New member - post and rail fencing

Hi everyone

My family have just taken the plunge into a 10 acre block - ponies will be over the fence now - not miles away at pony club. Can anyone give some details on post and rail fencing so I can give the right spec to a contractor? What I have gleened from this forum is that I need 3 horizontal rails (150 x 40) and 2 wires (one at the bottom and one between lowest and middle rail). Posts should be at 2.0m centres. I'm not sure about the posts but I think 135 dia 1800mm long (rammed 600mm). Gate posts should be 250 dia? Does this all sound about right? Also, with having the two wires should the corner post/end posts be strainers? Thanks

Hi quokka. Welcome to the forum.
This topic has been done to death in previous discussions on here but, in answer to the most important of your questions, yes if you have any wires at all you must strain them or else they will be next to worthless. That being the case all end and corner posts must be strainers.
Some folk would possibly suggest two rails and four wires or else three rails and no wires at all. I would go for no rails and construct a normal farm fence of seven to ten wires, posts at five metre centres, fully battened, with a hot wire along the top to deter the horses from leaning over it. The main determinant here is the class or classes of livestock to be contained in addition to your horses. You may also find that the wire fence is considerably less expensive. That is why post and rail fencing, although it can look nice if done well, has gone the way of the dinosaur on most farms.

Or four rails and no wires. Depends what other stock you might want to have. P&R will definitely be considerably more expensive than wire.

Thanks for the advice Igor. I know there's been lots of chat on the subject so was a liitle reluctant to raise it again! It was just a few of the technical aspects I wanted to get right. Most of the property post and battened with 7 or more wires. The post and rail is to run alongside the driveway which sweeps for 120 m so I was keen to do something a little more attractive here. I might hot wire the top rail. In terms of stock we are not 100% sure yet. I was raised on 20 acres with sheep and find them hard work! I was wondering about a few dexters?

What would you use dexters for?

Igor, that's a great question. We will have too much land for just the two ponies. I would like to graze some interesting stock that is not high maintenance. I have had no experience with cattle (a reasonable amount with sheep) and I came across an article in a recent back issue of Lifestyle Block mag on Dexters. Sounded like they would suit us - quiet, good to handle, etc. I suspect we would stick with steers but likely as not more for pleasure than profit. I can't see my three girls letting me send our stock off to market! I understand that there is a dexter breeder nearby but I have not yet made contact as we aren't on the property yet. Charolais and belted galloways also interest me.

Cattle are way better than those white woolly ground lice all the way!!!! If you can afford it post and rail is much better up a drive IMHO put post on paddock side then you can put hot rail on back of he posts

Welcome quokka

I have to admit that 240metres of P&R (both sides of the drive) boggles my mind in terms of cost and long term attractiveness. I look at them around here and when first built they certainly look great, within a few years they are discolouring and warping and look far from attractive. Maybe it's the Scotch in me but I think that I could have built one hell of a lot of P&B for the price of a manky looking wooden fence. There are many ways of making an access attractive and some previous owner did it here - masses of daffodils and when they're finished the naked ladies start. Looks good, low maintenance, low cost and all behind a P&B. Stock don't eat them - except for one cow who likes daffodil heads before they bloom

Sod, there is nothing wrong with sheep and while being a bit higher in labour, also go a long way in keeping the ground clean. I was tickled the other night when my neighbour told me that a farming friend of hers told her that if she had sheep her farm would look as good as mine. I don't know that mine looks "good" but it does look clean and I don't have the rough rubbish that the cows don't eat because the sheep come along and clean it up.

Cheers,
Ronnie

Unless you know that your horses are not now, and never will be, cribbers, then I too would not use rails. There is less cribbing with full treated rails, but that tends to look greenish and patchy. Untreated rails - the ones that don't get eaten - will grow lichen and quite quickly rot. I've had to replace all our painted oregon/douglas fir rails because they have rotted.
Our sheep eat daffodil flowers.
If you want Dexters for homekill then that is fine, but you will still need a cattle-capable yard. 300kg of Dexter hurts just as much as 500kg of anything else. I've never done Charolais but have heard that there is far better flavoured meat than what you can get from these giants. Dexters for works animals is not as profitable as Angus or Herefords or Red Devons, because they don't grow to works-optimum size. There are also some nasty genetic issues with Dexters.

hi, i was in the same boat as you, 10 acres and wondering what post, fencing etc i required. I enrolled in a course with Agribusiness, fencing course, best thing i did. now i how the knowledge to construct and to order, rails, electric, wire etc fencing.
hope this helps
mandy

Yeah scooby, sometimes I forget that we are not all third generation farmers on here.

Ronney;342131 wrote: Maybe it's the Scotch in me [...]

Why am I not surprised that you have Scotch in you in the middle of the day? [)]. Typpical!

Sorry couldn't resist.

Cheers

Peter

You'r a cheeky bugger aren't you - but that's ok, you'll keep

Actually, I can't stand Scotch. When I was not quite three years old, the coalman arrived with his last delivary for the year on Christmas Eve. As was the custom in those days, he was invited in for a dram and when my parents went to see him off, I helped myself to the bottle on the table. I gather they stood chatting on the doorstep for a good 10 minutes or more before coming inside by which time I was as drunk as a lord and under the table laughing my head off. I had apparently finished off a good third of a small bottle of whiskey. Needless to say, I have no memory of this at all .

Subliminal maybe but I cannot stand whiskey other than Drambui.

All of which is very helpful when building a fence:rolleyes:

Cheers,
Ronnie

Ronney;342294 wrote: You'r a cheeky bugger aren't you - but that's ok, you'll keep

Actually, I can't stand Scotch. When I was not quite three years old, the coalman arrived with his last delivary for the year on Christmas Eve. As was the custom in those days, he was invited in for a dram and when my parents went to see him off, I helped myself to the bottle on the table. I gather they stood chatting on the doorstep for a good 10 minutes or more before coming inside by which time I was as drunk as a lord and under the table laughing my head off. I had apparently finished off a good third of a small bottle of whiskey. Needless to say, I have no memory of this at all .

Subliminal maybe but I cannot stand whiskey other than Drambui.

All of which is very helpful when building a fence:rolleyes:

Cheers,
Ronnie

Well that explains a lot, now doesn't it? [}]

I better shut up now!

Cheers

Peter

just done this!

I am going to write a wee paper on how to do it tips and tricks and the like soon.

We put up 3 rails and well it just looked too gappy - and like you we primarily wanted a nice looking fence down our drive so we did 4 rails 30 apart. We will put up a hot wire on the second from top rail to stop the stock leaning on the fence and the ponies from using it as a scratching post!

I love it - it looks smashing and really tops off our entry/drive way.