My Goat/Horse Fence

   / My Goat/Horse Fence
  • Thread Starter
#11  
The 2x4 horse fence is heavy. VERY HEAVY!!! I didn't want to spend the money on the proper tool for unrolling it if I didn't have to. After looking at what I already own, I figured out that I can stand my hay spears up on the tips of my pallet forks, and hold it together with a chain and ratchet. Then I cut a plywood disk for the wire to spin on and a 2 inch pipe so the spear didn't get caught on the inside of the fencing.

I staple the fence to the wood post with barbed staples. Then I drive the backhoe backwards to unroll it. Trial and error taught me to only unroll one roll at a time before stretching it and stapling it to a wood post.

I use two come-alongs to stretch it. The strap one is super long and it allows me to find something to anchor it to up high on the backhoe. The cable one needs a chain, it' short, but more powerful, and it goes on the bottom where I can attach it to the frame of the pallet forks.

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I tried tightening the wire by driving backwards, but I would either spin my tires and not get it very tight, or I would damage the wire and have to cut that section out. I did have to lower the outriggers to stop from pulling the backhoe when tightening it.

378137923_10231270080077979_6341709983466724046_n.jpg 462930671_10234007563633357_3860408965502519630_n.jpg 467397706_10234712397813771_7288748988458817404_n.jpg


At first I tried screwing, and then bolting a pair of 2x6's together to pull the wire on the fencing around my dog yard, but that would slip, break apart, or wear out. So for this fence, I bought a 4 foot Stretcher Bar from Kencove that worked great!!

https://kencove.com/products/detail/stretcher-bar/tsc4

The thing I hate the most is connecting each roll together. I opted from crimps because they last forever. I don't trust any of the other types of connectors, and tying fencing is the worse thing ever!! The crimps work great, it's just painful to do all 13 lines every 200 feet.

378146290_10231271102143530_2224548675786125302_n.jpg

Once the wire was tight, I stapled it to the posts and moved on to the next roll. Once I finished the entire run, I would start tying the fence to the the T-posts. As of right now, I have almost every other T post tied. Its slow, painful, and not my favorite thing to do, but I'll get there eventually.

428634379_10232187459051880_456138665159829128_n.jpg

In the video, you can see my neighbors fence. When he hired the crew to install it, they just went as close to the trees as they could. One of the motivators in starting this project was a survey crew was working on the Natural Gas Pipeline on my neighbors land. They wanted permission to cross my land to get in and out, and just do their job. I said sure, and asked if they could mark the corners of the property while they where there. They agreed, and I got that done for free, and it was a win-win for everyone. I knew kind of where the corners where, but even with a metal detector, I couldn't find those pins. Fortunately, they where still there, and they found them easily. I was off by a good ways, and my neighbor was shocked at how far his fence was into his land. He is going to have a crew remove it one of these days. The best thing about my neighbor is that he said it was fine to take out every tree I wanted to remove that was on his land. The more I took out, the happier he would be!!!! More work for me, but also a huge benefit for clearing back his trees so they wouldn't damage my fence. He's really good at keeping everything mowed too.

 
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   / My Goat/Horse Fence
  • Thread Starter
#12  
This picture and video was right after Thanksgiving. It's all enclosed, so that's good. I feel like I've been doing just one thing for the last two years and ignoring everything else that I need to do. But that's not true, my wife is a Nurse, and everything she needs done is life or death, panic to have it done right away. Some of it's for the dogs, other things are for her plants, and some of it is for my Mom and fixing stuff around the house. Working 5 days a week also gets in the way of getting things done!!!

The best thing about having it all enclosed is seeing my horses have more land to explore and feed on. Before this fence, they where on 8 acres with 4 rows of electric fence.

When I first cut the electric fence, they stood there watching me. I don't think they knew what to do. When I moved away to cut out another section of electric fence, one of them walked up to the opening, stood there for a bit, then ran through it real fast, stopped and ran back in!!! Then another showed up and they both walked through it and waited for the other two. Then they took off running, but where back in just a few minutes. It was fun to see their reaction!!!

IMG_4943.JPG

 
   / My Goat/Horse Fence #13  
The 2x4 horse fence is heavy. VERY HEAVY!!! I didn't want to spend the money on the proper tool for unrolling it if I didn't have to. After looking at what I already own, I figured out that I can stand my hay spears up on the tips of my pallet forks, and hold it together with a chain and ratchet. Then I cut a plywood disk for the wire to spin on and a 2 inch pipe so the spear didn't get caught on the inside of the fencing.



I staple the fence to the wood post with barbed staples. Then I drive the backhoe backwards to unroll it. Trial and error taught me to only unroll one roll at a time before stretching it and stapling it to a wood post.

I use two come-alongs to stretch it. The strap one is super long and it allows me to find something to anchor it to up high on the backhoe. The cable one needs a chain, it' short, but more powerful, and it goes on the bottom where I can attach it to the frame of the pallet forks.

View attachment 1968734 View attachment 1968738 View attachment 1968739 View attachment 1968740 View attachment 1968741

I tried tightening the wire by driving backwards, but I would either spin my tires and not get it very tight, or I would damage the wire and have to cut that section out. I did have to lower the outriggers to stop from pulling the backhoe when tightening it.

View attachment 1968742 View attachment 1968744 View attachment 1968746


At first I tried screwing, and then bolting a pair of 2x6's together to pull the wire on the fencing around my dog yard, but that would slip, break apart, or wear out. So for this fence, I bought a 4 foot Stretcher Bar from Kencove that worked great!!

https://kencove.com/products/detail/stretcher-bar/tsc4

The thing I hate the most is connecting each roll together. I opted from crimps because they last forever. I don't trust any of the other types of connectors, and tying fencing is the worse thing ever!! The crimps work great, it's just painful to do all 13 lines every 200 feet.

View attachment 1968743

Once the wire was tight, I stapled it to the posts and moved on to the next roll. Once I finished the entire run, I would start tying the fence to the the T-posts. As of right now, I have almost every other T post tied. Its slow, painful, and not my favorite thing to do, but I'll get there eventually.

View attachment 1968745

Nice job with your improvised fencing equipment. I used the bolted 2x6 method as a stretcher, but as you say it can bend and break wires. I finally figured out this could be avoided by wrapping a few times around the 2x6 before stretching. This sacrificed about a foot of fencing with each stretch. The crimp ties are awesome and the easy way to go.
 
   / My Goat/Horse Fence #14  
I made my own unroller and stretcher for 2x4 non climb myself. Made job way easier. I used wooden H Bracing myself. Installed main fence 25 years ago, all still tight and standing.


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   / My Goat/Horse Fence
  • Thread Starter
#15  
Your wire unroller is very similar to what I was thinking of doing if I was going to make one. But then I got crazy in my drawings and made it a double so it would be wider and closer to the T posts, and then I thought about having a hinge in the middle so I could move it from one side or the other. In the end, it really didn't matter what side it's on, as long as it unrolls!!!
 
   / My Goat/Horse Fence #16  
Impressive Mr. Eddie. Is it keeping the goats in?

We had them when I was a youngster, and they have a deserved Houdini reputation for escaping.
 
   / My Goat/Horse Fence #17  
Good for you. I remember one of my horses getting his foot caught in ordinary woven wire fencing.
After i got his foot out, I called a vet. He had to give him a shot before he could sew up the cut half-way around his hoof.
That got infected before I noticed; vet returned and cut away the proud flesh and redid the bandage.
FWIW, I still have dads homemade woven wire fence stretcher. Two 2x4s 4' long clamped together with 4 1/4" bolts. It's all in how and where the upright wires is placed between the boards. We used a rope fence double-pulley stretcher for both woven and barbed wire, it has a distinct feel when the wire is tight enough.
I have 1,550' of fence to erect, 3/4 of which is in heavy woods. I'll hire it done, at 82 I realize my limitations.
Tip for running new fence in woods and you have little choice but to nail to a tree.
First nail a 5' 2x4 to the tree (I use 2 nails), staple fence to 2x4. As the tree grows it pushes the 2x4 away instead of growing around the wire and 2x4.

A goat will climb right up it though.
 
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   / My Goat/Horse Fence
  • Thread Starter
#18  
Impressive Mr. Eddie. Is it keeping the goats in?

We had them when I was a youngster, and they have a deserved Houdini reputation for escaping.
I had a baby goat escape yesterday. It was able to squeeze under the gate, so I added some concrete to build up that area. Baby goats are VERY HARD to fence in!!!!
 
   / My Goat/Horse Fence #19  
I see your not afraid of work! Your fence came out looking good, hope it keeps all the kids in.

I have used the adapter at this link to drill a small hole before trying to pound t-posts into hard ground. This helps to not have to bend over to drill when making post holes bigger. I use a 15" or 29" extension attached to the drill, then the Max-Lok connector to whatever diameter I am drilling to. I'm able to stand up while drilling, sure saves the back.
I use a 2" diameter drill for rock to place T-posts, knock the wings off the T-posts and set with cementall grout.

MAX-LOK™ EXTENSIONS AND ADAPTERS
 

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