Don’t Make These Livestock Fencing Mistakes Anymore!

Good fences make good neighbors they say, but good fences also make good farms. Livestock fencing involves a decent bit of planning and the right materials (livestock fence panels, wires, posts, etc.) DIYing your fence can come in handy, this article is going to list 5 common fencing mistakes that you should not make.

6 Livestock Fencing Mistakes to Avoid

1.   Corner Posts Not Buried Deep Enough

When installing the corner posts, you should remember this one formula – the depth inside the ground should be the same or more than the height of the top wire. For example, if you want a height of 4 feet, the post needs to be at least 8 feet tall.

It is also important to get posts that are thick enough to support the type of livestock fence pane/wire. For barbed wire, you will require a post at least 6 inches in diameter and for woven wire fences we suggest posts no less than 8 inches wide.

2.   Posts Are Incorrectly Spaced

A common misconception that stems from barbed wire fences is that there should be 1 post for each panel (ie. spaced every 16.5 ft). However, this rule only works for barbed wire, if you’re using a net fence your posts should be 8-12 ft apart, and in the case of electric fences 80-100 ft apart for maximum impact strength and integrity. Sometimes electric fences are prone to sagging owing to the greater distance between two adjacent posts. Here, you can use shorter posts that sit above the ground to hold up the wire.

3.   Incompatible Energizer

The rule of thumb here is that there should be 1 Joule output per mile, the density of the wire strands doesn’t matter. An energizer that doesn’t offer enough power (or too much) will be ineffective. We also suggest using low-impedance, low-amplitude energizers to avoid shorting.

4.   Ground rods placed too close to each other

For an electric fence to be efficient, there should be 3 ft of rod for each joule of output. Understand that feet here refer to the depth in the ground and not the length along the fence. So, if your energizer produces an output of 6 Joule you should get 3 ground rods, 6 ft deep and spaced at least 10 ft apart.

It can be a little tricky to work with like if you place 3 rods, 6 inches from each other, they will actually come together to act as 1 rod given the volume of soil is so little. So, remember spacing is the key.

5.   No Steel Posts In an Electric Fence

Steel doesn’t belong anywhere in an electric fence. Even if you have a good insulator, insulators aren’t particularly durable and can pop off with some wear. Without an insulator, the steel will short the entire system. Plastic or composite are great materials for posts in your electric fence.

6.   Don’t Forget to Factor In Climate And Environment

Regions that see snowfall and frozen ground are not good contenders for regular electric fences, if you install one any way you’ll have to modify the system by adding neutral wires. Areas around California (and others) that run a risk of wildfires should use steel posts and barbed or woven wire.

Superior Quality Fencing With Bison Tough

Our Bison Tough range offers the highest quality containment products including livestock fence panels, gates, posts, and more. With our products at Bison Pipes, your perimeters will stand the test of time and the harshest weather. For more updates, you can join our email list via our website or simply give us a call at 800-764-7434.

N.B – Bison Tough products are available with Bison Pipes.