[wannabesmallholder]

Hi
We planted an orchard this Winter and are about to put up a fence dividing it from the rest of the paddock. Is there a minimum distance I should leave between the last line of trees and the fence? The trees are half standards and mix or apples, pears and plums, though only apple and pears on that last row. The fence will have sheep on the other side of it, so nothing that can reach across the top to eat the trees!
Many thanks.

[chrismahon]

Our sheep used to climb low fencing to try to get to the trees and consequently wreck the fencing, so I suppose the distance will be based on the height of the fence. They could also stand on their back legs to reach fruit! I would think 3 metres minimum, based on the diameter our apple trees reached?

[wannabesmallholder]

Ok thanks. 3m just about works with the space. The sheep are small (Ouessants) so hopefully wouldn't reach over, but I guess there's no harm in planning for potentially a different breed in the future.