EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
I've spent years clearing my fence line, and I'm still a long ways from being done, but I'm finally at a place where I can start building it. Since I have horses and goats, I'm going to do it all in 2x4 horse fence that's 4 feet tall. I'm running a strand of barbwire at the bottom for my straight line, and also to discourage animals from digging under it. I'm also running barb wire at the top of the fence to discourage animals from leaning over the fence, and maybe slow some down from climbing over it.
I do not like H bracing. Welded seems to hold up OK for short runs, but I've never seen a wood H brace that was doing much of anything that's been there awhile. After doing a lot of reading online, watching YouTube videos, visiting different farms and ranches, and thinking about what works and why it works, I decided to go with a simple brace against my corner posts. I did this with my dog yard and I've been very happy with the results. Now I'm doing it for my pastures.
I have 68 acres. I'm dividing up the land into 4 grazing pastures that are around 12 to 14 acres. Then there will be a male goat pasture that's about 2 acres to separate them out from the girls. I have a gazebo that I started years ago, but lost interest in, that will be converted to the boy barn. I'll have to run power and water to the gazebo, but it's already close to there, so it's not going to be an issue. That will happen after I finish the first pasture. And the original pasture is 5 acres that has my barn and small pond. This will remain our feeding area. It also has the barn, which is going to become 3 times bigger. We will also create our handling area there, along with a holding area for goats that we are selling.
I currently have a couple types of fencing in place that I hate. The new pasture is outlined in red in the first picture. Green shows where the gates will be. I'm still taking out trees, but most of it is ready to go. The Google picture is several years old and it doesn't show how much that I've cleared since then.
The second picture shows what I want it to look like when it's all done. My plan is to be able to rotate the animals from one pasture to the other every week. They will have one week in a pasture, while the other 3 pastures will have 3 weeks of rest and growth. Then in the Fall, when growing season ends, I'll open all the gates between the pastures and they can go where they want until Spring. This will also allow me to spray for weeks and not have anybody in that pasture for several weeks. If a tree falls on a fence, I can keep that pasture closed until it's fixed. Hopefully I will remove all the trees that might do this, but I also know this is impossible and eventually I'll have to deal with a tree taking out my fence.
I do not like H bracing. Welded seems to hold up OK for short runs, but I've never seen a wood H brace that was doing much of anything that's been there awhile. After doing a lot of reading online, watching YouTube videos, visiting different farms and ranches, and thinking about what works and why it works, I decided to go with a simple brace against my corner posts. I did this with my dog yard and I've been very happy with the results. Now I'm doing it for my pastures.
I have 68 acres. I'm dividing up the land into 4 grazing pastures that are around 12 to 14 acres. Then there will be a male goat pasture that's about 2 acres to separate them out from the girls. I have a gazebo that I started years ago, but lost interest in, that will be converted to the boy barn. I'll have to run power and water to the gazebo, but it's already close to there, so it's not going to be an issue. That will happen after I finish the first pasture. And the original pasture is 5 acres that has my barn and small pond. This will remain our feeding area. It also has the barn, which is going to become 3 times bigger. We will also create our handling area there, along with a holding area for goats that we are selling.
I currently have a couple types of fencing in place that I hate. The new pasture is outlined in red in the first picture. Green shows where the gates will be. I'm still taking out trees, but most of it is ready to go. The Google picture is several years old and it doesn't show how much that I've cleared since then.
The second picture shows what I want it to look like when it's all done. My plan is to be able to rotate the animals from one pasture to the other every week. They will have one week in a pasture, while the other 3 pastures will have 3 weeks of rest and growth. Then in the Fall, when growing season ends, I'll open all the gates between the pastures and they can go where they want until Spring. This will also allow me to spray for weeks and not have anybody in that pasture for several weeks. If a tree falls on a fence, I can keep that pasture closed until it's fixed. Hopefully I will remove all the trees that might do this, but I also know this is impossible and eventually I'll have to deal with a tree taking out my fence.