Many farmers and ranchers are familiar with Bekaert Fencing. The Arkansas-based company has been around for about 35 years and has grown into one of the leading fencing suppliers in the agricultural industry.
A couple of the professionals from Bekaert hopped onto the popular HomesteadingToday forum to answer any and all questions related to rural fencing projects. In the introduction, a Bekaert pro said, “As is the case with all Bekaert experts, I am a fencing fanatic. At Bekaert, we are passionate about fencing, and our first priority is making sure your fencing project is a successful experience.”
After a few dozen questions and responses later, AGDAILY wanted to pull together some of the most detailed and pertinent answers, so as to hopefully help others who may be running into similar issues.
Some of the questions and responses have been edited for brevity and clarity:
Question: My situation: I’m planning to put some fencing up at the edge of our property where it’s currently wild brush. The idea is to use goats to clear out some of the nastier mess and improve the soil quality. The goal is to eventually get that area productive. So long-term I figure we’ll need something strong enough to keep deer out, but for now I just need to contain goats (though, again, maybe that’s more difficult that I had guessed).
So my question is just what would you recommend in terms of material, post spacing, and height? And does it make sense to build something stronger now, or wait until I have the need?
Answer: Thank you for the question, lets start with fencing requirements for goats. First, you want minimum 48” tall fence. As far as materials, with a woven style of fence it is important to stay away from a fence profile with 6” stay spacing (the perfect size for a goat to get their head stuck in). My first pick would be Sheep and Goat fence, it is a 48” tall fence with 4”x 4” openings, this fence utilizes the S-Knot which is a great knot for animals that like to lean/ rub the fence. This is a fence that constructed of the same line wires that are present in the Solidlock GameFence produced by Bekaert.
Solidlock 1348-3 fence is a fence that uses a different knot, the fixed knot products, have a stronger knot, depending on the amount of pressure wildlife and livestock are putting on the fence. The challenge with deer will be the height not the strength of the fence, we recommend an 8’ tall fence for deer exclusion. Post spacing for Sheep and Goat is up to 12’ and the Solidlock 1348-3 will be up to 15’, these post spacings are for ideal situations, depending on stocking densities, terrain, and other factors you may need to adjust the spacings for your situation.
Because it is not easy to build fence, I would personally build one strong fence now, to build a temporary fence capable of holding goats is quite an undertaking and by building a strong fence now it will save you in material costs in the long run. Also, if you properly build your fence using quality materials paired with the Bekaert Bezinal coatings you will have fence that will last for 30+ years.
Question: I’ve always had bad luck when it comes to setting up fence posts. Usually it takes multiple attempts for me to get it right because either they lean over or I manage to not line them up properly.
Are there any hacks or tricks you’d recommend for setting fence posts that you’ve up discovered? Is there anything that you see people commonly getting wrong or wasting time on?
Answer: Setting braces and posts are the heart of any good fence. First, choose good materials, by this use round posts not mill cut (ex, 4” x4”) lumber, this is since mill cut comes from a larger log and the heart wood will not receive treatment well, Southern Yellow pine (most common in the eastern US) will receive a treatment 2”-3” into the wood providing a longer life of the post.
Second set them deep, when setting post for a 4’ tall fence you should be 36”- 42” should be in the ground for brace posts. Proper brace building will prevent the end posts from leaning, the cross member of the H Brace should be 2-2.5 times in length as the height of the fence, so a 4’ fence should have a 8’-10’ top rail, this gets the twitch wire to less than thirty degrees preventing the pull post from lifting or leaning over. If you are having issues with the lines posts leaning due to animal pressure, if they are wood they are not deep enough. If you are using T-Posts, I would recommend using a 4:1 ration of T-Post: Wood posts, the wood posts will give you added support that the T-Post will not.
As far as installing in a straight line, set your end posts then string a line to set, if you are still having issues, you can use a string at close to the ground and approximately half way up the fence, when you set your posts setting them about ½” from the line, this will prevent you from pushing the line out an getting a bend in the fence.
Question: I’m looking to try and electric for the first time but would love some expert tips and especially any common mistakes you’ve seen people make.
Answer: Electric fence is a psychological barrier vs. a physical barrier, so it is extremely important to teach your livestock to respect the fence. When introducing livestock to electric fence it is important to start the animals in a small/training lot if possible.
Number one issue that I see with electric fences are grounding issues, these can be using inadequate material, not enough ground rods, etc., you will see all kinds of “rules of thumb” but the only true way to know is to test the ground. To test a grounding system, you need to go approximately 300’ from the energizer and short the fence to less than 2kv (2,000v) then go back to the grounding system and check the last ground rod, your goal is less than .3kv (300v). If you have less than .3kv then you have a sufficient ground system, this must be checked throughout the year, it will change based on the amount of moisture in the ground.
Another common mistake is the thinking a larger energizer will fix an issue, while sometimes this is true it can also magnify your problems. A fence must have enough wire to disperse the energy from the energizer or you will get stray electricity which can cause hot gates, bleed over into twitch wires, etc. It is important to know that electricity travels on the outside of the wire so the larger the diameter of the wire the less resistance it has, so a 12.5-gauge High Tensile Smooth wire has 56 ohms/mile of resistance while 14 gauge has over 100 ohms/mile. Lastly, use quality insulators, they are a little more costly during the installation but will save you tons of headache a few years down the line as the insulators start to deteriorate and allow for faults on the fence. These are a couple common issues we see with electric fence.
Question: What do you recommend for pigs? I clicked one of the links in an earlier reply and saw the product was rated for sheep, goats, horses, and industrial — I’m guessing pigs need something more robust?
Answer: Pigs can be contained with one of the Solidlock pro products. A 48″ tall 13 wire fence works very well. The Solidlock 1348-6 is a progressive fence with tighter spacing at the bottom for containing smaller animals. The High Tensile line wires, 4 point contact knot, and continuous stay top to bottom, makes the product very strong and rigid. Remember with any fence project, build good strong braces. Be safe out on the fence line. Buy Solidlock® Pro 20 1348-6 12.5 ga 330′ Fixed Knot Cattle Fence (bekaert.com)
Question: Any suggestions for alpaca fencing if I’m going to have adults and crias in the same pen?
Answer: A great fence for Alpacas in a lot that will have crias as well, is the Horseman No Climb 5’ Fence. The fence profile has 2” x 4” openings, this not only helps with containment of the Alpacas it will also help to prevent predators from entering the lot. The Bekaert No Climb fences have the snag resistant S-Knot which is the best option for animals with tender hides and wool producers.
With Bekaert’s Bezinal coating on the No-Climb products, your alpacas will be provided with safe containment for many years.
