Everything You Need to Know About Barbed Wire Fence
If you need to fence a large area, one of the main criteria for your fence choice is probably the cost of fence per foot or meter. The lower the cost per unit, the lower the overall cost will be.
In cases like this where security is not a concern, you simply need to demarcate a boundary and you want to keep costs as low as possible, barbed wire fence is the obvious choice. Here’s what you need to know.
How Do You Build a barbed wire Fence?
One of the reasons barbed wire fence is such a cheap fence, relatively speaking, is because it’s so simple.
barbed wire fences can be three, four, five or more strands, but regardless of the configuration and height, the basic materials are barbed wire, barbed staples and wooden fence posts.
Fence posts are pounded into the ground rather than being set in concrete, and they are typically spaced much further apart than they would be on a privacy or security fence.
Barbed wire fences do have brace assemblies at each corner and change of direction, so it’s best to keep your fence line as straight and level as possible. As with any fence, brace post assemblies cost more in materials and labour than a run of straight fence.
What Do You Need to Install a Barbed wire Fence?
Because barbed wire fences are designed to fence large areas quickly, the best way to install them is to use equipment that is made for the job.
Tow behind post pounders that work with tractors or skid steers are the best way to install barbed wire fence posts, although you can also use a vibrating post driver for smaller jobs.
A spindle, often unrolled from a vehicle as it drives along the fence line is a great way to unroll large amounts of barbed wire fast, and if you have a team following behind stapling the wire to the fence posts, you can enclose a very large area in a very short amount of time.
Because you are working with barbed wire, you should also have protective gear like gloves and goggles, and of course, you will need quality wire cutters and hand tools.
Do All Fence Companies Install Barbed Wire Fence?
No. Barbed wire fence is not usually done by commercial and residential fence companies, because of the specialist tools required, and because profit margins are low.
Often, farmers will do their own farm fence installation, but there are some fence companies in rural areas that will take on this kind of project.
Where Can You Buy Farm Fence Materials?
Another big plus about farm fencing is that the materials are relatively easy to find. Most hardware stores, co-ops and farm stores will have everything you need to install a farm fence yourself or supply materials to a contractor.
Where to Install Farm Fence
Farm fence is a very low security fence type that is really only used to keep livestock in pastures and similar. It won’t keep animals or predators out, and deer can jump it without breaking their stride.
So this fence should really only be used for farms or along isolated roads where you want to keep livestock off the road. It won’t keep anything else in or out!
