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Removable semi-permanent stock fence


brown dog

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I'm an agricultural illiterate; so grateful for a pointer:

 

I want to span a 50m gap with a stock fence that'll be up for 4 or 5 months of the year to contain some rams.

 

For the rest of the year I'd like to be able to roll it up and store it in a shed (and leave no posts in the field).

 

Does a product like that exist?!

 

Thanks!

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we used to graze a friends turf growing fields proper fencing was not an option. we used an electric netting that was so effective they wouldn't walk over it laid on the ground.

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Sheep are mongrels for getting through elec fences made with only two tapes/wires. That mesh sounds better idea but like any temp elec fence, you've gottta regularly check the juice and grounding is working and there are no major shorts

 

Good luck.

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If you don't want to go electric bd them there is such a thing we call it pig netting alpt softer than the normal high tensile netting usually hexagon type instead of square. You hold it up with metal fork style post with a prong type slot in the top of them this would be ideal for what you want! We used to use it for temporary use and it can be rolled up when you want to move it! Sorry if this is a bit vague!

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Thanks for all the replies. I wish I'd mentioned 'non-electric' in my spec ! :)

 

I want to make something that looks like a stock fence - but that can be taken down and rolled up.

 

In darkest Wiltshire a stock fence is square wire net topped with 2 parallel strands of plain or barbed wire; guessing definitions must vary - as I said, I'm an agricultural illiterate!

 

Intrigued by robthebob's pignet solution - I need to work out what the posts are though.

 

 

I'm visualising a sort of tennis net design:

 

2 strong end strainer posts (50m apart); then winching tight a 50m wire (or wire rope) between the tops (using a trailer winch fitted to one of the post?) and then 'hanging' a lightly tensioned stock fence from it rather like a tennis net (or pig fence - why do pigs have weaker mesh than sheep?)

 

I was hoping something like that might exist already - or is the design a doomed idea?

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add one more strainer at twenty five fifty is a bit far you may want to add some road pins (rebar with u at top) in between.

pig netting is moved about sheep netting tends to go up for twenty years or so. pig netting is weldmesh where sheep netting is wrapped verticals round the horizontal pigs tend to push these apart sheep don't.

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Matt,

 

All my shooting is done over ground occupied by sheep. They are harder to keep in than cattle.

 

 

Up here in Yorkshire (lol) we even put a strand of barbed wire at the bottom of a sheep fence.

 

There is a reason open moor still exists.....

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If you're not bothered how it looks, buy some security fencing panels, the weldmesh ones you see around building sites, either knock some posts in to tie them to or get the conrete bases, you could do a similar set up with hurdles (not the athletic type)

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Yep sheep hurdles would do it with a few posts to secure them to. Not capable of being rolled up but you could stack them away.

 

Probably your best bet for a non-electric temporary solution.

 

http://www.country-stores.com/pages/sheep-hurdles/

 

Sheep will get through any sort of a gap. Unless you want to put a tensioned fence up, or electric, I don't think anything else will work as well.

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Just spent my Saturday refencing one side on my 1.5acre field and have the barb and blackthorn scratches to prove it after my sheep bid for freedom.

 

If I were you I would get some decent 4-6 inch rounds every 20m or so and a roll of either sheep netting (the hexaganol) or pig netting (usual squares) If they are full grown rams you can leave 6" under the wire and a 3ft 6" wire gives a 4ft fence height. Dont staple the wire too tight to your big posts. The every 3 to 5m I would put a 2-3" round post and staple it top and bottom. (either tightly and roll posts up with wire or loosely and remove. Sheep tend to push through or climb and collapse fencing so you need posts that are well into the ground really but smaller ones will be easier to remove and wont leave ankle breaking holes.

 

Posts will only be a couple of quid each and the wire £40 for 50m.

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A lot depends on breed. Up here we have Hebridean and blackface. Although Hebridean are the smallest and lightest they are almost impossible to keep in as they run up the fence and can jump like deer. Blackface will just plough through fences, if there is a gap they will work on it. The recommended Department fence layout just doesn’t work up here, a four inch gap between the bottom tension wire and the rylock gives them something to work on.

 

Last year my neighbour ended up shooting a ram that always managed to get loose. After watching it spend some twenty minutes battering a section of fence until the stob worked loose he decided it was cheaper in the long run to use it to feed the dogs!

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Why don't you want to use electric?

Between us I think we've covered most solutions but most seem to be a compromise on the removeable nothing left front.

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Electric is very good for pigs, cattle and horses. My personal experience is that it was worse that useless on sheep, further, if electric netting is used the sheep up here have a tendency to kill themselves on it by tangling their horns with the netting. Sheep are insulated with their fleece and even wet do not appear to get a shock. We even tried putting strips of tinfoil covered in treacle on the fence to get them to lick it and thereby get a shock: waste of time. Mind you, some of the old blackface ewes have been witnessed rolling across cattle grids to get into Townships!

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I found electric worked very well for our blue de maine and rouge sheep. blackface swalies n dales bred would escape from a sealed box given enough time. I've been on some long drives to fetch them back when they wandered :lol:

I was asking why BD didn't want electric?

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I found electric worked very well for our blue de maine and rouge sheep. blackface swalies n dales bred would escape from a sealed box given enough time. I've been on some long drives to fetch them back when they wandered :lol:

I was asking why BD didn't want electric?

 

Nothing deeper than I want something that looks like a normal stock fence when it's up. I'll be able to see it from the kitchen, so it's just an aesthetic thing.

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Nothing deeper than I want something that looks like a normal stock fence when it's up. I'll be able to see it from the kitchen, so it's just an aesthetic thing.

Yokshire boarded panels with 3x2 rails and a cross brace then. Its hard to get away from the posts (which will make up the sides of the sections). There was much doubt when I used it here but it keeps everything in its place better than wire and electric, cows will break the tops off one or two boards but they aint dear or troublesome to replace in odd ones and twos. The resultant holes are soon filled when you move the fence

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How about a post and rail fence if you screwed rather than nailed the rails just unscrew and store for next year. If needed a strand of barbed on top.

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BD,

several things will have a bearing, what breed of sheep are you using and how hard do you intend to graze the ground your fencing in?

 

ive got small groups of sheep dotted all over the place and i often have this same dilemma, any non electric fence and gates will attract sheep for a good scratch, if the posts are not firm they can get knocked over pretty easy.

 

if its only a small number of rams and they have plenty of grass in front of them they shouldnt have the urge to get out, if it is only 50m then one roll of mild steel stock wire will do and at 4m spacings then if you put up 12 - 13 5'6" intermediate posts then it will do the job and be easy to take down. when you tack the wire on stand it on your boot to give a little extra height you shouldnt need any line wire on top.

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