[Chris H]

I have  2.5 acre croftland, well fenced around, I want to divide up for the sheep that are coming in July, well 7 sheep in total, what is the best type of fencing, and what size gate would you all suggest? I was thinking of splitting in half across the width?
With a shelter in the 'winter part? I want to get it right for happy sheep! there is a burn running across splitting the land, it is quite wet in the lower part.

[Brucklay]

Hi Chris - people probably have different opinions on fencing - we have from bottom to top, a plain wire, stock fencing and then 2 plain wires - some people use barbed instead of pain but I'm not too keen on the stuff. We do have the odd shetland that decides to go through a phase of getting it's head stuck but so far no real issues, it's only the odd one and they seem to grow out of it. Gate size will depend on what you want passing through - I would go bigger than small to be future proof.

[lachlanandmarcus]

we use normal sheep netting (small squares at the bottom, larger at the top) with a wire above (not barbed as we dont like that and we dont have cattle). Gates wise we have a single 12 foot gate but if you have small breeds or might have lambs would recommend having gate with metal mesh on the bottom half so they dont squeeze through. If land is sloping and cap under gate at one end or all the way along, you can hang small chain/dowel either end with a shaped piece of wood hung horizontally or angled on it to fill the gap.

[smudger]

In terms of subdivision, you might want to think about dividing into 4 paddocks for rotation. Could do permananent or temp electric, but I swear it takes me as long to take down and put up as a fencing contractor does  for permanent .  Think about prevailing winds, especially where the big gales from and can the sheep access boundary shelter all round or when the wind changes (for that reason I split my fields horizontally rather than down the slope). Rotation good for worms/feet health  but also allows you to keep good spring and autumn grass for flushing / tupping and clean pasture for lambs (if you are breeding).

Think about wet ground and  fluke risk in summer months versus keeping sheep off the wet ground in winter. Could shelter straddle the sub division boundaries and have doors both sides so can open/close depending on which field you are using. Also put in a little handling pen/race using the posts and netting so easier to do the sheep maintenance jobs. put it next to the shelter and you can keep dry as well. Much cheaper than galvanised kit.

As you only have 2.5 acres and some of it is wet, I would try to maximise it by looking at drainage to try to dry the ground out.

[Small Farmer]

I use other people's land so I have a lot of temporary electric fencing for which I use reels of tape from Rappa with their very robust anchor and corner posts.  The land is very stoney with a lot of large flints but the posts go in and stay in by using a sledgehammer.  I've a large stock of polyposts and I wouldn't do it any other way

I also use tape reels for separating off grazing for the pony so he doesn't get fat while OHs old horse has the rest.  It is quick and easy to reconfigure - I give him a J or U shape round the edge of the paddock so he has lots of distance but not much area.

[smudger]

http://www.rappa.co.uk/products/6-four-line-auto-wind-rappa-fencing-machine

WOW, wow, wow. (and the same  or the price).

Picture the andrex pup adverts and subsitute 1 no 400m roll of polyrope and 1 no. naughty collie pup, and you can see why I am drooling!

http://www.rappa.co.uk/products/4-four-line-standard-rappa-fencing-machine

this one isn't much cheaper! can't help thinking, take an old wheelbarrow, remove top....

any cheaper alternatives?

[robert waddell]

but you forgot the chain drive to the reels for both winding in and out then the head scratching and sourcing the parts cobbling it all together  then if it don't work and you have sheep and cattle running about all over the place
and electric fence wire is the worst bloody thing to work with if the tension goes of it

[Small Farmer]

I just use the reels http://www.rappa.co.uk/products/41-hand-reel-with-12mm-white-polytape-200m on their posts http://www.rappa.co.uk/products/30-three-line-hand-reel-post

The first year I did strips I just ran out tape and moved it around, which is a bit of a pain but nothing compared with trying to roll it up when I'd finished.  The second year I found that the tape from the first year had all got shorter and wouldn't fit because I'd not labelled it properly. 

It took me under an hour to create a three line fence on the neighbour's half acre lawn a couple of months ago.  And rather less to wind it all in last week and stow it tidily.

[smudger]

Small Farmer -  You have probably saved me 2 weeks of my life (1 week putting it up and 1 week taking it down across all my field subdivisions). Hubby has no idea what he is getting for HIS birthday....

The details.....Do you have 2 posts, one at each end of the run, roll it out then use normal fence posts in between? Their metal posts, do they stand up when in tension? I usually use an offcut to tie back the first and last normal e/fence post to a perimeter timber one. Still need to do that?  Ok to use polyrope (I've given up on tape, it twists, tangles, loses conductivity), don't want to use wire (plus spent a fortune on polyrope).

thx

[Small Farmer]

I have gate handles on the tape so for a straight run I need only one metal post for the reels plus three connectors at the far end fence. I've got permanent electric all the way round the edge of each field so the temporary line can run from anywhere to anywhere. Using gate handles means it's easy to disconnect, and the fence isn't live when disconnected.


The posts are well made and stay where they're put. My ground is stony and polyposts are sometimes hard to get in but these go in well with a sledgehammer.  There's a flange at ground level which means you can put real tension on the tape but still get the posts out when you've finished


I agree about tape but OH has horses so need white tape for them and it's easier to stick to one type.


The neighbours garden was odd shaped so I used three extra corner posts to get maximum grass and minimum flower bed!   I started with about a third of the garden and expanded it twice as the sheep mowed down the grass. 

[OhLaLa]

If it was me:
I would split into three, two isn't really enough.
Sheep shelter, water in each.
Wooden posts, stock fencing. One line of electric TAPE around top.
Check for poisonous plants!