We used 4 fifty-foot rolls of fence and the lot is roughly 60' X 40'. For the four rolls we paid about $125 and the gate and hardware was about $50, so all together we have less than $200 in this lot. I have found out since that I could have found 330 feet rolls of similar fencing for much cheaper. I will have to look around better as we increase our fencing!
This was our first attempt at putting up a fence and I did not have much of a clue how to go about it. Now that it is finished I feel silly that the job had intimidated me so much. The following paragraphs will seem rather juvenile to those of you experienced fencer people, but perhaps it will help someone like me who doesn't know where to start. It was really a two-man job, so I was glad that Matthew was around to help.
I started by looking at fences I saw along the road and seeing how they were attached to the posts! There are a lot of fences around here, but I had never given any thought as to how they did it.
I found that Lowe's sells a package of small wire things that attach the fence to the T-posts. It only cost a couple of dollars for as many as I needed. The T-posts cost $3.50 a piece, but Matthew had dug up plenty of them that were around our property, so he saved us quite a bit of money. The Lowe's guy had to show me twice how the clip weaves in through the fence and around the post. It is really quite easy once you get the hang of it. Then you just use pliers to bend the wire so it won't come off.
They also sell u-shaped staples with points on each end that can hammer into wooden posts. The T-posts just need to be pounded into the ground, but wooden ones would require digging holes. We found that it took two of us to hammer in the T-posts, one to hold the post and the other to hammer. A regular hammer did not move it very much so we had to use our wood-mall, which has a sledge hammer head on one side. (I could use a regular sledgehammer around here.) We found that it was much easier if we got above the post as much as possible to hammer on it, since the posts are 6 feet long and that hammer gets pretty heavy.
We took the easy way out and used as many trees as possible with the staples. We did not dig any holes for wooden posts; we just thanked God for the trees and hammered the staples in.
Putting the fence on the posts was surprisingly easy. We attached the fence to the first post and then loosely unwound the fifty feet around all the next posts. Then one of us pulled the fence as tightly as possible to the second post while the other attached the fence to it. Since we were installing the fence up a hill, we sometimes had to do some creative folding of the fence in order to keep the bottom of the fence on the ground. This was not hard either. We just allowed it to over lap and kept going to the next post. We also had to do some overlapping folds around the corners. It was easiest on the level part:
We had the entire fence installed before Matthew had his appendicitis, but the gate was up to me. Again, I did not have much of a clue what to do. I decided to buy a chain-link fence gate and the hardware they sell with it. All together it was less than $50. I bought the type of hinges that are used for wood posts, but I found out that they do not just screw into the wood. You have to have the correct size drill bit to make the job easy, which I did not have. We eventually got it in, however. (Thanks, Lisa, for your help!) It seems to be working well.
It has held up to Little Joe for a week now, so maybe it will do the job we need it to do! The children take Little Joe up there each day and then bring him back down to the doghouse at night or during rain for shelter. Soon we will have a house for him up in his yard!
He really needs a friend goat. It is sad to hear him bleating as soon as we leave him. He really seems to enjoy being around people. Perhaps we will get another goat soon to keep him company!
(When we get him moved up there for good I'll try to come back and show you the little goat house we are going to build.)
2 comments
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~Melissa on March 12, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Ok, dh has put in quite a bit of fence around our pasture, and I always wonder why he does things a certain way and he is kind and patient enough to let me know. I thought I'd share two things…
One, there is a tool you can use to pound posts into the ground easier. I am unsure what it is called, but it is like a pipe with one end blocked… but bigger, maybe 4 inches across. The length of it is maybe 2 feet long or so. And it has handles on the side. You put it over the post and take this thing by the handles and lift it up and pound it onto the post (the end cap thing catches the post and pulls it down with your force. It is quite loud, but works pretty well.
Second, I see some of your fence is a little loose in areas and that is simple enough to tighten up (without a tractor pulling the fence, which we've done when we do long stretches). My dh takes his pliers and puts it on the horizontal lines of the fence and just turns it to a 45-90 degree angle and does this down (vertically) the entire fence. It shortens the span and really holds quite well. You can pick and choose where to tighten depending on the lay of your ground. You may tighten one to 3 sections between posts depending on the need… your fence looked pretty tight, so I don't imagine you would need to do too much of it.
Anyways, not picking, just sharing a tip that dh has used quite often, especially in areas where the tractor pulling on the fence is just not possible. Tightens up the fence and the animals don't feel tempted to pull that edge down (or up).
Enjoy your goat; a friend would be nice… they are social animals, although I've heard the bigger breeds do better alone than the smaller ones. When we had pygmy goats, one died and the other went crazy being alone, got really mean and would catch our legs with his horns, we gave him away to someone who had more goats…. and he nicened back up. A lesson learned for us.
Warmly, ~Melissa
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Purewater on March 13, 2007 at 7:45 am
Thank you very much for taking the time to give such a helpful comment!
You are not being picky at all. All such advice and constructive criticism is very welcomed and sought after! That is part of what this blog is all about.
We are complete novices concerning just about everything I post here. This is really a record of our experiments and learning experiences as we try to get back to basics and a simpler life stye for the glory of God! We can use all the help we can get!
By the way, your blog is one of my favorites!
Please feel free anytime to share anything you think might be helpful!
*I discovered that the tool is called a T-Post Driver. I need to get one!*
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