Building Fences

By Jim Fairfield
Published on July 1, 1975
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I built my first fence 10 years ago, and it's still standing. Barely. Had I used proper equipment and known how to go at the business, however, that prematurely useless enclosure could have done its job for another 30 years.
I built my first fence 10 years ago, and it's still standing. Barely. Had I used proper equipment and known how to go at the business, however, that prematurely useless enclosure could have done its job for another 30 years.
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Representative prices of No. 2 Southern (or yellow) pine posts.
Representative prices of No. 2 Southern (or yellow) pine posts.
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Pricing of uprights for a 10-acre fence line.
Pricing of uprights for a 10-acre fence line.
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These figures are what the costs of the fence and gate total will be.
These figures are what the costs of the fence and gate total will be.
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Current prices for galvanized gates in our parts.
Current prices for galvanized gates in our parts.

A good fence, farmers say, should be “horse high, bull strong, and pig tight”. But as Jim Fairfield — who lives on a family homestead in Virginia — points out, that can be an expensive proposition these days. Jim then lists ways in which a modern subsistence farmer can put up just as much fence as he needs at a price he can afford.

I built my first fence 10 years ago, and it’s still standing. Barely. Had I used proper equipment and known how to go at the business, however, that prematurely useless enclosure could have done its job for another 30 years.

Building Fences

Easy as it may look to set posts and string wire, there’s usually a science to the job, a science I’ve been learning from my neighbor, Bill Deavers. Deavers builds a good fence. He ought to. He’s been at it for 35 years. “If I haven’t learned come along the way,” says Bill, “I been wasting my time. Why, found out something new just last week. If those steel companies keep putting up the prices, though, I’ll be right back to making rail fences again.”

Old Time Fences

As Bill Deavers implied, there do remain a few ways to enclose land without buying wire at today’s prices. The trouble is that many farm plots no longer contain the primeval resources you need to build some of the best early American arm enclosures.

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