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New products provide more choices than ever before
By Ed Deener
A move to the country and the acreage you've always dreamed of, a place to raise livestock, and a lot of work ahead. With all there is to do, one of the first things, particularly if livestock is in your plan, will probably be installing fencing. There are a multitude of fencing products on the market, and here we feature some of the most popular.
Fencing is not just steel posts and barbed wire, or boards nailed to wooden posts anymore. Though these remain viable solutions, many new products have been added to the choices landowners have when fencing their properties—products that are easier to install, require far less maintenance, and are safer for the animals penned inside.
Woven-wire fencing has been around for generations, and there is a product for almost any application. But that's the secret, finding the best fencing for what you need it to do. Dane Rakestraw, of RedBrand Fencing, Peoria, Ill., suggests choosing a brand that offers numerous types of fence in order to have a product that exactly fits your needs.
Non-climbing wire
"Horsemen like our non-climbing fences that have closely spaced gaps," Rakestraw says. "This discourages the animals from walking down a fence." Similar, non-climbing products are available to contain sheep and goats. Other time-proven, woven-wire fence is available to control swine, cattle, ostriches, emus, and poultry.
Electric fences have been available for years, but new technology has made them safer, easier to install, longer-lasting, and more effective. Once such product, Electro Braid, is a polyester fiber rope that has copper wire woven through it to carry the electric charge. The elastic nature of the rope allows it to give when a horse comes in contact with the fence and tends to bounce the horse back with virtually no damage to the horse or the fence.
"Our product uses a monitor to make sure the fence is working correctly," says Andrew Bryson, vice president of marketing for Electro Braid at Yarmouth, N.S. "It provides a warning if there is a voltage drop. It also shuts off the electricity if there's contact for more than four seconds. If a malfunction occurs, a siren sounds and the base charging unit automatically calls a preprogrammed phone number."
The product is easy and economical to install. Suggested fence-post spacing is 50 feet and any type of posts can be used. Tension is adjusted by hand using a tensioning device.
Another type of electric fence gaining the attention of U.S. farmers is called high-tensile fencing. Popular with sheep and cattle ranchers in Australia for more than 30 years, high-tensile fence uses smooth wire stretched to 250 pounds tension and stapled to wooden posts. Staples are not driven tight against the wire to allow the wire to move during tensioning, temperature changes, or livestock pressure.
Strong stuff
The zinc-coated, 12½-gauge wire can withstand 1,700 pounds of pull before breaking. That's twice that of two-ply barbed wire and causes animals to bounce off and the fence to spring back, both undamaged.
A white-painted, post-and-rail fence on a horse farm has been a source of pride and beauty for landowners for many years. With this comes the laborious chore of keeping it freshly painted and in good repair.
Enter a relatively new product, vinyl, and with it a solution to all of the maintenance problems that go with post-and-rail fence. Vinyl fence provides the beauty and prestige of
a painted post-and-rail fence with no treating, no painting, no sealing, no staples, no nails, or no screws—it's virtually maintenance-free. Three- or four-rail fence is most popular with those wanting to contain livestock.
Buy right
"People shouldn't be tempted to use lighter-weight vinyl fence designed for residential applications to contain livestock," says Jim Sweet, of Lifetime Vinyl Fence at San Jose, Calif. "Although it looks great, it won't withstand the abuse that animals dish out. Vinyl fence that is designed to be used with livestock has larger, stronger components."
Sweet says his firm offers two grades of vinyl fence that work well with livestock. His standard product costs $5.50 per foot for a three-rail fence. An even heavier-duty vinyl runs about $6.50 a foot. "When you're investing in a fence that can last a lifetime, trying to save money by using a residential-quality product is a bad idea. Installation costs are the same regardless of the quality of the fence. It just makes good business sense to use a product that you know will hold up to your application."
Sweet says his firm offers two grades of vinyl fence that work well with livestock. His standard product costs $5.50 per foot for a three-rail fence. An even heavier-duty vinyl runs about $6.50 a foot. "When you're investing in a fence that can last a lifetime, trying to save money by using a residential-quality product is a bad idea. Installation costs are the same regardless of the quality of the fence. It just makes good business sense to use a product that you know will hold up to your application."
Some ranches use steel pipe to hold their livestock. It is a durable, strong, long-lasting fence, but it doesn't come without its negatives. In almost all cases, welding is required during the installation process. If this isn't in your skill set, there's the added expense of
hiring someone to do the welding. The fence also requires regular painting as rust will attack and weaken joints and bleed through paint, causing an unsightly appearance. A relatively new product on the market, offered by 440 Fence Company in Aubrey, Texas, has the strength of a steel-pipe fence without the cost or hassle of welding and can be installed at a speed of 500 feet a day. This fence uses unique couplers that attach pipe sections to the poles, securing them into place with the twist of an Allen wrench. The system uses 2 3/8-inch steel pipe protected by a multilayered coating process that includes galvanizing, polymer coating, and powder coating in one of five colors, then baked at a temperature of 500 degrees.
"This is as near to maintenance-free as a fence can get," says 440's Brian Moreland. "Plus, it's fast to install and looks great."
A well-made fence is an investment that enhances your property's value and protects your livestock. There's an expense to any type of fence you decide to install such as time and labor, not to mention the cost of the material. Before you make this investment, take the time to learn about all of the new products that are available and compare their cost, maintenance requirements, and expected life span.
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