The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Land Management => Topic started by: Trainee Farmer Ted on April 21, 2014, 05:41:12 pm
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Want to enclose a field to contain a horse and possibly also some sheep in the future. Obviously a fence does the best job in the short term but what sort? wood. electric, wire?? Post and rail would be the best visually which is important. Would like to plant some hedging too with the view to having it laid when it has grown. Have seen post and rail in the middle of a hedge. Is that good practice? Really not sure where to start with this!
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If you want to keep in sheep post and rail won't do. We have sheep, goats and horses and our fencing is Rylock stock fence with a plain wire above that is electrified. This keeps everyone in the right places. I have planted some hedging but it is behind the fence so that the animals can't just eat it all.
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That is where the top wire being electric helps.
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If you want to keep in sheep post and rail won't do.
I think it must depend on the type of sheep.
We have post and rail because the previous owners had horses. My Ryelands/Coloured Rylands are too laid back to even think of a way to breach it. Now lambs are a different matter. Of course they can get underneath or in between so for the outside fences we also have wire attached to the post and rail.
My sheep are also very good with electric fencing (again not the lambs) so it works well to temporarily divide fields.
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Post and rail would be good with stock fence attached on also as a divide - but doubles the cost if you want a hedge in the middle as youll have to double fence with the new hedge in the middle. You'll also need access to the double fence in the middle to keep the grass down and help promote new hedge growth (they dont grow in 1,2, 3 years - its takes years).
Dont forget that most stock if not fed well - will go through the fence nomatter what and eat what they can, so be prepared to replant for a few years until established.
If animals are involved - make a plan for time and x it by 5
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Quite a few of my friends have opted for stock fences and hawthorn six feet back from it.. they are regretting it .. for the amount of perimeters with 10 to 20 foot high hedge that now need sorting are taking up valuable time and money that they don't want to part with .
If you have the tractor with a big disc cutter etc then the problem of keeping a laid hedge OK is not so bad .
How ever the laying of a hedge is quite time consuming & hard graft as is mainly all done by hand .
Can you say that you will be fit enough in 10 yrs. time to do it and still run your holding ??
Where the hedge is against someone else's land , it often leads to behind the back complaining & difficulties in cooperation , for it is your neighbourly responsibility to not let your hedges encroach over someone else's land.
Ok the wood that comes out can be used for the home fire .. Hawthorns spits hot embers like a cornered wild cat & does not give a lot of heat, fine mesh fire guards are essential
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We inherited different types of fencing in different parts of our land.
Our Shetland ponies rub their backsides on the fence posts and the stock wire and they are quite destructive generally so when we get their bit re-fenced I'll put an electric wire on it too to keep them off.
Stock will eat your vegetation and not just the leaves, the branches and trunks too.
We had neighbours once who said they always put in post and rail for their ponies as they could get tangled in stock wire type.
Post and rail is more obvious visually, I like post and stock wire myself. It's a good idea to have a rail or something at the bottom. Stock grid wire type gets full of nettles and long grass etc and starts to look messy and tangled at the bottom and you'll want to strim it if visuals is important.
Let us know what you opt for Ted ;)
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The key to a good hedge is to arable farm and not have animals anywhere near it - and have a nice big tractor to cut it 3 times a year :)