Fencing project

[cptbfp]

We are going to be getting a few alpacas and I will be building a run-in shed and a small fenced area. I have never put up fencing before and have a few questions for the experts.

We will be using 2"X4"X60" fence and plan on fencing a rectangular area 50 feet by 100 feet. I am unsure what kind of corner posts would be appropriate for this size area. The best corner posts seem to be 8" diameter pressure-treated wooden posts with H-bracing but I'm wondering if this is overkill for a fenceline that will be so short? I have seen corners constructed with t-posts and braced using t-posts and Wedge-Loc connectors. This approach is attractive because I wouldn't need to dig post-holes (no post-hole digger for my tractor and not excited about doing it by hand) and it would be significantly cheaper than using wooden posts. The question is, would the t-post corner system be strong enough to hold without sagging? Alpacas don't challenge fencing and don't climb on it so they shouldn't contribute to stress on the posts. I don't want to go cheap and easy and regret it in the near future but also don't want to over-build the fence if I don't need to.

So, given these options, what would the experts do??

Thanks,
Brian

 

[Mousefield]

I would talk to or go see the type of fencing they are using at the place you are getting Alpacas from. Talk to your local fencing supplier, the one we use is very knowledgeable and gives good advice from the stand point of looking after your needs. Perhaps there are other Alpaca farms in your area, go by and see what they have set up. We have goats and looking at getting a couple of calves so we use page wire for them with pressure treated posts that have been pushed into the ground by an excavator.

 

[warhammer]

I would say it depends on soil type, whether the field fence needs to be tensioned when it is installed and whether or not your animals really will not ever challenge the fence.
I have only put up one fence which was 2500 foot of 5 strand high tension smooth wire that I will electrify later this year.
I used 8" corner posts that were H braced set 4 feet in the ground. Since I have soil with a lot of clay I ended up having to pull the end and corner posts back out and setting them in concrete as thay started to lean in a matter of months.
I can tell you definitively that as hard as fencing work is it is much easier to do the job right the first time than to have to pull posts out of the ground and rework them.

We are going to be getting a few alpacas and I will be building a run-in shed and a small fenced area. I have never put up fencing before and have a few questions for the experts.

We will be using 2"X4"X60" fence and plan on fencing a rectangular area 50 feet by 100 feet. I am unsure what kind of corner posts would be appropriate for this size area. The best corner posts seem to be 8" diameter pressure-treated wooden posts with H-bracing but I'm wondering if this is overkill for a fenceline that will be so short? I have seen corners constructed with t-posts and braced using t-posts and Wedge-Loc connectors. This approach is attractive because I wouldn't need to dig post-holes (no post-hole digger for my tractor and not excited about doing it by hand) and it would be significantly cheaper than using wooden posts. The question is, would the t-post corner system be strong enough to hold without sagging? Alpacas don't challenge fencing and don't climb on it so they shouldn't contribute to stress on the posts. I don't want to go cheap and easy and regret it in the near future but also don't want to over-build the fence if I don't need to.

So, given these options, what would the experts do??

Thanks,
Brian

 

[QRTRHRS]

By 2"x4"x60", I am assuming you mean a woven wire fence? I would think that the woven wire is the concern, not the 100 foot length. Unless you do not care if it looks all wavy, you need some strong corners to hold the tension.

You could always use T-posts and if they do not give you the results you desire then replace them with the heavier H-braced PT posts.

Should you go with the Tee's, I would go with a longer post so it can be driven deeper into the ground for the corner's. Lean the post slightly out so when you tension it, it should pull straight unless you pull to hard. Secure the corner that you are pulling on with a chain and a truck or tractor while you pull the fence on the next corner.

You can buy tensioning tools for pulling woven wire but why spend the money? Take a couple of 2x4's and with bolts, sandwich the woven wire then pull on the 2x's to tension the wire.

Even with Alpaca's, I would spend the money on plastic safety caps for the T-posts. Don't bother with those yellow ones. Go with the round heavier white ones from places like Kencove fence.

 

[cptbfp]

The fencing at the alpaca farm that we are getting them from uses 4' woven wire (2"X4"). The setup there doesn't have any braces at the corners and the posts are rectangular and about 4" by 8". The corner posts and line posts are identical. Their fence looks good, no sagging and it is straight so that got me thinking that maybe the large diameter corner posts with H-braces aren't necessary. I asked the owner some questions about the fence and she didn't know much about it. She just paid someone to put it in so talking to her wasn't terribly useful.

Our fence is going to be woven wire so it will need a certain amount of tensioning, although not as much as high tensile fence needs.

I guess I could approach this problem from a different angle and use this project as an opportunity to acquire a post hole digger for my tractor. Then I could use the wooden, pressure-treated posts but not have to dig every hole by hand. Our soil is very rocky and digging post holes three feet deep by hand would be very unpleasant. After all, she is getting the alpacas, I should get a new implement. It's only fair.

 

[QRTRHRS]

You may up doing more hand work than you plan on, 3pt digger or not. Three point post hole diggers have only the weight of the implement for down pressure. They like to "bounce" on the rocks and when the auger does snag one, it will likely snap the shear pin.

 

[whistlepig]

We are going to be getting a few alpacas and I will be building a run-in shed and a small fenced area. I have never put up fencing before and have a few questions for the experts.

We will be using 2"X4"X60" fence and plan on fencing a rectangular area 50 feet by 100 feet. I am unsure what kind of corner posts would be appropriate for this size area. The best corner posts seem to be 8" diameter pressure-treated wooden posts with H-bracing but I'm wondering if this is overkill for a fenceline that will be so short? I have seen corners constructed with t-posts and braced using t-posts and Wedge-Loc connectors. This approach is attractive because I wouldn't need to dig post-holes (no post-hole digger for my tractor and not excited about doing it by hand) and it would be significantly cheaper than using wooden posts. The question is, would the t-post corner system be strong enough to hold without sagging? Alpacas don't challenge fencing and don't climb on it so they shouldn't contribute to stress on the posts. I don't want to go cheap and easy and regret it in the near future but also don't want to over-build the fence if I don't need to.

So, given these options, what would the experts do??

Thanks,
Brian

We have 2"x4"x 48" fence. It's called "No-Climb" horse fence made by RedBrand. I understand what you are saying about the Alpacas not "challenging the fence". But the fence has to be stretched. And 2"x4" woven wire is extremely heavy (and expensive) per linear foot. T-post corner system isn't going to cut it. You will need the 7" corner posts with cross bracing. PHD required. Try stretching it against a T-post corner system is a good way to waste a day. There is more to this. Over the seasons the heat and cold will stretch and shrink the fence and work the corner posts. I like saving money. But never on fencing. It's just too much work to have to be redone in a couple of years.

 

[shinnlinger]

I have run some woven wire (and do make sure it is woven wire, not welded) and what I do is try to find a good anchor point, usually a tree but corner posts set in the ground will work and make sure I horseshoe nail it very well. I then stick a pipe through the roll of wire and suspend the pipe and roll from my bucket and drive the tractor just past the next logical anchor point and then weave a piece or rebar through the roll to stop it from unrolling and use low range or bucket curl to tighten the fence and then fasten it to the next tree, post, outbuilding etc. and repeat. You will have a nice tight fence. You can employ T posts ( and make sure they are T and not U shaped and check Home Depot for price) as needed in between major anchors.

All this said, I would forgo all that and recommend an "Alpaca tractor" I use them for my sheep, goats and chickens and they work really well. It is part of intensive grazing (not the same as overgrazing) and while some string electric fencing or net around and move it from time to time, I figure I have a tractor so I use that to pull an enclosed pen around my fields and yard as needed all by myself or my daughter will do it. Depending on if you need to go through gates or not, I will recommend a 12x20 footprint and run your wooven wire (leaving a gate, but just use your woven wire as you will only open this gate 2x a year, it doesn't need to be some fancy thing) around that on vertical posts. run some posts 5 ft high (they only need to be as tall as the animal) or so on one end and create some kind of roof to provide shelter from the sun and rain. I would put some roofing on the sides around this roofed area as well to block the sun and extreme weather.

You could put three or four Alpaca in this and move it morning and night depending on you grass situation to the next block over. This makes sure all the grass is eaten and allows you to maximize your land. It is also way cheaper than anything else as you have just built the animals 3 season quarters to boot(in MD it may be a 4 season unit for all I know). My sheep stay WAY cleaner doing this and they do not establish "campsites" or rutted trails or tracked down muddy/dirt areas and ignore other areas. If you allow to few animals on too much space, they will eat only the tasty grass, but not the good for them grass and after a few years you will have a field of junk. The "tractor" makes them eat a variety daily and fertilize at the same time. You then move the animals away from their poo and they stay healthier and your field stays greener. You should now bring in chickens to compost the the poo and give you meat and eggs (and more poo), but you can get into that next year if you want.

The #1 threat to Alpaca is your neighbors dog, but is it to late to back out of Alpaca? Why are you getting them? Wife and I looked very hard at Alpaca a few years ago as wife is into her fiber, but other than a cheap wethers(and even then), I would recommend a serious second thought. You can buy the fiber for way less from peru than you will ever save having your own and the whole breeding thing is crazy to me. To create $40K off spring you need to buy $40K breeding stock (and you need at least 3 of course)and of course it better be a female with straight legs and teeth and blue eyes or your SOL. Thats why we went sheep, as you can always eat sheep if it hits the fan, but your probably won't want to eat you $40k Alpaca. I don't mean to be a party pooper, but I just want you to fully consider your options.

Dave

 

[cfabe]

You will want to go with wood posts and H bracing for your corners/ends with any type of woven wire. To get an attractive, durable fence it needs to be stretched very tight. We did one fence of this type for our goats last year, and it has held up reasonably well, no sagging but they learned to walk along the fence line rubbing against it which started to bend the wire out between line posts. We recently added an electric strand on the inside of the fence to stop the rubbing.

We are currently working on fencing in another area for the goats and decided to try 6-strand high-tensile electric fencing. It's quite a bit cheaper than the sheep/goat welded wire and I think it will work just as well. That might be an option to consider for your alpacas.