Dithering on new fence--update, new pic p.2

[ninjapoodles]

There are some places on our property where you can drive a t-post, but not up around the house. The guy who came out with a backhoe and buried Magic was on the job for 6 hours just to make a hole in the ground, and he picked a "soft" spot.

 

[KAKBucks]

I am Kendra"s Mom. If you are thinking of the safety of your daughter, I'd risk the credit. ou don't say how old your daughter is. The animals can wait, but if you can't watch our daughter every minute the fence is worthwhile. We have 3 Golden Retrievers. The dogs's tail might knock them over, but I trust them to be with my Grand children when I run inside to get something.

We live close to the highway. I had the fence installed and have almost paid it off. I thank god that I put it in for the dogs prior to my grandchildren being born. My daughter and I would have heart failure by now. We put in 4 rail fencing with wooden posts and vinyl covered 2x4 no climb fencing. We put chain link in the barn and one of our alpacas spooked in a thunderstorm and caught her feet in the chain link. She died. We have hardware cloth all around it now. The grandgirls run faster than I can catch up with them; I have a bad knee.

I think health and safety of children is paramount and worth going into debt for. It is the only loan I have.

I would make a decision regarding the safety of your children, dogs, and other livestock. If you can put up with the inconvenience then save. If you cannot watch your children every minute then go for it. My older granddaughter can open the door now. I am so thankful for the fence.

 

[FlockEweFarm]

Hiya Nin! Gotta say, as a horse person myself, I have many of the same fears with the chain link fencing that many of the others are expressing, and I have actually seen some of the damage that they are talking about, and it is not pretty. Your horses are beautiful, and even if you set the top rail on the chain link up high as it can go, there is still a risk of sharp edges and places for them to hang up if you turn out with halters on, so I would still consider a line of hot wire to keep them off of it if you decided to go that direction. I sympathize with the hard soil and all the rocks, got the same issue out here, and it has taken me and the ex-husband over 2 months to get all the posts set for my pen,(if I never see another breaker bar, it will be too soon!)
I would go the extra foot in height, that way the horses dont get cocky and think they can jump it easily, and the chickens dont try to fly over it quite so soon. I went 6ft all the way around my place, but I am a bit of a security freak and I have a pack of 5 HUGE dogs and a rabid pack of 4 children, as well as my own jerk of a neighbor that actually abuses animals that got close enough for him to reach,(he has the 6ft solid board fence along his property line with the accompanying hot wire), and I have enjoyed the security that the extra height gives me.
I am like you, I hate using credit for anything, but I also hate getting driven crazy when I cannot enjoy a moments peace and quiet due to worrying about who is getting in trouble.

 

[Reinbeau]

Do the math and make sure you're getting a good deal still on the fencing, sometimes if they're financing they get cute with the pricing, too, don't let them. Read the fine print. However, in my mind, some things are worth investing in, and your childrens' safety, your animals' security and your peace of mind are worth it.

 

[CritterHill]

I can't advise you on the credit, but I will say:

1) My 11 week old polish hens can fly over a 6 foot fence with ease.

2) My sister had a chicken fly over the run fence and into the dog kennel where her Jack Russel Terriers were barking their ferocious little heads off. There was not much left of the chicken.

Chickens are not smart and will fly right into death in my experience.

 

[ninjapoodles]

We're assuming, at this point, that we're going to have to clip wings across the board just to have any peace of mind--especially with the turkeys.

Please, no chain-link horror stories, unless they're cautionary tales in which disaster can be AVERTED! (In other words, YES to "If you have chain link, you should do ______", but NO to "Never have chain-link; it's deadly!") I say this because our ENTIRE 5 acres' perimeter is fenced in chain-link, and there's nothing I can do about that.

The only trouble I've had with horses and fences over the years has been when there has been something on the other side that caused a problem...like someone else's horses fence-fighting with mine, for example. What I've done in those cases was to build a second fence several feet inside my own property line, and add hot-wire.

Victor, the stallion (who is scheduled for gelding), did once manage to put a leg through the top cable of a low chain-link fence, and had to be cut free. He wasn't hurt, but it scared me to death. We got rid of all the mitigating circumstances in that case, and did our best to make sure the accident can't be duplicated, but with horses, you never know.

We're in the process of getting rid of all but one (or possibly two) of the horses, since this place is just not set up for horses.

Back to the birds...would leaving the "prongs" on top of the fence discourage them from roosting up there? Probably not, I'm guessing. I'm always amazed when I read all the posts from people who have no fence at all but allow their birds to free-range. That would make me a nervous wreck!

My husband is not really happy about the appearance of chain-link around the house, but there's no other option that we could afford, and I wouldn't want a wood fence because that would limit visibility to the rest of the property. Back when I first mentioned just putting up a fence like at my last place (5' high, RR ties at corner, 4x4 posts and woven no-climb horse fence), he had a fit about how "ugly" that was and how it would ruin the resale value of the house. So, it looks like it's either this or nothing.

If anyone has any safety issues that I can address regarding my existing chain-link fence, please tell me. Whether we get this one or not, I already have miles of it in place that isn't going anywhere.

 

[ninjapoodles]

Here is a picture of part of the perimeter fence. This is what's around the entire property. This particular shot is looking up my driveway, toward the gate. The driveway is really long. Horses live on either side of the drive, and you can see there is no grass. Constant erosion keeps grass from growing.