FENCE IN, FENCE OUT
(Page 2 of 9)
September/October 1975
Jim Fairfield
Plan your fence. Plan it backward, forward, sideways, up and down. Plan it in your head and on the back of an envelope. Scratch the design on the ground. Walk over the tentative route, and think about it.
RELATED CONTENT
I'm talking especially about interior enclosures. Although it's comparatively simple to run a line of fence around the perimeter of your property, it's quite another matter to divide a homestead efficiently into segments that make your work easier. Remember, a fence keeps cattle in, but it also keeps you from going where you used to go before you shut yourself out. Take, for example, the traffic problem I caused by placing a gate on the wrong side of a joining fence line. Now we have to let ourselves into one pasture and through a second entrance to get where we go most often in that part of our farm, Glencairn. To make the arrangement efficient will cost me another gate, someday when I can afford one.
While you're at the planning stage, you may want to consider seeking advice from your local professional. Most farmers are fence builders (they have to be, since good enclosures are nearly as necessary as water and feed), but in almost any country area there's someone who makes a specialty of fencing, and the work of such an expert is far superior to the average do-it-yourself job.
Ask around for your neighborhood's counterpart of Bill Deavers (my own local expert) and get that person to help plan your fence line and advise you on the special problems presented by your land. Later on, pay him to stretch your wire (at least the first section, so you can see how it's done). Believe me, his aid will be worth every nickel it costs you.
HOW TO LAY OUT A FENCE
When you're sure of the best location for your fence, it's time to lay out the line in detail, by driving stakes at the comers of the area to be enclosed and stretching string tightly between them. (We used recycled baling twine for this purpose.) Keep the line as straight as possible to minimize any unwanted effects from the tension that will be generated by the stretched wire. Absolutely necessary curves should be negotiated by "stepping around" them with one or more extra corners and bracing the posts to withstand the additional strain.
Now you're ready to choose your posthole sites. Mark the location of a corner upright first, and stake out a spot 8 to 10 feet along the line for a brace post, which you'll need to add extra strength to the corner. The first line post should go in 12 feet farther on, followed by the others at 12-foot intervals on centers. (You'll find a 12-foot pole a handier measure than a tape when you're laying out holes.)
Some adjustments in posthole spacing, usually no more than a foot or two either way, can be made at this stage to save you headaches later. Avoid outcrops of rock, for instance, and if the line goes over a knoll, be sure to locate a post close to the top of the rise or you'll have trouble with the bottom strands of your fence hitting the ground when you tighten the wire. If the crest is sharp, plan to break the fence at that point, and mark for a heavy upright at the top of the hillock and a brace post on either side. Later, you'll stretch wire to the spot and shorten the bottom strands before going on. The same general method applies to the crossing of a gully or sharp declivity.
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