Howle’s Hints

BY JOHN HOWLE

THE HERB FARMER HOW’S YOUR GARDEN May

“Don’t ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.” - Robert Frost

Fencing around the farm serves many purposes. It marks your property boundaries, separates grazing paddocks and it contains your livestock. Once you have perimeter fencing in good shape around your property, you can subdivide easily and inexpensively SIMPLE TIMES with solar-powered electric fencing. For the purpose of this article, I will focus on a divider fence.

For permanent fencing, using barbed wire and a mixture of T-posts and wooden posts are the most inexpensive options. We put up a divider fence to keep heifers isolated from the rest of the herd until they are mature enough to be bred. Most barbed wire fencing consists of four or five strands of barbed wire attached to T-posts spaced every 12 feet. Since we are dividing groups of cattle, we opted to go with six strands of barbed wire. That sixth THE CO-OP PANTRY strand results in smaller spacing between the wires and helps prevent fence sagging and bending from cattle pushing their heads through the fence to graze This photo shows the completed divider fence with “H” braces, gate, T-posts and on the other side. six strands of barbed wire.

Once you know where your fence will be, the closer you can get to a straight line, the better it is for fence strength. First, put a post in at each end of the fence. Attach that first strand of barbed wire and run the length of the fence to the other end. Stretch this first strand reasonably tight and nail it in place to the wooden posts.

Construct the “H” Braces

Using the first strand as a straight edge keeps you from having to run a string the length of the fence and marking post spots. Once this strand is in place, create your “H” braces at each end of the fence. An “H” brace consists of two posts vertically in the ground supported by a horizontal post attached at the top of each vertical post.

Once the “H” is constructed, attach a diagonal section of barbed wire from the bottom of the support post with the higher end being attached to the post of the tension pulling side of the “H” brace. Stretch this diagonal wire tight and tie it together. Then, take a short section of rebar and twist it around the wire until it is extremely tight. After the wire is tight, attach the top of the rebar twisting rod to the horizontal post in the “H” brace with a fence staple

This diagonal section of barbed wire serves to keep your “H” brace tight and allows for the direction of pull to be held on the high side of the tension wire. A short section of rebar can be used to tighten the tension wire by twisting the wire tight. The rebar can then be attached to the horizonal “H” brace post with a fence staple.

Hang and Install the Gate

Once the first-strand straight edge is in place with “H” braces at each end, you can now install your gate on the first-strand line. Drill your holes in the gate post allowing the gate hinge bolts to be secured. You can tighten the gate hinge bolts easiest with the open hole on a crescent wrench. Make sure the gate

swings around making full contact with the post that the gate is chained to when shut.

Drive in the T-Posts

While the first strand is still being used as your straight edge, drop a T-post at every 12-foot mark you step off while walking back down your first-strand lay out line. Come back and drive these posts into the ground using your first strand as your guide. At this point, you can begin rolling out the remaining five strands of barbed wire, attaching the wire to the T-posts with fence clips and the wooden posts with staples.

Tips for Fence Construction

1) Use the spaces on the T-posts as your markers on where each strand of wire goes. On a six strand fence, I have three open spaces between each strand on the T-post. 2) Put in a couple of wooden posts on long sections of fencing. This gives you a halfway point for stretching your wire tight without so much tension on each end of the fence. The standard-size wooden posts make it easy to attach your wire stretchers for pulling tension on the wire.

Stretch post: On long stretches of fence, put in a couple of wooden posts or an extra “H” brace for stretching wire at the halfway point. This also gives the fence more strength.

3) Make sure your gate posts and vertical “H” brace posts are deep in the ground and tamped tight.

I make these postholes 3 feet deep and tamp the posts tight using creek gravel or any rocks available. 4) When you are on difficult terrain with steep hills and valleys, fencing can be a challenge. You may have to weave a bit between trees. If you have to nail your wire to trees, you can attach a piece of treated lumber to the tree first, then staple the wire to this treated piece of lumber. This prevents the tree from eating the wire or rusting it out. 5) If you have a long, straight run of fence, instead of running T-posts for the entirety, install an “H” brace at the halfway point for strength. This also gives you a halfway point for attaching your wire stretchers.

This May, use these tips for fast, problem-free fencing. The more time you spend on properly installing your fence means less time spent rounding up cattle when they get out.