Sheep Fencing

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Sheep Fencing

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jthorneuk

Joined: 08 Feb 2011
Posts: 52
Location: Redhill, Bristol

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 11 3:28 pm Post subject: Sheep Fencing

Well what a day I have had.... I had my fencing on my fields done about 6 months ago with the idea of keeping horses in the fields. Since then things have progressed and I now have some sheep sharing the fields. About 3 weeks ago some of the sheep were able to get under the stock fencing and into another field that is not mine. My 2 fields and this other field make up a triangle with roads all around. My house is at one of the points and my garden runs onto the 1st field and then the other 2 fields are kind of the other points of the triangle. I fenced with stock fencing all around my 2 smaller triangle ish parts. The sheep were able to get into the other field that has just hedges around it and I spent the last 3 weeks trying to get them back. Then last night I tried a trick with some builders orange netting to make a ring then hurded them into the ring and got all but 2 in. Then i man handled them into the stock trailer one at a time.

The problem came this morning where I tried to do the same to the other 2. They were having none of it.. one of them head butted throug a 2x1 fence stake.. ran/jumped/fell down a 15 foot bank and onto a main road! It took me 5 mins to get through the fields and over to where they fell.. and no sign of them.. after a lot of panic and looking it turned out they had run up the road, over the road and up a driveway to another unfenced field. We got the stock trailer, 2 cars, netting and setup to trap them again... and the little buggers pushed through another fence, down a hidden path and back onto a very busy main road. They then headded down the road and luckelry turned into a smaller road.. where me on foot was right behnind them... I then by fluke got them to turn into a garden.. where I had them pinned... that is till the man who owned the house bangged on the window and scared them out of his garden back onto the road!!! They then headed up that road and 2 a cross roads.. right back onto the main road.. left up a long country road and straight on up a privae drive... luckely they tool the private drive and on up into the persons back garden.. that happened to have a walled court yard and only be about 10 foot by 15. so me and my girlfriend just went in and grabbed them and pinned them to the ground then 4 of us carried them to the trailer... in total it took 4 hours to catch the little buggers!!

So... I feel very lucky nobody got hurt. The road is the A38 and its a busy road with dual carageway parts right by my fields. My stock fencing obviously needs to be fixed so this cant happen..

What I have is.. posts every 3 meters apart with stock fencing along it. The problem is the ground is not level and in some places there are 8" gaps under the fencing. It was never designed for sheep only horses... I have had a look on the internet and people seem to do sheep fencing like this but with the addition of barbed wire running along the underside 2" from the ground and 2" from the bottom of the stock fencing. They then put another run above the stock fencing.

WHat I need to know is what do I need to to to have 100% sheep proof fence? I can not let this happend again! Barbed wire is ok on the fencing as I plan to run a electric run around ar the same time as fixing it so that horsed will be kept away but I believe electric fencing to be no good on sheep.

Is it just a case of some barbed wire nailed to fill in the gap.. in my head the sheep will just flex this down between the posts and continue to get through...

any help would be amazing!

Mrs R

Joined: 15 Aug 2008
Posts: 7202

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 11 3:44 pm Post subject:
electric fencing works well on ours, but not 100% for sure! we are also blessed with flat land, i think too many bumps and dips would give them a way to get under!

Cathryn

Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 19856
Location: Ceredigion

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 11 3:49 pm Post subject:
The barbed wire would need to be tight and a few inches apart. You could also fit logs tight into the gaps or large boulders if you happen to have them. Some sheep are more placid and less inclined to leave wherever you put them. What sort did you get?

Cathryn

Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 19856
Location: Ceredigion

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 11 3:50 pm Post subject:

Mrs R wrote:

electric fencing works well on ours, but not 100% for sure! we are also blessed with flat land, i think too many bumps and dips would give them a way to get under!

Did you train your sheep to it first of all?

jthorneuk

Joined: 08 Feb 2011
Posts: 52
Location: Redhill, Bristol

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 11 4:06 pm Post subject:

The sheep I have are just a mixed bunch from a market. Ther are mostly crossed but the ones I had problem with today I believe to be Beulah Speckled Face. They are about 5 years old and I dont think they have been handled much

Some I have come to a bucket and others run right over to you when you walk in the field. I have a total of 16. The problem is that some of the others tend to go with the flow and follow the problem ones into the places they are not meant to be..

Barbed wire looks to be about £30 for 200 meters. If i have to do a few strands and make it tight then thats ok. I just need to know that its gonna work. I would fix the wire one end then runit out the length and then wratchet strap it to my tractor and drag it tight before pinning it with staples.

In some places though the ground could drop away suddenly and I would need maybe 5 strands to fill the hole every 2 inches.

It really is a pain in the arse as If the fencing had been done right in the first place I would not have this problem.. but in fairness I did say it was for horses and we didnt plan on anything else at the time..

jthorneuk

Joined: 08 Feb 2011
Posts: 52
Location: Redhill, Bristol

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 11 4:09 pm Post subject:
I also did think about boarding around the bottom of the field and attaching the stock fencing to the board which would work.. but we are talking like 400m at least and material for that would be way more thatn £1 a meter...

Mrs R

Joined: 15 Aug 2008
Posts: 7202

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 11 4:41 pm Post subject:

Cathryn wrote:

Mrs R wrote:

electric fencing works well on ours, but not 100% for sure! we are also blessed with flat land, i think too many bumps and dips would give them a way to get under!

Did you train your sheep to it first of all?

Yes, you need to train everything to it first I think, otherwise you run the risk of them just crashing through and spending an entertaining few hours trying to get them back in and so on....

Mutton

Joined: 09 May 2009
Posts: 1508

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 11 4:50 pm Post subject:

I don't like barbed wire for sheep - they will still go through it if panicked and their injury is increased.

We have uneven ground and sheep that go under if they feel like it. What we have done is:

1. Plain wire along the bottom, either one or two runs as appropriate, too close together and taut for them to get their heads through. Some places this can be done, some it can't.

2. Heaps of soil and rocks tamped hard with turf on if available, seeded if not. (Advertise on freecycle for rubble and soil clearance if you have nothing.)

3. Temporary fix when don't have time to do either of the above - fence post from our stock, wired onto bottom of stock netting - as in laid horizontally, hanging on bottom. Use wire rather than baler twine as if temporary turns into 6 months it will still be there. We have a stock of fence posts for not yet done internal fences and will be recovering posts and re-using.

The fences do need to be taut, or they can bend and push the wire and stocknetting out or apart. If the stocknetting is on the outside of your posts, they push it away from them getting out, but when trying to get back in, push it against the post and they then can't get under. Slack strands of wire and they can dive hard between them with a twang.

In places with a really big dip equally between two fences posts, then hand banging in an additional post can be useful. (Using a post thumper - and handle that with care, great tool for hitting yourself in the face if not careful.) It can tauten a fence and also provide an anchoring point for bottom wires.

Putting extra wire in place - buy a wire tensioning tool. We have one, forgotten name, basically it is a long handle, with a notch and foot. You brace the foot against the post, the wire is in the notch, and you tension the wire by pulling on the handle and pivoting the tool around the post, then slam in the staple. I'd go for a medium grade of wire, not so easy to snap when you are tensioning it.

Last edited by Mutton on Sun Sep 04, 11 5:10 pm; edited 1 time in total

Mutton

Joined: 09 May 2009
Posts: 1508

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 11 5:04 pm Post subject:

Also, depending on what you plan for your sheep and what they are, if you have a couple of ring leaders, abattoir or market may be the other answer - in addition with improving the bottom of the fences. Some sheep aren't trying to escape, they graze under the fence, push a little to far, get stuck, can only go forward and then can't work out how to get back.

Some are trying to escape - our first wether down the abattoir not only worked on escaping, and I mean worked, once through he'd dance up and down and baa to get his friends to come on the jolly.

If you have time to sit and watch the little baas for an hour or two you may start to see patterns.

Also they may settle down a bit when they are more used to you and the land.

jthorneuk

Joined: 08 Feb 2011
Posts: 52
Location: Redhill, Bristol

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 11 5:51 pm Post subject:

It does seem that the only way maybe to block in the gaps with something solid rather than putting in extra wire. I have all the tools to do the fencing and the tool you are talking about to pull it tight. I just need to come up with a plan. I think by this time next year the hedges and grass the other side of the fence will have grown and tied into the fencing making it better. This happened on half the fence already.. its just the other half that was put in a little further away from the hedge.

I may give it a try with some solid wire and see actually how much it bends when i put my foot on it. Or try and find something heavy and put a bit of wood through the fence and pile stuff on it eather side to hold the wire down. I know the sheep are strong buggers though so its got to be good so they dont just push it up. I live in a seriously rocky area and driving in more posts is not really an option. I did think about getting some smaller stakes and just putting them in between the others like has been said but i can only get anout 6" down at the most

jthorneuk

Joined: 08 Feb 2011
Posts: 52
Location: Redhill, Bristol

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 11 5:53 pm Post subject:
if i was starting from scratch what would be the ideal fencing on flat and on hilly land ?

Mutton

Joined: 09 May 2009
Posts: 1508

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 11 6:23 pm Post subject:

Speaking as someone on land which varies between super rocky and deep peat (so soft for bracing posts!), with flatish across the top and then sloped, it is what you've got - as in stock netting and posts at three meters. However, rather than going for nice level stock netting, you go for a bit of individual handcrafting - at each post you pull it down to whatever the ground level is. Reduces, though doesn't remove the gap.

In terms of putting in posts on rocky ground - auger helps - we've got a hand one. Hammer drill also helps. We've spent an hour using a hammer drill to go through a big stone rather than digging it up. Does make for a very solid post holder....
Tend to drill into it to break it up, then auger, then drill.

We do use a metal stake hammered into the ground to test where each post is to go. If moving a foot left or right gets away from a stone, that works. Only drill when really, really have to.

One other way of slowing your perishers down - road engineers stakes. Not the cheapest thing but useful to have around. I think the modern name is something else, metal pins maybe? Anyway, buy a job lot of those from a builders merchants, weave down through stock netting and hammer into the ground at bottom. Once hedge has grown you can retrieve for other jobs.

Mind you, depending on sheep they may eat through the hedge anyway.

jthorneuk

Joined: 08 Feb 2011
Posts: 52
Location: Redhill, Bristol

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 11 6:58 pm Post subject:
ok thankyou for all the advice. I think a mixture off what everybody has said is the best plan. I will get in some supplies tomorrow and just give it a go and see what works. Ill let people know what I find works best.

Mutton

Joined: 09 May 2009
Posts: 1508

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 11 8:27 pm Post subject:
In longer term you have to monitor it - as in walk along and inspect. We find that smaller animals cut tracks through under the fence - fox, badger maybe - and that can gradually open up a sheep opportunity.

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