Fencing my yard

[ridgefire]

Well normally a post topic like this would be best under coop construction. But, I'm not talking about my chicken run. I want to fence my yard in to keep my dogs contained. Right now I use the invisible fence by pet safe. Well my dogs have found a way to cross the boundary. Well frankly it scared the crap out of me to see my dogs across the field at the neighbors. We live on a busy road and I would hate to lose another dog to a car strike.

Well I measured everything and I would need 297 feet of fencing just to fence the side of the yard off for the dogs. I started pricing chain link and it would cost over $1000. Then I started looking at my chicken run, I used the 2x4 welded wire fence. I priced that, for a 100 foot roll at TSC its 70+ tax. So I could realistically fence the area in for around $350 with posts.

Looking for input on what you all think of the looks of the welded wire. It looks fine for a chicken run but how do you think it would look fencing a yard in?

 

[HarlansHollowFarms]

I don't know about that type of fence, but we used wood posts and six strands of hot wire. Keeps the dogs in just fine, and cheap!

 

[ridgefire]

Dont know about using a hot wire, my dogs range in size from a beagle on up to pitbulls and huskies

 

[Mac in Wisco]

We have several hundred feet of 2x4 welded wire fencing around the chicken pasture that the previous owner installed. Although what we have may possibly be the cheapest of the cheap wire fencing, in my opinion it just doesn't last long enough. It stays in good shape as long as nothing touches it, but with lawn mowers, line trimmers, dogs pawing at it, kids playing rough and banging into it, it starts to come apart. For wire fencing, the knotted style wire fencing would be a better choice, but is higher priced. You could always consider a wood picket fence. That's what we have around our backyard for the dog.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

We have 11 acres fenced and cross fenced with 2x4 fencing, but not welded, we went with wrapped. A bit more pricey but a horse can hit it at a full run and the fence/squares hold. (Yup, happened - my oldest mare - full out into the fence and bounced back) With welded fence when my dogs hit it, the welds pop.

 

[ridgefire]

I didnt see any twisted wire fence just welded wire. I will have to make another trip in to see the price difference.

 

[Royd]

Have you looked on Craigslist, in the Farm and Garden, or Materials section? You may find some used chainlink, with posts, for a decent price. You may have to travel a little ways, but saving several hundred dollars, is worth a day's journey.

 

[journey11]

Quote:
This is a good suggestion. I actually saw a post on mine where I could have gotten a whole chainlink set up (posts and all) for $50, but I couldn't spare $50 at the time! I have 2x4 welded wire for a small section I had to close off. My problem with it is that it bends under enough force and my pit wiggled her way under it twice now. Chainlink has less give. Another solution would be to run a line of electric fence out from the bottom to keep them from trying to push on it.

 

[Tala]

I like welded wire just fine for dogs, and the price is good. The kind with twisted wires is sometimes called "hog wire" - I guess because it's so strong.
Red Brand makes both, and our Lowes carries both slightly cheaper than TSC so check around if you have options.

I picked up some T-posts for $2 each at a scrap yard, sometimes you can get them from Craiglist too.

Chainlink is EXPENSIVE and it doesn't stand up on it's own - hence the need for additional top rail posts which add a lot of cost. I'm not stuck on it. We're putting up 75 FEET of chainlink for $425

"because it looks better" blah blah blah

I'm a big fan of electric fence so I would also recommend running a line of electric wire around problem areas if you need to reinforce the fence. Some dogs dig under, some try to climb over, some push on the fence, etc. so that would dictate your wire placement. Fortunately e-wire is cheap, portable, and easily configured to your particular dogs!!