Permanent Fencing Options By Brandon Mitchell

WAYNESBORO, Tennessee: 

During my time as an extension agent, I met several people who had just moved into the county. Being one of the greenest counties in the state many wanted to move here and be involved in agriculture.

In one instance, a man came to the office with questions about cattle. He asked if cattle had to be fenced in or if they could free range. I shared that by law, we are required to keep our livestock inside a fence, and even if that were not the case, it would be dangerous for both the cattle and cars roaming the roads. Granted, some of the fences I’ve seen only hold livestock with imagination, but as the saying goes good fences make good neighbors.

There are essentially three types of permanent perimeter fence you should consider, barbed wire, high tensile electric, and field fence. Of these three, barbed wire is by far the most popular, due in part to its ability to satisfactorily keep cattle in place. Partly, I suspect its popularity is due to its 150-year history. It holds animals in by the sharp barbs that make it like walking through a wall of thorns. This wall of thorns, however,  is nothing more than an obstacle maze to a group of goats that will go under or through it, just like deer. Here the field fence, also called net wire stands out. As smaller animals try to go through, it acts like a net and catches them (most of the time).

The third and newest option is high tensile electric. It offers some unique advantages and disadvantages over the other two types of permanent fence, but is it the best of the three? Maybe. Maybe not. Let’s break it down.

* Cost. From a cost perspective, a field fence is the most expensive. Your post spacing is the same, or closer than with barbed wire and the wire is more expensive than barbed wire per linear foot. The costs associated with high tensile electric is a bit more challenging. If you build a traditional fence with wood corners, t-posts, and insulators on everything, it can be just as expensive as barbed wire, sometimes more. Even if you utilize some of the newer types of fiberglass posts with recommended spacing, costs can be even higher.

But in many instances, high tensile installation can be cheaper, especially where level ground and straight fence rows allow you to space posts up to 30 feet apart. The high tensile fence also becomes cheaper when considering maintenance. When a limb falls on barbed wire or field fence, you usually have to repair or replace a section of fence. With high tensile electric, often you do little more than remove the limb, and the fence pops back into place.

* Species contained. Barbed wire is the standard cattle fence, but it tends to be problematic with other species unless electric wires are added. Field fence can work well with goats as long as it is tall enough to prevent jumping over. It also works with hogs, though “rooting up” the fence and going under can occur.

High tensile electric can work for all species, but the animals typically must be trained first. This is especially true with goats. (Yes, I mention goats a lot, and yes there is a reason for that.) One downside to electric wire is you can’t train animals trying to come in. Yes, many get deterred with a strong shock, but if an animal makes it halfway through before being shocked, they push through and get inside the fence.

It can also be problematic with weather. When I worked retail agriculture, I knew we would get several electric fencers brought in for repairs whenever the rains came. Some blew fuses. Some blew circuit boards, and some just blew up. From the time the fence was damaged until it was replaced, the fence was off.

Very few producers had a backup fence charger that could quickly be hooked up. In fact, one producer called just after our 8 PM closing. He was nearly an hour away and wanted us to stay open. Per management, I couldn’t, but didn’t feel too badly for him. The storm that had knocked out his fence charger occurred three days prior, and he had just gotten around to checking the fence.

* Size of property. When you have large, unbroken acreage, high tensile electric shines. The wire can be stretched tight over a long run, and a powerful fence charger can provide an adequate shock for several miles. If the farm is broken up into much smaller, disconnected paddocks, it may require multiple fencer chargers, one for each field. It may also include batteries for each charger. In the smaller fields, barbed wire or field fence can often serve as simpler options.

* Rotational practices. The best way to separate a large field into smaller, bite-sized pieces is to hook a strand of wire from one side to the other and electrify it. High tensile is great here as electricity around the perimeter is always available. With barbed wire, you can run an electric wire around the perimeter, offsetting it on the inside with insulators, but that is extra wire, insulators, and labor. The same can be done with field fence, but the extra costs are the same.

If you don’t have large fields, or if you have natural pinch points to separate fields, then you may not be using electric wire to separate paddocks. I have some pinch points where the perimeter wires are no farther apart than the width of a gate, so instead of using electric wire to divide the paddocks, I use a cattle panel as an interior gate.

* Fencing ability. Unless you’re paying for custom work, barbed wire is the simplest to install. Attach the barbed wire to one post, roll it out, and stretch until tight. Attach the other end. Staple wood posts and attach wire clips to t-posts.

Field fence is essentially the same process, but you’re pulling a lot more fence all at once, which lessens the strain on each horizontal strand. And several brands of field fence use sliding knots, which start to give when the fence is pulled tight. In the end, many amateur fence builders find it more challenging than standard barbed wire construction. High tensile wire requires a different setup. You’ll need some additional tools like a spinning jenny and ratchet strainers. It’s not necessarily more difficult once you have the proper tools and experience, but I still believe barbed wire installation is the simplest of the three.

* Wildlife. Deer can jump over any traditional cattle fence, but like goats often prefer to go under or through. If you’re a hunter like me, you may want deer on the farm. Field fence only offers deer the option of going over. When spooked I’ve watched deer continuously ram a fence looking for a hole to escape. I’ve even witnessed turkeys confused and try to run through a fence rather than fly over.

Barbed wire can allow a deer to go under or through, making it a bit more hunter friendly, but it too can cause problems. Where hunting dogs are used, some nasty cuts can come from barbed wire. It’s often worse when field fence is used with a strand of barbed wire on top. As the dog leaps over, it can catch its underside on the barb and make a long (and expensive) gash.

In fact, I’ve been part of discussions with pheasant hunters in the UK, and many of them are in favor of banning barbed wire altogether due to the damage it does to their dogs. They typically prefer smooth, electrified wire for this reason. Smooth wire isn’t just better for dogs. I’ve watched video footage of deer herds running into high tensile fences. The fence was knocked over due to the excessive force, but it sprung back into place, all without injuring the deer.

So which fence is best? While I may seem to favor one over the other, I personally believe they all have their place, and in fact I have used all three in different areas  of the same farm. What one person prefers may not necessarily mean it is the best option for you. This can be dictated by state laws regarding legal perimeter fences, but it can also be affected by existing fences (dilapidated or other- wise), fencing skills, topography and shape of the farm, proneness to storms, and the species of livestock you plan to contain. Putting all of that knowledge together, you can determine which type of fence will work best for you. You may even find, like I did, that there are places for all three.

Brandon Mitchell has worked as an extension agent, and now an agricultural teacher.