for some sort of critters.

It's four strands deep along the road.

I've been running the pallet forks through the stuff by the road and lifting the strands so I can find and clip them.

My goal is to remove the barbed wire so I can brush hog the slash down.

It's been removed for the most part in the middle of the property except where the trees grew into it

I've been cutting down slash and the smaller trees thinning and clearing.

It's really frustrating when you start to take down a tree and find a piece of barbed wire which then kicks the chain off

I found a discarded piece stuck to the tread on one of the tractor tires as well.

 

[ponytug]

I understand why you use it, but like anything it needs to be taken care of when not being used anymore.

And it's still nasty stuff.

I agree. We had some wonderful examples of barbed wire from the 1880s on some of fences when we moved in, Brinkerhoff Sabre, Hallner Greenbriar and TC Allis's "Buckthorn", all of them metal tape with barbs closer to knives in my book. Yes, I put in new wire to replace those. They were just too close to concertina wire for my liking, and accidents waiting to happen.

I just found a loose random strand yesterday by the edge of the road, as if it had been on the fence years ago, and somebody lost track of it. I need to get back with the tractor to pull what's left out of the soil.(Carefully!)

All the best,

Peter

 

[oosik]

Guess you guys will hate me, just finished running a bit over 2 linear miles of Barb Wire mostly through the woods. 5 strand of shiny new 4 barb high tensile.

I have removed miles of old rusted 12ga barb wire and the associated field fencing for the last decade and half, I do know the other side of it as well.

That's like the mile and a half of barbed wire I have around my 80 acres. It's either that or learn to sleep with the cows from both neighbors.

I have a product called Ever Sharp - four point barbs that will slice you just as well today as the day I put it up 42 years ago.

Yes - it's really nasty and tough to work with. I just completed a circuit around the property this afternoon - "fence check". Everything is up and tight.

Lots of people think this is mean to cows and wildlife. If you live on a farm or ranch and have barbed wire - you know the truth.

Cows will walk the line about three feet off the barbed fence. Deer - I've NEVER seen a deer that couldn't jump a four or five strand barb wire fence.

I removed quite a bit of the old homesteaders barbed fencing when we moved onto the property. Heavy gauge - galvanized - not high tensil and two point FLAT barbs. I "found" quit a bit when we rototilled our first garden.

 

[5030]

Why when my wife bred and raised Percheron horses, I fenced off the back pastures with 12.5 gage smooth high tensile wire and electrified it with a solar powered Parmak fence charger. Dang horses were too expensive to damage. I took that tip from the Amish. How they fence their pastures. It's much more humane and the charged top run keeps them off handily. We no longer have equines and removal was a snap too. I cut it with a cordless 4.5" angle grinder with a cut off disc, cut it into 4 foot lengths and put it in the scrap can that sits next to the shop and Omni Source hauled it away and paid me for the weight received. Easy-peasy. Gave all the PT fence posts away too. As an aside, I have a 5000 foot never used roll of it in the shop that I'll sell cheap. 12.5 gage galvanized wire and I have the crimp tool, crimps and all the fixings as well. I despise barbed wire, always have.

 

[LouNY]

I found this to be a humorous thread, sounds to me like all the ones complaining are ones that bought property that had been fenced at one time. Then the need for good fencing went away and the fence didn't. That should not surprise anyone. It cost just about as much to remove fence as to put it up, a lot of time and money. Who is going to waste that money if not needed.
Barbed wire is the only thing other then electric which will keep cows in.

 

[Eagle1]

I found this to be a humorous thread, sounds to me like all the ones complaining are ones that bought property that had been fenced at one time. Then the need for good fencing went away and the fence didn't. That should not surprise anyone. It cost just about as much to remove fence as to put it up, a lot of time and money. Who is going to waste that money if not needed.
Barbed wire is the only thing other then electric which will keep cows in.

Heck Barb only keeps them in when they agree to be fenced. Anytime one really wants out they do. I gave up on electric after one dog would just grab a old of the wire and fight with it until the charger would quit, then walk through.
BTW all the local ranchers wad up old fencing and leave it just outside of their new fence line. Stays fine until someone with a mowers runs over that pile.

 

[EddieWalker]

I like to use 4 pt, high tensile barbed wire for a string line on my 2x4 horse fence. I can pull it super tight, mark my posts, release it, drill my posts, tighten it up again to set my posts, then attach it to the posts so I can install my T posts. What's even better is it's under my 2x4 horse fence to discourage digging under it.

 

[Jstpssng]

I found this to be a humorous thread, sounds to me like all the ones complaining are ones that bought property that had been fenced at one time. Then the need for good fencing went away and the fence didn't. That should not surprise anyone. It cost just about as much to remove fence as to put it up, a lot of time and money. Who is going to waste that money if not needed.
Barbed wire is the only thing other than electric which will keep cows in.

You may find it humorous yet I sometimes encounter bits and pieces in places which haven’t been farmed since WWII. When it’s working animals stay away from it. When it’s a 12 foot section hidden on the ground it can cause some nasty cuts for animals as well as people… and I have the vet bills to show for it.

The piece I found above likely was put up to keep the cattle out of a pond. Now there are 80 year old trees growing.