Fencing for the Homestead

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Add value and security to your land by installing a well-built fence.

You’ve got a piece of land and a dream to keep some livestock, but your place doesn’t have good fences—not yet, anyway. Many types of perimeter fencing are available, and installing a fence is a job you can do yourself.

Fencing can range from about $200 to $1,500 per quarter mile (1,320 feet), but your selection criteria will involve more than just the cost. Your choice should be based on the livestock you want, the terrain of your land, the life span of various fencing options and the amount of effort and tools it will take to build and maintain each type.

Fencing options include woven, barbed and high-tensile (both electrified and nonelectric) wire. Electrified poly wire/poly tape is another possibility, but for large livestock it’s only effective for temporary applications within permanently fenced fields. Typical fences are about 5 feet high, though any height is possible—I have a 7-foot-tall electric fence to keep out deer. The approximate material costs that follow are based on information taken from a July 2005 Iowa State University Extension report about livestock fencing (go to www.extension.iastate.edu and search for “fencing costs”).

WOVEN WIRE

Installation: about $1,500/quarter mile with a single strand of barbed wire on top; alternating between wooden posts and metal T-posts spaced 12 to 16 feet apart. (In most locations, you won’t need nearly so many wooden posts—maybe two for every quarter mile.) About 40 hours of labor

Ongoing maintenance: replacing and resetting staples, retensioning corners

Pros: strong, secure and relatively attractive; confines nearly all livestock, including sheep and goats

Cons: highest initial cost, most maintenance required

Sometimes called “page wire” fencing, this system uses the same kind of wood and metal posts common to other fencing types. Corner/end posts generally are about 8 feet long, at least 8 inches in diameter and need to be specially braced. Wooden line posts are at least 4 inches in diameter and should be installed along a taut string to ensure accurate alignment. Posts should go about 3 feet into the ground, every 12 to 16 feet.