Barbed Wire Farm Fencing: Design, Installation and More

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barbed wire farm fencing is a popular choice when you need to fence large areas. This kind of farm fencing is relatively cheap, installs quickly and uses readily available materials.

However, many fence contractors don’t install barbed wire farm fencing, so it might be a little harder to find someone to do this kind of installation for you. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at what barbed wire farm fencing is, what kinds of materials you need, and how it’s installed. We’ve also included a downloadable sketch of a typical barbed wire farm fence, and a take off sheet that will give you basic quantities for your project.

What Is Barbed wire Farm Fencing?

Barbed wire farm fencing is a very simple fence type that consists of wooden posts and barbed wire strands. It is used to delineate boundaries and keep livestock in pastures, but it is not very effective at keeping predators or people out. So, if you have security concerns, this is probably not the right fence for your project.

Barbed wire farm fencing can have three strands, four strands or more, but for our sketch and barbed wire farm fence takeoff calculator, we have used the most common four strand design.

What Materials Are Used for Barbed Wire Farm Fencing?

One of the reasons that barbed wire farm fencing is so affordable is that the materials are so simple. These include:

• Wooden fence posts, usually “tapered posts” or “peeled posts” depending on where you buy them, these are CCA or tanalith treated, and they often have sharpened ends, which makes them easier to install by pounding or driving
• Galvanized barbed wire, and here you can use any kind, but for maximum longevity, a double strand barbed wire is usually best
• Barbed staples, which are used to fix the barbed wire to the wooden posts – they are supplied in pails, and are simply hammered into place
• Square lumber braces, used to create brace units along the fence line
• Smooth wire for securing braces

That’s really about it as far as the materials you need to construct a barbed wire farm fence goes.

How Are Barbed Wire Farm Fences Installed?

The first thing you need to do when you’re installing a barbed wire farm fence is install your line posts. These are spaced quite far apart – 3.75 meters or about 12 feet in our design. They are driven or pounded into the ground to secure them, so there’s no digging or concrete required.

You will need a post driver or pounder to install these posts though. There are handheld options as well as post pounder units that work with a tractor or a skid steer, and in some areas, you can rent these units, so you don’t have to buy one if you won’t be doing a lot of fencing.

As you install line posts, you will also need to construct brace post units, usually, as with other kinds of fencing, where your fence line will change by 10 degrees or more on the horizontal or vertical plane. Which means you need a brace every time there’s a major change of direction or elevation.

Brace post units include wooden brace members and smooth wire bracing, and wooden braces are usually nailed in place.

Then there’s the barbed wire. Many installers use a vehicle like an ATV or similar to roll out barbed wire over long fence lines, usually with a spinning jenny or some kind of spool to allow the wire to roll smoothly out along the fence line.

The barbed wire is wrapped around ends and braces to secure, and then stapled in place. Then it’s stapled to each line post between braces to create the fence.

Skilled barbed wire farm fence installers can get hundreds of meters installed in a single day, which is another reason this is so popular for large areas.

Using Our Calculator

We’ve included a downloadable sketch of four strand barbed wire farm fence with this article, and we’ve also built a calculator that is based on that sketch.

All you need to use this is the number of braces you anticipate using, and the length in meters of the fence. You’ll notice that the length in feet is automatically calculated when you enter the meters, so you can double check that your figures are correct.

The quantities of wooden posts, barbed wire, staples, and other materials are calculated at the bottom of the sheet, so you can get a quote on materials from your local fence supplier and decide if you want to try DIY, or if it’s better to hire a fence installer to get the job done for you.