fencing

[Chuckie]

my fence is 3-strand b-wire, t-posts with room between for wood posts. unfortunately, haven't had the $$ to put the wood posts in so far. t-posts are about 15' apart. i have one trouble spot; the question i have is do i put a post up-hill, down-hill, or both?

i have a slope, the b-wire is tight, and it has pulled the t-post out of the ground. the calves, especially like to crawl out there. seems to me that i should wood-post both up and down hill. right or wrong?

 

[Jinglebob]

Uphill, downhill of what?

How big are the calves? maybe you need more wires. or a tighter fence.

 

[Chuckie]

this one post is downhill of a corner-post about 150 yds., up-hill of a corner-post about 100 yds. does that help? the fence is tight, that's why it's pulling that t-post out--the wire's trying to stay horizontal, and there's nothing to keep the t-post in the ground because the slope's so steep right there.

BTW--any size calf, but the cows stay in....

 

[Jinglebob]

Oh, I see what you are saying now.

Where the posts are pulling out, find something heavy, like a rock or old big chunk of iron and tie a wire to it and pull the wires down with it, wrapped around all three wires. That should help hold the t posts in the ground.

Calves are a pain and will come and go. Net, or woven wire fence is about all that will hold them if the are determined to get out. Maybe a strand of electric fence?

Wood post would probably help also. I've been doing a bunch of fencing and my posts are 20 to 16 feet apart. Three wire. Calves seem to stay in, but maybe my pastures are bigger?

I have som two strand barbwire fences and as long as there is feed there isn't much problem.

Why do the calves want to leave? Is there better feed on the outside of the fence? Hard to keep a hungry bovine in behind a wire fence.

Hope some of this helps!

 

[Chuckie]

some of it has to be that on my huge property (7 A total, with 5.5 in pasture/shelterbelt--and that's divided into 3 pastures!!), the cattle wear on the fence harder. i do not overstock--have had 9 pairs, but usually only have 1-2 pairs plus a yearling; they just think it's more fun to be away from mom i think, couldn't be the corn fields cause they're always out on the d### road!!

i'm gonna put on some hot wire just to keep them off the b-wire, try to reduce maintenence. sounds like i should put the boy to work digging a couple of post-holes, though. he thinks he's a big bad tough football player--let's see what he's got, right??!! this ground is REALLY gravelly and tough.......

 

[George]

Yes calves can be a pain. I love electric fence and run into problems with post pulling. I will wire a concrete block to both wires ( I run two wires to keep the dogs and coyotes out) in the low spots and that really helps. If you go the section on fence chargers you can get many tips.