Cattle fencing

[Beaux]

I dont know if this is the place where I post this but I need some help. I have 25 acres in Louisiana and wanting to fence it in. I want to fence in about 6 acres for two horses and 15 acres for about 10 cows. I know how to raise cows and horses and I know how to put up a fence. What I dont know is how far apart to space to T-posts. I know I need a heavy posts every so often and t-posts have to be spaced certain distances apart. I want to use field fence unless that is not the best thing to use. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

One more question when is it best to put up a fence, winter or summer?

Thanks,
Beaux

[RichZ]

If you're going to use woven wire fencing, I suggest that you use Red Brand non-climb fence, with the T-posts 8 feet apart.

[Bird]

I know a lot of people set t-posts 10, and sometimes even up to 15, feet apart, but I'm like Rich. I wanted mine 8' apart, with a heavy wood or steel pipe "H" brace approximately every 100 feet.

[rebelmedic]

I`m in Pearl River County,Mississippi, not far from the Slidel/New Orleans area of Louisiana. Up here we go with the 10 ft spaceing of T-posts and about 200 Ft on the braces, unless in a wet area. If you are in South Louisiana I`d go with Birds requirements,the soil is too wet and posts may lean.If in North Louisiana and funds low,the extra distance will save a lot of posts. The red top brand seems to be the best and longest lasting brand(I put up 900 + feet this summer). Horses are notorious for cutting themselves on barbed wire,I`d definitely go with the field fence(net wire) with the barbed stuff only on tops. If totaly separate areas for the horses vs cows, a five or six strand barbed wire only fence is great for cows(strands about a foot apart) and can put smooth wire on top of the horse area to prevent possible cutting of the horses.

[Pat]

Around here you rarely see barbed wire fences much under 10 ft T post spacing and stretch fixtures wherever someone thought it was a good idea. Wider spacing, within reason (not to exceed about 15 ft) is OK if you put one or two stays in each span and the posts are driven in good holding ground.

I have just put up some graduated field fence (48 inch Red Brand) with T-posts on 10 ft centers and have maybe another 1000 ft to do plus a cattle guard and two gates. The bad news is that it is highway frontage and there are oodles of buried phone cables so I will have to hand dig lots of test holes to ensure I will not put an auger through some EXPENSIVE cables.

In good holding ground, graduated field fence works fine for stock that isn't really wild with T posts on 10-12 ft centers. I prefer 10ft centers and at least one strand of good (Red brand) 4 point barbed wire on top.

If the land isn't too roller coaster and you have a good setup for stretching the wire you can go quite a ways between stretch fixtures. If you are just sort of catch as catch can jury rigging then you may need a stretch fixture every 100 ft.

In a thousand feet of fence the difference in materials going from 8 ft on center to 12.5 feet on center is about $150 with T posts at $3.00 each or about 15 cents per linear foot of fence. Although I am using 10 ft, if I was restricted to selecting from between only 8 ft or 12.5 ft I would go with 8.

If I were pasturing horses and didn't use a barbed wire on top, I'd probably be more likely to go with Bird's 8 ft recommendation and if it wasn't good holding ground I'd use 6 1/2 ft T posts instead of 6 ft. I prefer the 48 inch graduated field fence over the 42 as it is a little more resistant to stock trying to reach that really nice green mouthful by reaching over the top (which is why I run the one strand of 4 point on top as well as the 48 inch material.)


Pat

[eccentricfarmer]

Totally agree. Set a couple thousand feet last year and have had no issues at all. The tighter you can get it the better, keeps them from hanging their head over and pushing the wire down. Figure about 4 person hours per 100' if not doing corners or stress set points, wooden H sets. Set corners in deep dug heavy posts H style.

[saltbranch]

I only have experience with barbed wire fences. We go 10' between 6.5' tall Tposts with a stay between each t-post, H braces @ the beginning/end of roll of barbed wire. On perimeter fences we go 5 strand, interior we use 4 strands. We use a come a long with a wire grab to tension wire tight. Some of our soil is deep sand, in that part we use wood posts dug @ 4' deep and 2 t-post , then wood post etc.