barb wire

[kathydavis]

my husband and i just bought 51 acres. we're in the process of looking into cattle, but we need to fix alot of fence. i was wondering if i should stay at five rows of barb or do six. my husband watches alot of rfdtv. and i guess alot of rancher are using six rows. we have alot of arguements about this. he has never run cattle before, i have. but i think i mit need advice from someone who has had more experience....

 

[kolanuraven]

We use 6 rows on perimeter fences....and 5 on interior fences, and this is whether we use elec or barbed.

 

[Cowpuncher]

We usually use four wires, but one neighbor likes five. We have about 80 miles of fence and about 1500 animals. Since we rebuilt our fences a years or so ago, we haven't had a single stray either getting in or out.

If your cattle get used to having a good fence, they won't try to cross.

Since you are in Arkansas, I guess snow isn't much of a problem. Here in Colorado, if you use a five or six wire fence with the lower wires close to the ground, you will spend a lot of time rebuilding fences in the spring after snow breaks them down.

The highway department is responsible for fences on major roads and they use a four-wire standard as does the railroad.

 

[Mrs.Greg]

A good three wire will keep your cattle in no problam,thats all we have ever used

 

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

Depends. We've built 4 wire fences for dividing fences and I wanna go back and put in a couple more strands. I HATE a 4 wire, cuz the critters will go thru when they are small....and "get lost" on the other side, in plain site of mama. Then stand there and bawl. When ya try to get em to go back thru the way they came, they get all goofy and wanna run. Bulls don't respect a 4 wire fence much either. Got one now that we gotta go patch cuz the neighbor bull has rearranged the wires for us. LOL

Perimeter fences...no less than a 5 preferably 6. Some states have laws regarding how many wires you hafta use on a fence that joins a road. Best thing tho is....go ahead and put 6 that way you don't hafta worry about cows or calves gettin out.

 

[kolanuraven]

We always put the strands a hammer handle length apart...quick and easy measure!

 

[lazy ace]

We have a lot of three wire fences but we also have a lot of two wire fences with the posts about 50 or 60 feet apart.

have a cold one

lazy ace

 

[Buyer]

I have an old friend that says the best thing about a two wire fince is they don't all get out at the same time.

 

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

We have a lot of three wire fences but we also have a lot of two wire fences with the posts about 50 or 60 feet apart.

have a cold one

lazy ace

LOL well.....that wouldn't work here. Grounds real soft, and either the wire would pull the posts down, or they'd fall over when it rains. Our posts are 10 ft apart on a 6 wire fence. With H braces out of telephone poles or rail road ties ever 100 ft.

 

[Texan]

I HATE a 4 wire, cuz the critters will go thru when they are small....and "get lost" on the other side, in plain site of mama. Then stand there and bawl. When ya try to get em to go back thru the way they came, they get all goofy and wanna run.

I feel your pain, jl. Seems like calves up to about 150-200 pounds can lay down close to a fence, sleep for a few minutes and get up on the other side. I've got six wire fences and still have that problem. If all of the wires aren't low enough to keep calves in, they've all got to be high enough to let them get back in anywhere they want to.

And it's hard for us to run wires low enough to keep calves in when we're in feral hog country. :x

 

[jodywy]

State fence along the highway is a barb about 3 to 4 inches off the ground then high tensil net then 2 in above the net then about 4 inches higher another bard with post a rod apart and 3 wooden stays between each post. it will keep dog out of sheep...

 

[Denny]

4 or 5 barb is pretty good but on 50 acres you would only need about 5 rolls of wire to make it 6 wire so that's a couple hundred dollars for a real good fence.We have alot of 3 wire fences here and they hold cattle fine unless they are short on grass.

 

[lazy ace]

We have a lot of three wire fences but we also have a lot of two wire fences with the posts about 50 or 60 feet apart.

have a cold one

lazy ace

LOL well.....that wouldn't work here. Grounds real soft, and either the wire would pull the posts down, or they'd fall over when it rains. Our posts are 10 ft apart on a 6 wire fence. With H braces out of telephone poles or rail road ties ever 100 ft.

yeah I understand that. It sounds pretty silly but it works in our neck of the woods. A five and six wire fence is considered sheep tight. Most are three around here but the two wire fences are easy to step down, especially when you are chasing coyotes in the winter time. What type of wire do you use? When we were visiting Red Angus breeders in Texas they said Red Brand didn't hold up because of the moisture.


have a cold one

lazy ace

 

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

We have a lot of three wire fences but we also have a lot of two wire fences with the posts about 50 or 60 feet apart.

have a cold one

lazy ace

LOL well.....that wouldn't work here. Grounds real soft, and either the wire would pull the posts down, or they'd fall over when it rains. Our posts are 10 ft apart on a 6 wire fence. With H braces out of telephone poles or rail road ties ever 100 ft.

yeah I understand that. It sounds pretty silly but it works in our neck of the woods. A five and six wire fence is considered sheep tight. Most are three around here but the two wire fences are easy to step down, especially when you are chasing coyotes in the winter time. What type of wire do you use? When we were visiting Red Angus breeders in Texas they said Red Brand didn't hold up because of the moisture.


have a cold one

lazy ace

We use Red Brand....it lasts fairly well with our moisture. Course it does rust, but I've worked on fence patchin where the wire has been there for 50 years and it's still strong enuff to stretch with a pair of stretchers. Some of our lower wires (I'd say the bottom 2) down in the bottoms where the water gets out and stands doesn't last as long as the rest. Red Brand sure beats the altermative wire....that cheapo China made junk. We have a neighbor that built joinin fence out of that. (The fence we have to repair cuz he don't believe in fixin fence) Man you can just sneeze on it wrong and it'll break. The barbs will all slide on the wire, makes it real hard to get the stretchers on it and get the job done. We had another neighbor redoin some fence, takin down old wire and puttin new up. When I drove up on him doin the job, he was takin each wire off, all the staples and wire ties off and rollin it up nice and neat. I asked him what he was gonna do with the old wire. He said, put it in the pile of stuff to be buried. So I asked if he'd care if I took it. He didn't mind. So I've been usin alot of that to patch the neighbor fence with LOL The old wire is alot better than that cheap stuff. And it was FREE hehe

 

[Hanta Yo]

We have a lot of three wire fences but we also have a lot of two wire fences with the posts about 50 or 60 feet apart.

have a cold one

lazy ace

Man, our cows would have that torn down in a heartbeat (after the elk get done with it, that is)

 

[CattleArmy]

If it takes 6 wires to keep cattle in I'd say they need a one way trip to town.

5 wires keeps these in and that's along a highway.

 

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

If it takes 6 wires to keep cattle in I'd say they need a one way trip to town.

5 wires keeps these in and that's along a highway.

LOL 6 wires aint required by law. But if all the cattle in Texas that were behind a 6 wire fence were sent to the salebarn, there wouldn't be very many cattle left in the state.
I looked up the law, 3 wires is required, with posts every 30 feet, and two stays between each post, fence must be at least 4 ft high.
In my opinion that's not sufficient fence to keep cattle in. But if someone wants to run cattle behind a 3 wire fence that's there business. In this country tho, that person will be chasin cattle back in more often than not. And that aint somethin I like to do.

 

[Mrs.Greg]

This looks like another one of those....Different areas differnt ways of doing things.....you rarely,very rarely see any more then a three wire fence here.And cattle are not running wild.

 

[High Plains]

True. I always thought a five-wire fence was a little overkill :lol: Like you said Mrs. Greg, different areas require different things. The nice thing about a three or four-wire fence, especially one that's a little loose, is that you can put a calf or yearling on the run and they'll magically end up on the proper side of the fence once again without having to fix any fence. 8)

I just ran across a fence the other day that two other young fellas and I built 15 years ago. It was kinda neat to see the posts all standing up nice and straight and the darn thing was still just as straight as an arrow. Makes a person proud to gaze upon work that was done well and forgotten about for all these years. Maybe carpenters feel that way all of the time?

HP

 

[kolanuraven]

My bucket cows are behind 6 & 5 wires.

We --here on the homeplace--even sometime weave the wire in & out between the posts, which are about every 10' apart and wooden, now THAT makes a tight & neat fence for sure.