Farm fencing, specified by the animal

What is farm fence installation?

Farm fencing contains or excludes livestock across acreage, using woven or high-tensile wire, barbed wire, electrified wire, or rail depending on the animal. The design is set by the species you are containing - what contains cattle will not hold sheep or goats, and horse fencing is chosen to prevent injury as much as escape. Over long runs the corner and brace assemblies, not the line wire, are what make it stand.

Signs you need farm fence installation

• You have bought acreage and intend to put livestock on it for the first time
• Animals are getting out, and you have found the same weak point twice
• The existing fence is a mix of eras - old barbed wire spliced into newer woven wire, with posts of three different vintages
• You are changing what you run, and the fence that held cattle will not hold the goats or sheep you are moving to
• You need to divide a large parcel into paddocks for rotational grazing
• Wildlife pressure - deer in an orchard, predators on small stock - is costing you more than the fence would
• A neighbour, a lease or an insurer has raised the state of your perimeter

Seeing something not on this list? Browse fencing problems by symptom →

How farm fence installation actually works

1. 1

   Specify to the animal, then to the terrain

   Cattle push and lean. Horses run into fences and need something that will not cut or trap a leg. Sheep and goats go through and under rather than over, and goats will test everything. Predator exclusion is a different problem again.

   Watch forA quote written before anyone asked what you are running. If a contractor is pricing linear feet without asking about the species, the stock density and whether you rotate, they are selling wire rather than designing a fence.

2. 2

   Establish the boundary - and here it is harder

   Rural parcels are frequently large, irregular, and last surveyed decades ago. Old fence lines drift, and on acreage a drift of a few feet compounds into a meaningful area over a long run.

   Watch forRebuilding on the existing line without checking it. On agricultural land, long-standing fence lines carry legal weight in some states and can affect a boundary claim in ways a residential fence never would. If the line matters - and on acreage it usually does - get it surveyed before you rebuild in permanent materials.

3. 3

   Design the corners and the braces first

   Every wire fence is held up by its end, corner and brace assemblies. Line posts only keep the wire at height; the tension is carried entirely by the assemblies at each end of a run.

   Watch forSkimped braces. This is the defining failure of amateur and cheap farm fencing - a beautifully strained fence pulling its corner posts out of the ground over the first two seasons. Ask how each corner is built and how many braces a long run gets, because it is where the money should go and the first place a low quote has taken it out.

4. 4

   Clear the line

   The run has to be cleared, and on a long fence that is often a bigger job than the fencing. Brush, fallen timber, regrowth along an old line, and access for a post driver all have to be dealt with.

   Watch forLine clearing excluded from the quote and discovered later. It is the most common change order in agricultural fencing. Get it explicitly in or explicitly out, in writing.

5. 5

   Drive the posts and strain the wire

   Line posts are usually driven rather than dug and concreted, which is faster and often holds better in undisturbed ground. Wire is then strained to tension and stapled or clipped so it can still move.

   Watch forWire stapled tight to wood posts. High-tensile wire needs to slide as it expands and contracts with temperature and as an animal hits it; pinning it at every post concentrates the load and breaks it. Also watch for over-straining, which is as damaging as under-straining.

6. 6

   Gates, crossings and water

   Gate placement decides how the property works day to day - where you move stock, where a truck and trailer can turn, how you reach water. Creek crossings, gullies and low spots need specific detailing so a flood does not take the fence out.

   Watch forA fence run straight through a watercourse or a wash. Water will take it. These crossings want a designed detail - a floodgate or a breakaway section - rather than a straight run and hope.

7. 7

   Electrification, if you are using it

   Electric fence is a psychological barrier rather than a physical one and it depends entirely on the earth system and on the animal learning it. Energiser sizing, grounding and insulation are the whole of whether it works.

   Watch forUndersized grounding. It is the most common reason an electric fence tests fine at the energiser and does nothing at the far corner. Ask how the ground system is built and how you will test the line yourself.

What does farm fence installation cost?

Agricultural fence is quoted per foot or per rod and the range is wide, driven by wire type, terrain and how much line clearing is involved. Corners, braces and gates carry a disproportionate share. Get clearing priced separately so you can compare quotes that actually include the same work.

See the full farm fence installation cost guide - by material, size and region →

If the number is the problem, here are the ways people pay for it →

Fence estimating tools → Work out linear footage, post counts and gate positions before you take quotes on a long perimeter.