We have been very busy preparing our homestead for the arrival of our family milk cow, Gertie. We are working with a tight budget to complete all of our projects. This has involved cutting (and continuing to cut) all of the materials that we can to build a barn and a milking stanchion. We also have been building fence for the pasture she will be in. We are utilizing everything that we already have or can cut or make ourselves in order to keep the projects to a minimum cost.
Our fencing project began with collecting our material. We were very blessed to be given all of the wooden posts for the field. It always amazes me when someone “happens” to have what we need and they no longer need it and offer it to us. God is so good to us and always provides. We are running 4 strands of 12.5 gauge high tensile wire with a solar powered fence charger. We did have to purchase the wire, charger, fence hardware, and a few T-posts for the fencing. We are using my cousins field and she happened to have an old 12 foot gate that we can use as well.
Once we had our materials (most of them, we did have to make a last minute store run for a couple of extra insulators), we began drilling our post holes. We were able to borrow a 2 man auger (You could also use a 1 man auger) which expedited the hole digging process by a lot. If we had not been able to borrow it we would have used good ole’ fashioned post hole diggers and a digging bar. This would have taken a lot longer and required a lot more physical effort so I am very pleased that we had the auger to use.
Augering is serious work, not time for photo ops….
Digging a deep hole
Hole that needs cleaning out
Farmer Derek cleaning out the hole
Post in and tamping the dirt down
Next step was to pull the wire around the posts. We were also able to borrow a cool contraption called a fence spooler from a friend. Farmer Derek rigged up a bracket for it on his truck so that he could set the spool of wire on it and drive it around the field to pull the wire. Usually, he would have drag the wire and pull it by hand.
This was another huge blessing and time saver. We used wrap round fence insulators on the corner posts and end posts to keep the wire from grounding out the electric fence. Farmer Derek nailed them to the posts with fencing staples that we had on hand. Jack was a huge help and nailed (with his own hammer) the nail on insulators to all of the wooden posts that were not corner or end posts. This was a great job for him and helped the process go faster for all.
After the posts were ready for the wire, Farmer Derek and I worked together to put the ratchet tensioners at the corner post and tightened the wire some. Next, we put our T-posts in where they were needed in between the wooden posts. We also attached our T-post snap on insulators as we went along. Once the T-posts were in, the wire was ready to be tightened the rest of the way.
Nifty wire spooler
Insulating the wire around the fence and crimping it together
Jack nailing on the wire insulators
The gate was ready to be hung next! It is so close to being done I can feel it! This consisted of putting the hinge pins (also already on hand) in the post and hanging the gate up. The last thing on the agenda is to connect the fence charger…… NOT crossing our wires…….. and make sure the fence is good and hot. That’s all there is to it.
We were able to build the fence over the course of 2 days, we could have finished in 1 day but we had to work between rain showers. All of this was done with very minimal out of pocket expense. We will be busy finishing the barn and building the milking stanchion over the next couple of weekends.
Gertie actually arrived while we were finishing up. She hung out with her calf, Annie, in a pen area until we finished the fence. After that we had our first milking session at home (yay!). We are so very excited to finally have Gertie at home.
Gertie- happy and settling in at home
Which reminds me. I need to build a fence too.
We are in the midst of fencing in 2 acres as well! It is just my hubby and I and it is hard work, but driving down the driveway and seeing all those fence posts standing up like little soldiers is a great reminder of how rewarding our homestead is!
It is such a great feeling to see accomplishments in progress! 🙂
Thank you for sharing at the HomeAcre Hop!
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Jenna,
I am so glad you have Gertie safe and protected at home! 🙂 You guys did a great job on the fence and the article. Thanks for sharing it.
Thanks so much! 🙂
I just bought some goats recently and the fence that I put up originally isn’t working out so well. They’ve escaped four times in the last week. I like how simple this fence design is. It seems to be pretty sturdy and strong too. I’m not sure if I have the equipment to put in a fence like that, so it might be time to hire a fencing company.
That machine looks way better then the traditional hole post tool. I am still using the traditional tools but this one here in the article looks a lot faster and it does a really good job. I should really consider getting that contraption.
I have a twenty-two year old wooden fence that is just falling apart. It is a daily occurrence that the horses get out. It would be great to consult with a fence company about a new fence to keep the horses in.
Wow, your fence turned out great! I’m impressed that it only took you 2 days to complete, too! My husband and I just moved our home and ranch to a bigger plot of land, and we are starting to make plans to fence in different areas for our animals. I will definitely be sure to reference back to your tutorial so that we can build these fences correctly and quickly. Thank you for sharing!
Last week, the fence surrounding my sheep broke, and it’s been difficult to keep them in ever since. I don’t have the budget to replace it, but I would like to rebuild it inexpensively like you did. The methods you used of recycling old materials from other people seems like the best way to save money on such a project. You used your sister’s 12 foot gate for the fence, and I was wondering if you like that height. Since sheep aren’t very tall, I was considering using a shorter gate. Would you advice this?
I really appreciate you talking about this! My dad has some livestock, and the fence that he has right now is starting to get pretty old. He is wanting to build a new one, but he isn’t quite sure on how to do that. So I really appreciate you talking about this, and giving me some great insight on how to build one. I’ll make sure I show this to my dad right away.
These pictures bring back a lot of memories of when I worked for a fencing company. It was hard work, but it taught you a lot and you had fun while doing it. I’m grateful that we have things like this that help keep our yard and property safe.
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This is a great article! Thanks for walking through step by step how you built your fence. There are so many ways to do it, but having a specific description helps a ton! I will have to show this to my husband and we can decide if we want to build it this way. Thanks!
This is really cool! Why is the wire on the fence posts insulated? Is that to prevent it from digging into the fence posts? Great job.
It is insulated because it has electricity on the wire. The post would cause it to ground out if we didn’t insulate it.
I agree that last minute store runs are likely to happen. I admire your effort in putting up a good fence. My dad made one for one of our houses and it was surprisingly a lot of work.
It looks like using the 2 man auger made digging the post holes pretty easy. My husband and I are wanting to construct a fence around our property. We’ll want to make sure we use good quality products so it will last a long time.
Yeah, having the proper equipment is key. 🙂