Types of Fences for Livestock

Woven Wire

• Woven wire comes in a variety of heights and sizes. Some woven wire consists of 1-inch by 1-inch welded squares while others are 2-inch by 4-inch rectangles. Choose a woven wire that is high enough to keep your livestock in and consider running a strand of barbed or electrified wire along the top or bottom to keep predators out. Woven wire also requires posts to hang on. Posts can be wood or metal, but they should be placed at least 2-feet deep to keep the fence stable, especially in areas where the ground freezes and thaws. Large fence staples secure the wire fence to the posts.

Electric Fence

• Electric fencing can be hung along individual posts in strands or it can be purchased as netting complete with its own fiberglass posts that are pushed into the ground. The electric mesh fencing is portable and can be placed in a pasture area, connected to another mesh fence or a permanent electric fence to make it bigger. It is used often for sheep and poultry. Once the sheep or poultry eat all of the grass in the fenced area, the fence is pulled and moved to another area of pasture. The sheep or poultry can be herded along with the fence.

  Permanent electric fence must be wrapped around insulators and pulled tight along wood or fiberglass posts. Three or four strands are usually required to keep sheep, horses, cattle or other livestock safe. Animals usually need to be trained to obey an electric fence, so an owner will encourage them to touch it once or twice so they know what it does. Tie contractor ribbon in bright colors such as blue, pink or orange to the fence to alert people and animals of its existence.

Barbed Wire

• First designed in the late 1800s to restrain cattle, barbed wire is wire fencing with sharp edges or points placed at intervals along the strand. Over a large area, barbed wire fencing is cheaper to install and very effective, injuring anyone or anything that tries to go over or under it. To install a barbed wire fence, put posts of either metal or wood in the ground and then pull the barbed wire tight and secure it to the posts with a fencing staple.

Wooden Fence

• Wood fences are pretty to look at but not very effective in keeping in livestock that likes to range. Horses and cattle can be kept inside a slatted board, or split rail fence fairly easily. Wooden fences are often used on horse farms and make any farm look attractive and neat. While wood fences are some of the most expensive to build, requiring many feet of solid boards, they are popular and can be reinforced with a strand of barbed wire on the top to keep predators out. People who have wood fences often string woven wire behind them, particularly if they have animals like sheep that try to get out of the fence. All that is required to build a wood fence are wood fence posts, boards and nails. The fences must be painted or stained periodically or they will weather and deteriorate.