Category: Fencing

Tips for Building Fences in Difficult Terrain

Posted on by Twin Rivers Media

Tips for Building Fences in Difficult Terrain

By Heather Smith Thomas

Building a good permanent fence can be challenging in rocky, frozen or swampy ground when it’s impossible to dig post holes efficiently, or set posts with a tractor-mounted post-pounder. Regardless of the type of fence, it will only be effective and durable if posts are well set. People who build a lot of fences have come up with innovative and effective ways to get the job done.

Fencing In Rocks
If terrain is too rocky to drive wood posts, metal T-posts are often used, since they are much smaller in diameter and can often be driven farther into rocky ground. If a person can get them down past the “shovel” portion, they are usually deep enough to hold.

If you need to set larger posts, like brace posts, in rocky ground, you might look for other options. A small rock drill is more portable than a jackhammer, since it doesn’t need compressed air. An electric drill can be used for drilling holes into concrete or breaking up concrete, and has various bits—including 1.5 inch chisel bits for drilling into solid rock. “This drill rotates and drills at the same time and can make a hole exactly the right size for a metal T post,” says Thomas.

In solid rock you only need to drill down about a foot and drop the metal post into the hole and it is tight and secure because there’s no give in the surrounding rock. For a brace post you can make a deeper hole using extra-long bits that can go down about 30 inches.

In rocky terrain where it’s not too steep and there are lots of surface rocks, you can create an above-ground basket/cage of rocks as a brace to anchor the fence. “Stacked rocks can be secured with net wire, or you can make a net-wire cage to put rocks in. A cage 3 to 4 feet in diameter makes a solid anchor to secure your wire and stretch it from there. If terrain is too rocky to set wood posts, you can usually put steel posts into the ground deep enough to hold, using rock baskets every so often for braces,” says Thomas.

Pilot Post
When using a post pounder to set wood posts along a challenging fence-line you can use a metal “post” to create a pilot hole. The metal post will often go down through rocky ground if it’s not solid bedrock, whereas a wood post would be forced out of line or shatter. Roger Swanson, a rancher in Lemhi County, Idaho, many years ago created a 7-foot metal pilot post, 3 inches in diameter. This can be driven into the ground with a post-pounder, creating a hole to start the wood post into. The pilot post is solid enough that you can drive it into just about anything but solid rock.

Thomas has made several of these for his own use. “A person can drive that pilot post down as far as possible, then pull it out with a tractor or skid steer loader. Then, you can insert a wood post into the pilot hole and drive it—forcing it into the slightly smaller hole—and the post will be very solid and secure,” says Thomas.

Pipe Posts
Some people use pipe posts; oilfield drill-steel pipe is great for making braces in rough terrain and won’t burn up in a wildfire. In western regions, fires destroy many wood fences, but pipe fences are still standing; the pipe posts will last more than 50 years. A person might have to replace the wire if a really hot fire goes through and makes it brittle, but the pipe posts will still be there and won’t have to be replaced.

Dick Iversen (Timber Creek Ranch, near Culbertson, Montana) has had a lot of experience building fences and hiring fence builders. “We had a huge flood in 2011 and had to replace 7 miles of fence on our river bottom. Then we had a fire during the summer of 2017 and had to replace 6 miles of fence between us and the neighboring ranch, in rough terrain,” he says.

For permanent fences he now prefers posts created from oil field drill-steel pipe. “This is great for making braces.” Oil field pipe is surplus and usually reasonable in price and is easy to cut with an electric hand-held band saw. “If I’m cutting pipe in a place where there’s no electricity, I use a little portable Honda generator,” says Iversen.

“Once a pipe post is in the ground, the ground tends to rust it to the soil around it, and it’s very solid. It’s very difficult to pull it back out. These posts work really well for corrals,” he says.

Todd Hermanson (Hermanson Fencing Company, Inc.) built Iversen’s new fences. Hermanson has been building custom fences for 40 years, in three states. He used to do traditional fences with wood and steel posts, but now does mostly pipe fencing, using discarded drill steel piping from the oil drilling industry. With a jack-hammer type hydraulic post pounder that he invented, he can pound pipe posts into any kind of terrain—solid rock, frozen ground, or bogs.

“This kind of fencing started with us. We took Bobcat hydraulic cement breakers and modified them to use for pounding posts. It was trial and error, but I have a guy in my shop who is good at making things. We came up with a system to do this kind of fencing—and it has caught on like crazy,” Hermanson says.

“The only thing that might shorten the life of these posts would be alkali ground that tends to eat up metal. It takes 2 minutes to pound another pipe post in. Even when repairing fence, if there is a broken off or rotted-off railroad tie, we don’t have to dig it out; we just pound a pipe post right down through the middle of it. This saves a lot of time,” says Hermanson.

In difficult terrain, this system is equal to none. “When we put fences across creeks or gullies. It’s very cost efficient and will be there a long time.” The pipe holds much better in places where it would be hard to brace with wood posts or the traditional steel posts.

The pipes are much stronger, and take less time to install. “You can put in a pipe brace, with the right equipment, in 10 to 15 minutes, which makes it a lot cheaper; a double H brace with wood posts or railroad ties takes more than an hour, and even longer to install in rocky or frozen ground,” Iversen says.

Steep Terrain
On steep slopes that are risky for a tractor, often a person can use a pounder mounted on a skid steer or a track machine, since it has better stability than a tractor and can go up relatively steep slopes without tipping over. Some people walk beside a track machine and drive it from the ground with a joy stick; you don’t have to be on it to drive it. This is safer, especially going through areas where it’s too steep to take any kind of vehicle or tractor.

This is handy for one person fencing alone because you can drive it as you walk beside it, and stop it where you want to set a post. This can save time and labor and one person can set a lot of posts.

Bogs And Swamps
Metal posts can often work when a fence has to go through wet areas and sloughs where it would be difficult to drive wood posts. If a bog is not too deep, you can use 7-foot T-posts that go far enough down to hit solid ground where they could hold. In some situations where the bog is too deep to hold posts, a person can build an above-ground jack fence. Building any kind of fence across a bog is often best accomplished in a dry season, or in winter when the bog is frozen, so you can get around in that area with a machine to set posts, without sinking into the mud.

Frozen Ground
Winter is not the best time to build fences that require posts set in the ground, but sometimes a person has no choice. There are times a fence must be repaired or a new fence built, regardless of the weather. Frozen ground can be challenging for setting posts, and cold weather is hard on machinery.

In cold weather, some people set metal posts instead of wood posts, since wood posts tend to shatter if the ground is solidly frozen. “With a jack-hammer hydraulic post pounder, however, a person can usually pound wood posts through a foot or more of frost (especially if a pilot post is used to start the hole) and then go on down to desired depth, and pipe posts will go even deeper,” says Thomas.

If frost is too deep for driving posts, fire is a common way to thaw ground for post holes.

“Old metal tubs or half barrels work well to make these little ovens. A cutting torch can be utilized to create small vent holes along the bottom edge (to draw air in, to keep the fire going) and a 5-inch-diameter hole in the top of each oven for the smoke to come out,” says Thomas. Fires can be set under several ovens, on the spots where you need to dig a hole or drive a post, letting them burn while working on other parts of the fence, and the ground underneath may be thawed within a few hours. In places where frost is really deep, scoop out the embers after the fire dies down, dig down through the thawed dirt, put the embers or coals back in, and add more wood.

Another method is to use hot water. One fence builder who had to set posts for a feedlot on frozen ground used a pressure washer with hot water, sticking the wand into the ground at those spots, slowly melting the frost down to the depth needed for setting posts. It was faster than fire, but still time-consuming for the hot water to melt its way down that far through the ice.

Above-Ground Fence
Another alternative in terrain that’s difficult or impossible to set posts is a jack fence (buck fence) or worm fence. A worm fence is created by stacking logs or large-diameter poles on one another, interlocking in two directions. The finished fence is a continual series of corners/angles. A short, small-diameter pole or short board is nailed or screwed to the logs/poles at the corners, to keep them stable so they will never shift around.
A pole jack fence (poles nailed/screwed onto jack legs) works well where ground is too rocky or boggy to set posts, but in windy country must be anchored so it won’t blow over. Fence jacks should be treated on the bottom end of those posts, to keep them from rotting. They will draw moisture, especially if built over swampy ground.

Portable Fencing
Temporary fences in winter or on rocky ground can be created with portable metal panels that interlock and don’t require posts. Portable corrals also have this advantage.

Portable electric fence can be installed with step-in posts, even if the ground is frozen, inserted into holes made with a cordless, battery-powered drill. For this type of fence it’s usually best to use portable posts made of metal rods, rather than the plastic step-in posts because the metal ones are less apt to break. You can add screw-on insulators to the rebar after you pound those in.

Time-Saving Tips for Trouble-shooting Electric Fences

Posted on by Twin Rivers Media

Time-Saving Tips for Trouble-shooting Electric Fences

By Heather Smith Thomas

Many stockmen create permanent paddocks using traditional fencing or electric hard wire, and divide those paddocks with portable hot wire that can be moved as often as needed to strip graze or mob graze. Portable fencing is also handy for strip grazing stockpiled pastures, windrows or bale grazing in winter. Portable fence is handy on rented pastures where you can’t afford to invest in permanent fences.

Steve Kenyon, a rancher near Busby, Alberta has been rotational grazing a long time and bale grazing more than 20 years, using electric fence. “With most of my cross-fences I’ve found it works best to have permanent electric fence. I don’t use as many temporary fences anymore, because of the labor involved. Labor is my highest cost, so spending money up front for a permanent fence saves more in labor later,” he explains.

In winter you need to make sure the charger works adequately. “In that situation I like to use a bipolar fencer. It still works as a regular fencer in summer, but can be used as a bipolar fencer in winter when cattle are standing on snow, which acts as insulation. Normally the electricity comes out the hot wire, through the body, down to the ground and back through the body to the fence, making a complete circuit. Snow breaks that circuit; the animal doesn’t get much of a shock. In winter I can have a fence reading of 7 or 8 kilovolts, which should be a powerful fence, but I can grab hold of it and barely feel it if I’m wearing boots and standing on packed snow,” he explains.

With the bipolar fencer there are two wires. “One is half the pulse as a positive charge and the other is half as a negative charge. If an animal touches either wire, it still gets half a charge through the ground—right through the snow.” But if they hit both wires together, they get the full charge and it eliminates the need for the ground.

If the pasture you graze intensively is near your house, you can move fence multiple times a day. But if a pasture is 30 miles away, you can’t drive back and forth several times a day to move fence. You might move the cattle just once a day or every other day, which is still better for the land than continuous grazing.

Every pasture is different. “In our operation we have one pasture 5 miles away, where we manage 100 head. This has different economics than the one that’s 20 miles away where we are managing 600 head. Labor and equipment cost divide up differently, with more animals,” he says.

Terrain also makes a difference. If you have bush or trees, steep areas, or creeks running through, you can’t strip graze as easily. Hilly land is more awkward than a rectangle that’s relatively flat. Class of livestock also makes a difference in how you graze and set up the pasture. The nice thing about electric fence is flexibility.

“We can now tackle difficult terrain with temporary fence much better than in the past,” says Jim Gerrish (American Grazingland Services). “Once you have the basic techniques figured out, and the right tools, putting temporary fence up the foot of a mountain isn’t that big a deal—as long as you are not doing miles and miles.” It is better than trying to put permanent fences in places where you may not want a fence forever.

There are also creative ways to strip graze fields irrigated with pivot sprinklers. “Wheel lines are my least favorite irrigation system to try to manage grazing around. It’s common to have the fence short out on the pipe,” says Gerrish. You have to be creative to work around some of these things.

Kenyon doesn’t use insulators on his fences. In a dry climate there’s no need for insulators if wire is touching dry wood. “One of the biggest costs on my farm is labor. In the spring we fix all the damage from wildlife. When I was using plastic insulators, moose and deer walking through fences pulled them off, and I was constantly replacing lost and broken insulators,” he says.

“I now use two-inch barbed staples to fasten wire to a wood post. This is not a wet environment so posts are usually dry. Also I am only powering a couple miles of fence (just the paddocks currently in use, leaving the rest unhooked) rather than 30 miles of fence on the whole farm. I can still have 7 kilovolts in my fence, even though when it rains this might drop to 4. It still has some charge, and the cows are well trained and rarely touch the fence,” he explains. If you have a good charger, they don’t want to touch it again after their first encounter. If they learn about “hot” wires as calves—or curious yearlings—they always respect it.

“I have power through all my fences. On a barbed-wire fence, I run power through the second bottom wire. When it’s dry, it works fine. When it’s wet there may be power loss and I might have to disconnect it. But the cattle know that all my fences are hot and don’t touch them.” None of his cattle try to reach or push through. This also prevents rubbing on a fence—minimizing wear and tear.

“In 25 years of doing this I haven’t had any animals caught in a fence because cattle don’t touch my fences. I’ve seen problems with other fences that cattle go through. My neighbor’s cattle got through a fence that wasn’t hot and ended up getting hurt—and one died in a well because it went through a barbed-wire fence. But with my electrified fences I’ve never had animals go through.”

Troubleshooting Tips
People who use electric fencing figure out ways to make it easier to locate a problem when the fence shorts out and stops working. Insulated handles that hook up to different fence lines can be unhooked to determine which line has a problem. There are faster ways, however.

“Having a Smartfix fence tester/fault finder (made by Gallagher) is helpful,” says Kenyon. “Other companies have similar testers that show how much electricity is going through the wire at that point, the direction of the fault and how much loss there is. A regular cheap fence-tester only tells you how much power it has, but the Smartfix tells you which direction. This can save hours trying to find it.”

Farmers and ranchers tend to be frugal and buy the least expensive materials. “They think that $20 for a digital fence tester is all they can afford,” says Gerrish. “Many modern energizers can be remotely turned on and off, which helps when fixing fence, but the combination testers can point the direction the short is, and identify how much voltage is being lost. These cost more money but just one morning spent finding one or two shorts faster than you usually do will pay for it.”

“With one of these testers you start from the fencer and work away from it,” says Kenyon. “Let’s say you check the fence right by your charger and it says there’s 20 amps of loss this direction, going away from the fencer. When you get to your first T, you test all three sides. Maybe the first side still shows 20 amps of loss, and then you test the other directions. Usually one will be high and one will be low. You know you don’t have to check the one direction; you go the other way. You just keep following it along, and every T you come to you can check; it should take you right to the fault,” he says.

“I can usually find the fault in the fence before the cows do. If a tree falls across it, I can find it. I check the fence daily and know what Kilovolts my fence usually sits at. It might be 5 kilovolts, and if there’s a drop I know there’s a problem and can find it.”
This reduces the amount of labor in tracking down and resolving problems. He doesn’t keep all the fences hooked up—just the ones in pastures the cattle are currently using. “There’s no need to power your whole farm and have more to check.”

Newer Innovations Can Save Even More Time
Now a person can simply look at the fence to see if the wire is hot. If you can see a flashing light, the fence is “live,” and you can see this light up to 1/2 mile away at night.

This innovation was created by Bill Brown in 2018. His company is called Insulights. “We developed a universal insulator that fits on almost any kind of post—wood, steel, T-posts—or you can just hang it on the wire. It picks up the burst of electricity when it comes down the line and flashes a high-intensity LED light. A person checking fences can see this visual indication that the fence is working,” he says.

“It flashes 24/7 and you don’t need to put it on every post—just wherever you want to be able to check the fence. As long as a burst of energy is coming through that line, it will flash. If the voltage on the wire drops—if a tree comes down on it or a lot of grass is touching it or an animal breaks it—the light will dim and then shut off, and you’ll know the fence is down or shorting out,” Bill explains.

“We now have almost 60,000 units of our Insulights flashing in the U.S. and internationally, and people love them.” Insulights was awarded a Farm Bureau Top Ten Ag Innovation of the year in 2021.

The Insulights team will soon introduce their new project, the Smart Monitor unit that attaches to the fence and monitors the electricity. Every morning it will send a text message to your phone, telling you what the voltage is and whether the fence working. If the fence is fine, you can go on about your day but if something happens during the day or night, it will start sending text messages every 15 minutes for an hour to let you know the fence is down.

“This alarm system is cellular, which is an upgrade to similar products that are trying to depend on Wi-Fi, which is a huge difference,” Bill says. You’d need to have Wi-Fi in the barn or out in the field. It has to have line of sight and can only be a quarter mile away. Many farms and ranches have fences in uneven terrain or farther away.

“Our patented monitor sends the status right to your cell phone as an SMS text. We use that system, so we don’t need to have an app, and it will work with all the cell phone carriers. If you want the messages sent to someone else in your family or to a hired hand, you can copy them, to also receive those messages.” Then if you are off the farm and unable to fix the fence yourself, that person could see there is a problem.

“We go to a lot of farm shows and state fairs, demonstrating our Insulights for the past 4 years. The people we talk to love this flashing insulator, but their main response was to say that if there was a way it could text message them it would be even better.”

Electric fences have revolutionized livestock facilities to make them safer, keep the animals out of traditional fences and prevent wear and tear on permanent fences. Today more stockmen are using electric fencing to facilitate rotational grazing. Checking fences and making sure they are working is often one of the biggest chores and headaches when using electric fences. This innovation can make it much easier.

Bill was raised on a family farm and loves working with livestock families and making their job easier to care for their livestock.

What Do Stocker and Cow-Calf Producers Think of Virtual Fencing?

Posted on by Twin Rivers Media

What Do Stocker and Cow-Calf Producers Think of Virtual Fencing?

By Thomas Aquino UNL Animal Science Graduate Research Associate. Yijie Xiong, NE Extension Specialist, Precision Livestock Management

Producers that attended the Nebraska Grazing Conference (NGC) August 8-9, in Kearny, NE. may have noticed a difference from previous proceedings. This year “TechCorner” was added to the exhibition, highlighting new and emerging products in precision livestock management (PLM) such as virtual fencing, data management software and smart water monitoring. In addition to PLM exhibitors, Wednesday morning’s programs were focused primarily on precision grazing management, of which the virtual fencing (VF) technologies were spotlighted in presentations and panelist discussion. Panelists and speakers included UNL extension specialists and representatives from various VF companies. The PLM session gave conference attendees insight into the current applications of VF technology and a glimpse into what the future might hold.

What do stocker and cow-calf producers think of the VF technology?

To answer this question, two graduate students at the conference conducted an intercept survey from the attendees to gather information regarding their perceptions of VF. Intercept surveys consist of open-ended questions asked in a casual interview format. There were six completely anonymous questions designed specifically for stockers and cow-calf producers/ranchers. Interviewees were randomly “intercepted” during break, in the hallway or the exhibition area, from whom full consents were obtained for this survey effort. 14 Survey respondents came from across the state and represented primarily stocker and cow/calf operations. All participants responded fully to each of the questions. Responses were used to gain insight into producer perceptions and attitudes regarding the application and efficacy of current virtual fencing technologies.

The following is a list of questions and a brief summary of common responses (and a few interesting ideas to consider):

Are you familiar with VF technology?
All participants were familiar with VF in some way or another. While none of the respondents had first-hand experience using VF, all knew what it was and had a basic understanding of how it worked. As adoption of this technology continues to expand, familiarity and knowledge of VF will grow amongst users and the general public.

What benefits can VF offer producers?
Most of us understand the research potential that VF can provide, but in producers’ minds, better range management and forage utilization were the most common response. The ability to allocate cattle without the constraints of existing interior fence lines seemed to be the largest perceived benefit. Several producers also expressed interest in creating “exclusion zones” in areas they did not want cattle without needing to build more fences, which is completely doable using VF.

What concerns do you have about using VF?
Unsurprisingly, cost and reliability were the two major concerns across all respondents. Battery life was also a concern. Stocker producers were also worried about the collars “shrinking” over the course of the grazing season as calves grew.

A few of these concerns/questions were mentioned in our previous BeefWatch articles on VF topics, and we highly recommend you check these two articles to answer these questions 1) Technical Note: Where are my cattle at? Part II: Virtual Fencing and 2) Virtual fencing: a new frontier for grazing management. To bring you up to speed, we are providing brief feedback for each of the common concerns mentioned above.

1. What does it cost to have a virtual fence package and how reliable is it?
As we summarized in Technical Note: Where are my cattle at? Part II: Virtual Fencing, the cost of virtual fence products depends on a few factors such as the manufacturer, local cellular/network service availability, battery source, etc. Currently, only a couple of companies provide virtual fencing products, and the sales mode and unit/package prices may vary (although there are some similarities). Usually, virtual fencing is sold as a package, which includes the collar units, base tower unit, signal booster(s)/extender(s), software kit (could be a one-time fee, or more commonly, a monthly subscription fee), and installation. A maintenance fee is also possible, based on the producers’ specific needs. Some manufacturers rent collars (ranging between $100 to $120 per collar) instead of selling them directly and provide product protection/replacement service, just as you would expect from your smart phone’s care program. In addition to these base costs, a fee to cover the connectivity (either via major cellular or local internet providers) is likely needed. Most of the VF units are built using IP67 materials and are weather and light-wear proof.

2. What is the average battery life of virtual fence collars?
The battery life of the collars can impact the efficiency and duration of virtual fencing. There are two major battery sources used in VF units – lithium battery or solar. Both are replaceable or rechargeable. In general, if you need to monitor the herd every 30-60 mins, commercially available lithium batteries could support the collars for at least one to two months while solar batteries have the potential to last longer with reliable exposure to solar. As a rule of thumb, a greater GPS locating/sound alarming/electric shocking frequency leads to less battery longevity. And of course, the size of the pasture one needs to monitor plays a significant role in battery life. More information on these topics can be found in our BeefWatch article Part I: GPS sensors.

3. What about Collar durability?
This is a very important and practical concern. Unfortunately, most VF manufacturers do not include the collars themselves as part of the package (although, most of them have recommended collars or as an add-on accessories). Based on our experience, many of these collars were designed for herding dogs and thus, not practical for cattle use. This leads to the users to explore and identify collars that can withstand weather or cattle activities. We have tried utility belts for human workers, which were affordable but do not last long; and customized leather collars for cattle that have superb durability but are less affordable. We are still exploring good collar candidates. If you have good suggestions, please reach out.

What additional research would you like to see with VF?
The creative minds of survey participants led to an impressive list of potential research questions, however, a few stood out. Several participants noted the lack of information on using VF in crop reside grazing and wondered if that was a viable option. Additionally, producers were interested in some cost/benefit analysis to determine the cost effectiveness of VF. This can vary greatly from one operation to the next and is largely dependent on the value individuals place on labor and equipment cost associated with grazing management and cattle rotation. One respondent was also curious about the possibility of cost sharing if VF infrastructure worked between producers in the same area.

How would/do you utilize VF on your operation?
While no respondents had first-hand experience using VF, there was no shortage of ideas for application of VF. Smaller pasture size and more frequent rotations were the most common response. Respondents were most interested in more effectively utilizing pasture without creating additional cross fencing. One producer showed interest in using previously unfenced areas. It is important to remember just like traditional fencing, there are individuals who will test the virtual boundary and “breakout” therefore, it is advisable to only use virtual fence in areas with a sound perimeter fence.

Is labor an issue when considering grazing management?
10 out of 10 ranchers would probably agree that labor is always an issue, and this group was no different. Most respondents agreed that labor, or the lack thereof, was a consideration when looking at grazing management plans. All but one respondent also agreed that utilizing VF would alleviate some of the labor considerations associated with rotational grazing.

Special thanks are due to those who participated in this survey and conference panelists and speakers for sharing their insight. PLM technologies such as VF are rapidly becoming commonplace on the ranch, creating a need for additional research and extension programming in this new area to serve the industry’s needs. The information gathered from this intercept survey is useful in understanding producer perceptions and can serve as a roadmap for guiding future research. As virtual fencing technology continues to enter the marketplace, it is important to provide the Nebraska beef industry with timely and relevant information regarding its application.

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