Fence Post Spacing

[DTCOOPER]

Howdy everyone,
I am putting up 47" field fence around about a 4 acre section of my place. Using 6-1/2 T Posts, and pipe corners with H braces welded every 330' (end of roll).
Question, in the black dirt that I have in my area, how far apart may I space the T-posts ?
I have heard varying suggestions everywhere from 6'-15'.
What say the masses?

 

[cmuncy]

We typically space 10 feet on flat ground and 8 feet or shorter on uneven ground. The shorter spacing will allow you to keep your wire even above the top of the ground, or as best as possible.

 

[beenthere]

The 'mass' from here would first consider what the fence was for, how tall and straight it needed to 'look' in the future, and how 'wet' the black dirt could get and what happens to that black dirt when it is wet.
All will dictate the answer, IMO.
Good luck. Maybe looking over some neighbor fences for those clues, but personnaly, I take a shot at 10' if in doubt.
If there is a bull in the fence, more closer than 10'. If chickens, then maybe 12'. Just guessing. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
With just a fence in the field, and those good corners and H braces every 330', maybe two or three posts in between for looks is all you'd need to hold the weeds up. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[FL_Cracker]

I used 10' and it worked good.

I also used a 47" field fence and metal T-Posts. The only difference is I used wood post for the corners. It makes a lot better fence if you concrete in your corners and brace posts. 330' is a long way for brace "H" sections but will do. I had so many changes of elevation in our fence we always ended up with a "H" section for elevation change before we reached the 330' mark.

Good luck...

 

[DTCOOPER]

47" tall field fence, 1 strand of barbed wire above it. Barbados, 2 donkeys, and a horse or two. There is an old barbed wire fence there now with about 10' spacing. Seems to be pretty darned old. Posts are still straight. So with that in mind I think the ground will hold posts pretty well.

 

[MikePA]

<font color="blue">47" tall field fence, 1 strand of barbed wire above it. Barbados, 2 donkeys, and a horse or two. </font>
I don't mean to offend, but barbed wire should never be used to fence in horses and donkeys.

 

[DTCOOPER]

no offense taken... Would you suggest just a smooth bare wire? Or do you think there is even any need for a top wire?

 

[MikePA]

I am not sure what field fence is, but the fence should not be anything a horse can get caught in, particularly with their hooves/legs.

Since I do not use a wire fence for our horses (we use Horseguard Fencing) I am not familiar with what should be used. However, there are others here on TBN who are. I'd also suggest electrifying the fence (we use a Parmak solar charger). Our horses used to push on the fence, they don't do that anymore. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Maybe wroughten_harv will chime in. I think it's called no-climb fencing? You might also check out Kencove. They have a lot of info about fencing

 

[HammerFour]

Barbed wire isn't the devil that folks make it out to be as long as you have horses that are smart enough to not try and climb/charge thru the fence. If you have horses that are going to try and crash thru a fence they will find a way to hurt themselves if you made a fence out of pillows and blankets.

As an alternative to the barbed wire you can put a smooth electrified wire on top. If you don't have something on top to keep the horses from trying to graze whatever is on the other side your fencing will have sags between the posts before you know it.

 

[NevadaSmith]

Daniel,
I would do a little research on your fence. Since you mentioned "horse" you have to follow a different set of rules to keep your horse safe. If you use mesh, it should be 2X4 inch or smaller to keep your horse from putting its hoofs thru it. There should be no barb wire to hurt your horse. It should have a hot wire at the top. Spacing should be about 8'. Remember, your horse will lean on it if he can. A very good place to start would be to visit EquiSearch (example article) and search on fences. Better to do the fence right than to pay vet bills /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Hope this helps
NevadaSmith

 

[FL_Cracker]

Field fence does just about what you want. At the top it's got larger 6x6" holes but as it nears the bottom the holes get smaller. The bottom two holes are only about 2"x6". We've had our horses on it for a while and they have done well.

 

[Bird]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( barbed wire should never be used to fence in horses and donkeys )</font>

Mike, I won't disagree with the possibility of injuries, but the vast majority of the horses in my area are in pastures with nothing but 3 to 5 strands of barbed wire. It's all we ever had when I was a kid (had 3 horses, but only one at a time), and it's all any of my neighbors had 60 miles south of Dallas in recent years.

 

[JerryG]

<font color="blue"> the vast majority of the horses in my area are in pastures with nothing but 3 to 5 strands of barbed wire </font>
Every time this this horse deal comes up, that is what I think. That is the way all the fences are around here also, horses or otherwise.

 

[FL_Cracker]

It's just like legal questions these days. Everyone takes the SAFE road, where they can NEVER be wrong. Yes it would be better to use some of the new fence options for horses but you don't have to feel like you are mistreating them just because they are on a wire fence. Millions of horses are housed every day with barb wire and they live just fine. We can all dig up cases where a horse has hurt himself in a fence but the cases are rare.

It's like turning your dog out to run loose. It would be safer if he was on a leash and you walked him, but sometimes you just got to let a dog be a dog.

 

[Slamfire]

Around here every horse fence has sprouted white tape, that conducts electricity. They say it is so the horse can see the hot wire. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[MikePA]

<font color="blue">but you don't have to feel like you are mistreating them just because they are on a wire fence.</font>
This is a good example of people reading what's not been written. No one said a wire fence is bad.

I don't doubt there are a lot of places that use barbed wire with horses, but that doesn't make it right. Barbed wire is the worst fence choice for horses.

While I might leave an existing barbed wire fence in place with horses, this thread is about a new fence and there is absolutely no reason to install a new barbed wire fence with horses. None.

When you love animals (note, I am not talking about animals raised for food and I don't mean PETA type of love), you do what's best for them, not what's best or cheapest for the owner. I've seen far too many cases of people who 'wanted a dog' or 'wanted a horse' but didn't have the time, patience or money to care for them. In these cases the animal suffers, not the human.

 

[Cityboyfarmer]

I've been studying horse fencing for a while on the internet and observing what fences other horse owners in my area use. I have found that your "serious" horse owners will run a 3 rail vinyl or wooden fence. I have also observed the newer electric tape fencing Slamffire mentioned in his post, along with plain old barbed wire, woven wire with 1 barbed strand and just about every other combination already mentioned.

For most people, cost is a big factor. No-Climb fence, vinyl and wood are excellent choices for horses, but is considerably more expensive than standard woven wire. It seems like a woven wire fence with a hot top wire is an economical option and will discourage horses from pushing against the fence, or even getting too close to it after the first shock to the nose. The electric tape is also an economical choice, but seems to sag after a while.

A big consideration for me when I install our fence in the near future is predator control, primarily from my neighbors German Shepard, Lab and two little yappy dogs. I need fencing to prevent roaming canines from entering the pasture, attacking live-stock and spooking the horses, or causing someone from being thrown from a spooked horse. So far, with the encouragement of local law enforcement, the neighbor has been keeping his dog fenced, but they still get out occaisionally, like last night I observed them out running the road.

So for economics and protection from inconsiderate neighbors who don't control their dogs, I will be installing woven wire with an energized strand at the top when the time comes to install our fencing. If cost were no option, I would really like to use the No-Climb, with an 8' heavy-duty, vinyl coated chain-link between me and the inconsiderate neighbor.

 

[FL_Cracker]

Sounds like a good choice. I installed woven wire (Field Fence) a few years ago and it's working fine. The horses have chosen to not push on the top wire so I have not added the top hot wire at this point. It may become nessassary but I don't want to deal with a hot wire when there seems to be no need.

 

[FL_Cracker]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( <font color="blue">but you don't have to feel like you are mistreating them just because they are on a wire fence.</font>
This is a good example of people reading what's not been written. No one said a wire fence is bad.)</font>

You are correct here. No one said it in this thread. I was just making the statement because he will hear it soon or later(if he hasn't already) if he asks to many questions about horse fence. If his only need were to contain horses some of these new fences may be the right way to go.

 

[NevadaSmith]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Millions of horses are housed every day with barb wire and they live just fine. We can all dig up cases where a horse has hurt himself in a fence but the cases are rare.
)</font>

Not picking a fight...but yes...millions of horses are kept in barbed wire everyday. Differences as the why they are kept in barbed wire vary. Questions you might ask yourself are...
Is the horse just field dressing? do you ride it? What is the horses worth? What is the temperment of the horse? Is the horse in a herd? What predaters are around. This one directly is in response to "accidents are rare". In my area, we have coyote, bear and mountain lions. Horses tend to get injured when they are scared....not lazily grazing (unless they poke their head through the fence to get whats behind it). We also have wild horses and when they come visiting, it doesn't take much for our horse to want to join in the herd and the fence gets tested.

I will answer questions I asked when I do horse fencing for my wifes horse. The horse is an expensive thoroughbred. It is a competition horse where scraps and scabs on the coat are not good (no barb wire). It is kept alone. Consideration for the fence are as follows...she is more easily spooked and tends to run flat out when scared. This makes visibility and integrity of the fence very important. If she were in a herd, she tends not to run so much as she has the safety and security of the other animals so I might consider a lesser fence than "no climb" or rails.

If I owned a nag who's sole purpose in life was the keep the grass in the field down...I too would put her in the cheapest fence I could build. So the fence you build should be based on the purpose of the fence, and what you put inside it.

It only takes ONE TIME for you to see a horse caught in a fence to want to do what you can to prevent it. Its very disturbing... not to mention the vet bill when it arrives! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif


NevadaSmith