Barb Wire - any words of wisdom?

[CrealCritter]

Soon I'll be stretching barb wire for a 5 acre pasture. I've taken out and repaired barbwire fencing but I've never installed any new. Thinking about it and that some common sense should help. I don't have a spooler for the tractor but I have a drawbar that I could slide a roil on to roll it out and also use the drawbar as a anchor for stretching.

I guess you still staple and tie off to the corner post and staple to the brace post, then stretch to the other corner post staple and tie off. I have wooden corner posts.

Thinking about how I might do this it would also make sense to work from the top down. I'm sure this stuff will stick to most everything. So working from the bottom up seems like it would create more problems than working top down

As far as spacing the runs of wire. I've seen 4 runs, 5 runs and 6 runs. 6 runs divided by 4ft works out nice for 8" spacing and also looks nice and tidy. But is it really necessary for cows? IDK that's why I'm asking. Who knows what might eventually be in this pasture though?

This is the barb wire I plan to use, it's for cattle and bison. Each roll is 1320 ft my 5 acres is 330 ft x 660 ft, my t-posts will be on 10 ft centers so 1 roll should get me 2 runs on the long sides or 4 runs on the short side (hopefully).

Also thinking... that you really should avoid touching this stuff unless you enjoy blood squirting from your body and scratched up arms and hands (both will probably happen anyways ). So I plan on using a story stick for consistent spacing and grabbing the wire with vice grips.

Any other words of wisdom? I'm a totally motivated green horn.

Thanks

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Mini Horses]

Ouch! I'm NO help. Horses and goats...both no, no for that stuff, even when I had cattle. Good luck! I have to bite the bullet for fence. Hot wires my least expensive option and my goats laugh as they go thru.

@farmerjan will help ya. I'm sure. When she gets a chance.

 

[CrealCritter]

Ouch! I'm NO help. Horses and goats...both no, no for that stuff, even when I had cattle. Good luck! I have to bite the bullet for fence. Hot wires my least expensive option and my goats laugh as they go thru.

@farmerjan will help ya. I'm sure. When she gets a chance.

I know... ouch is right. I don't envision ever having horses.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[Okiepan]

Use a stretcher to get it tight ( come along ) a t-post tool works really nice on the clips but most importantly of all Barb wire is unforgiving avoid getting bit .
Be safe and have fun .

 

[baymule]

I am no bob-whar expert, have never put up a new fence, only repaired it. It seems to me to put the bottom on first or you will be tangling up with the top wires as you go up.

 

[farmerjan]

ALWAYS work barbed wire from bottom to top. ALWAYS ... for new fences. Patching you do whatever you have to.
Stretching and all is the same with any fencing. Pull the wire tight; do not overstretch.
High tensile will snap and coil if it gets away from you as opposed to the older wire, so be very careful to not overstretch or it will bite you and can really cause some problems if it gets tangled around you. Plus high tensile has to have a little more give so it can "bounce back" if something falls on it.

I would check your local laws on fencing. There are usually some requirements for number of strands and or fence heights. Here a LEGAL fence is 7 strands of wire... and if you do not put up a legal fence, and animals get out, then there are different consequences than if the fence was legal.... SADLY, all things nowadays have to be done with the legalities in the back of your mind due to liability laws and idiot people suing.... Doesn't matter how far out in the country you are... there are stupid people and clueless people and a constant stream of city people moving out to the "countryside" and down the road it can make a difference to you maybe having a problem and maybe losing your farm.
The idea is to "overfence" if in doubt.

Barbed wire will mostly not keep in goats or sheep or hogs. Nor will it keep out predators. Deer can get hung in it and they will find a spot and go through or under it which is actually their preference to going over....and they get hung easily in it.

I grew up with barbed wire and we kept horses in it. People have heart attacks now if you mention horses and barbed wire. It works good for cattle if it is tight. The old saying about a fence
"it should be horse high, bull strong and hog tight."
Yes it is alot cheaper than woven wire... and a good fence will work good. But here we never put up less than a legal fence except through woods where there is no temptation to go through for the "better morsel of grass" next door.
Just saw a new barbed wire fence on an adjoining pasture to one we rent... it is 7 strands. They were fencing out their woods from their cattle. Our rented place adjoins their woods so cattle do not actually touch there. They did not have to inform the landowner of the fence since the land that the cattle run on does not adjoin. If there is a possibility of the livestock being on both sides of the fence ( different owners) ... different states require different things... but here the owner wanting to rebuild a boundary fence HAS to notify the adjoining landowner... if there is not a "gentleman's agreement" then the notification HAS to be done in writing... 60 days prior to any work... which gives the adjoining landowner a right to protest. What it gets down to is often the cost. Say you want new fence, animals on both sides... you want to contain goats or sheep... adjoining owner has a couple of cows... you want woven wire (field fence) ... he does not want to go the extra cost over the existing barbed wire or high tensile smooth wire... BY RIGHTS here in Va , each landowner is responsible for HALF the common boundary fence... if both have animals. So it has to get mediated on costs etc.
Most never go that far... and then if there are no animals sharing the boundary fence... responsibility changes because we are in a "fence out " county here... and the places we rent in the next county north is a "fence in" county.

If it is not a boundary fence, then do whatever you want. But just realize the limitations. Once an animal can get it's head through the fence, they will push and push to get the "better grass on the other side of the fence"... regardless of how good it really is on their own side.... High tensile has some give so they actually can reach through and it will give more than the old style barbed wire... and believe me, gently reaching through and pushing against it is alot less painful than to try to "run through it" and animals will do it if it is not maintained. Closer together is better than further apart.
You have smaller cattle with smaller heads... they will push through more easily than bigger cattle...

 

[farmerjan]

You use a pair of heavy cowhide type gloves to handle. NO LOOSE CLOTHING TO GET CAUGHT. Pliers will be awkward and will not allow you to have any give. You stretch the whole length you have between brace posts then go back and nail off or put clips on. moving the wire up or down the post to conform to the contour of the ground. Moving it up or down a notch or bump on the post will also make it tighter...

 

[CrealCritter]

ALWAYS work barbed wire from bottom to top. ALWAYS ... for new fences. Patching you do whatever you have to.
Stretching and all is the same with any fencing. Pull the wire tight; do not overstretch.
High tensile will snap and coil if it gets away from you as opposed to the older wire, so be very careful to not overstretch or it will bite you and can really cause some problems if it gets tangled around you. Plus high tensile has to have a little more give so it can "bounce back" if something falls on it.

I would check your local laws on fencing. There are usually some requirements for number of strands and or fence heights. Here a LEGAL fence is 7 strands of wire... and if you do not put up a legal fence, and animals get out, then there are different consequences than if the fence was legal.... SADLY, all things nowadays have to be done with the legalities in the back of your mind due to liability laws and idiot people suing.... Doesn't matter how far out in the country you are... there are stupid people and clueless people and a constant stream of city people moving out to the "countryside" and down the road it can make a difference to you maybe having a problem and maybe losing your farm.
The idea is to "overfence" if in doubt.

Barbed wire will mostly not keep in goats or sheep or hogs. Nor will it keep out predators. Deer can get hung in it and they will find a spot and go through or under it which is actually their preference to going over....and they get hung easily in it.

I grew up with barbed wire and we kept horses in it. People have heart attacks now if you mention horses and barbed wire. It works good for cattle if it is tight. The old saying about a fence
"it should be horse high, bull strong and hog tight."
Yes it is alot cheaper than woven wire... and a good fence will work good. But here we never put up less than a legal fence except through woods where there is no temptation to go through for the "better morsel of grass" next door.
Just saw a new barbed wire fence on an adjoining pasture to one we rent... it is 7 strands. They were fencing out their woods from their cattle. Our rented place adjoins their woods so cattle do not actually touch there. They did not have to inform the landowner of the fence since the land that the cattle run on does not adjoin. If there is a possibility of the livestock being on both sides of the fence ( different owners) ... different states require different things... but here the owner wanting to rebuild a boundary fence HAS to notify the adjoining landowner... if there is not a "gentleman's agreement" then the notification HAS to be done in writing... 60 days prior to any work... which gives the adjoining landowner a right to protest. What it gets down to is often the cost. Say you want new fence, animals on both sides... you want to contain goats or sheep... adjoining owner has a couple of cows... you want woven wire (field fence) ... he does not want to go the extra cost over the existing barbed wire or high tensile smooth wire... BY RIGHTS here in Va , each landowner is responsible for HALF the common boundary fence... if both have animals. So it has to get mediated on costs etc.
Most never go that far... and then if there are no animals sharing the boundary fence... responsibility changes because we are in a "fence out " county here... and the places we rent in the next county north is a "fence in" county.

If it is not a boundary fence, then do whatever you want. But just realize the limitations. Once an animal can get it's head through the fence, they will push and push to get the "better grass on the other side of the fence"... regardless of how good it really is on their own side.... High tensile has some give so they actually can reach through and it will give more than the old style barbed wire... and believe me, gently reaching through and pushing against it is alot less painful than to try to "run through it" and animals will do it if it is not maintained. Closer together is better than further apart.
You have smaller cattle with smaller heads... they will push through more easily than bigger cattle...

More info to consider... Thank you very much and yes I see a lot of horses confined in barbwire fencing around here even mini horses.

Barb wire is the most common fence around here. I've even seen goats and sheep behind barb wire. But I'll need to stop and have a closer look there might be some strands of electric also.

I already know goats are escape artists. My neighbor on the back side of me has goats and I asked him what he uses to confine them. He said he used to have a single strand of electric wire but he took that down. Now it's nothing but their imagination. They stay in the pasture along with a donkey and cows. I'm not that brave to trust an animals imagination


You all have me rethinking now. I may just do this pasture in woven wire IDK...

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[CrealCritter]

You use a pair of heavy cowhide type gloves to handle. NO LOOSE CLOTHING TO GET CAUGHT. Pliers will be awkward and will not allow you to have any give. You stretch the whole length you have between brace posts then go back and nail off or put clips on. moving the wire up or down the post to conform to the contour of the ground. Moving it up or down a notch or bump on the post will also make it tighter...

I have some welding gloves, they might be useful - IDK I'll give them a try and see.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[CrealCritter]

Another thing... I used the bekaert fencing calculator. For barb wire it said 20 foot tpost spacing nah... I'll go with 10' tpost spacing.

https://fencing.bekaert.com/en/fencing-calculator

Jesus is Lord and Christ