DIY Cattle Fencing

Although many people purchasing their first cattle get caught up in the animal selection process, the time to think about installing quality cattle fencing is before you bring home that cute little Jersey heifer calf. A full-grown cow can easily weigh over 1500 pounds, and the last thing you need is to have your cattle escaping daily to lope across the neighbor's newly seeded front lawn. Common cattle fencing options include barbed wire, woven wire and electric fencing. Inexpensive electric fencing is a popular choice for cattle fencing because it's easy to install and move.

Things You'll Need

  • Mower
  • Spray paint
  • Steel T-posts
  • Hand-held post driver
  • Polywire
  • Clip-on plastic insulators
  • Wire cutters
  • Insulated cable
  • Fence energizer
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Instructions

    • 1

      Clear the fence line for your cattle fence. Remove all vegetation and tall weeds along the fence line. Mow the grass growing on the fence line down to a height of about two inches, to keep it from touching the charged wires in your electric fence. Mark the corner locations of your fence line with spray paint.

    • 2

      Jab the end of a steel T-post into the ground at the first spray-painted corner post location. Hammer the post approximately 18 inches into the ground with a hand-held post driver. Repeat this process with each corner post for your cattle fence.

    • 3

      Tie a strand of polywire to the first corner post, six to eight inches from the ground, and run it to the other corner posts to provide a guide wire for your line post installation. Make sure the polywire is stretched tightly.

    • 4

      Install your line posts by pounding steel T-posts along the guide wire with the hand-held post driver. Locate the line posts approximately 12 to 18 feet apart, and hammer them to a depth of about 18 inches.

    • 5

      Clasp clip-on plastic insulators to your first corner post. According to the Livestock and Poultry Environmental Stewardship, a perimeter electric fence should minimally have three wires. For a typical 5-wire cattle fence, you should locate your insulators 8 inches, 16 inches, 26 inches, 36 inches and 46 inches from the ground. Place insulators at the correct height on all of your corner and line posts.

    • 6

      Thread polywire through the bottom row of insulators on all of the posts. Pull the wire taut, cut the wire with wire cutters, and tie it off on itself at the first corner post insulator. Repeat this process for every wire in your fence.

    • 7

      Connect all the wires in your fence to each other at the post closest to your fence energizer, using insulated cable. Cut a strip of cable that is long enough to reach between the two bottom wires, and strip back the first two inches of insulation to expose the wire at both ends. Wrap one end of the cable to the bottom wire and wrap the other end of the cable to the second wire. Repeat this process to connect each wire to the one above it.

    • 8

      Measure out a strip of insulated cable that will reach from the bottom wire on your electric to the fence energizer. Cut the cable and peel back the first two inches of insulation from both ends. Wrap one end of the cable around the bottom wire of your fence, and wrap the other end of the insulated cable around the positively-charged terminal on your fence energizer unit.