fence replacement/maintenance

[1autgr]

Several questions

1. Along the road, my wire fence is not in good shape -- overgrown with privet and kudzu. I am considering removing the fence and replacing with a wooden fence. Any suggestions as to how to tackle the project? Any estimates on cost? The road is about one half mile. If the cost is too much, I may use barbed wire for a portion and wooden fence for the balance.

2. There is a fairly steep ditch between the road and the fence. Currently, the ditch is a magnet for weeds. Is there a way to maintain the ditch outside of spraying regularly with Roundup?

[Pat]

A controlled burn is an alternative to Roundup in sopme situations.

You didn't say what sort of posts you have in the existing fence. If they are T-posts then when the groung is somewhat moist you can pull them with a FEL and chain. There is a device available at AG supply stores and Harbor Freight called a Post Popper (or similar.) It is sort of like a bumper jack but is equipped to pupp the post by giving you a lot of mechanical advantage.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[egon]

Can the existing vegetation along the fence line be trimmed into a hdge appearance?

For the ditch have you considered overseeding with a mixture of tall perrenial flowers and grasses and then just leave?

Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Pooh_Bear]

This year with the cost of gas so high I fenced off most of my yard
and opened the gate to the neighbor's cows.
One strand of electric fence around the yard contains them just fine.
Sure saved me a bunch of gas money this year.
And got the woods cleaned out real good. What they don't eat they trample down.

I knew I couldn't mow too close to the fence,
and I also knew the cows wouldn't eat too close to the fence,
and I didn't want grass and weeds growing up along the fence.
So, at each corner is a T post with a special insulated connector.
A gate handle hooks to each side of the connector.
Rebar posts hold the fence up between T posts.
So all I have to do is un hook both ends of the barb wire,
And I can pull up the rebar posts or not, and mow the fence row.
I close the gate and keep the cows out while I do this.
I just did it this past weekend. It was real easy.

And along the road where there is a ditch I didn't fence close to the road.
I came in about 15 feet so I could mow that with the tractor.
Also I'm working on filling in the ditch to make it safer to mow.
There has never been any water in that ditch and the county said I could I fill it in.

I can get pictures of my setup if you want.
You can see it before I fenced it at this link.

Pooh Bear's Place

Pooh Bear