Fence Planning Advice, Raw Land

[jp_over]

Friends,

I need some advice on how to proceed with fencing my land.

I'm looking at 5 strand barbed wire for the S, N, and E boundaries. The fence purposes are (prioritized):
1) designate my property lines
2) serve as a boundary for my dogs
3) contain livestock

Currently, the property is wooded and overgrown. Any suggestions on how to get this marked so I can:
1) Have it brush hogged / mowed
2) Get some estimates on fencing and then fence it / maintain it

I have a current survey and the property corners are clearly marked.

My neighbor to the south is on a similar tract and the tract to my north has not yet sold.

Here's a simple sketch to show what we're looking at (green areas to be fenced/cleared):


Thanks!

[Dushon]

Is there line of sight from boundary corners?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RiverRat1]

He will need to make a line of sight between corners. Get a chainsaw and get after it!

[Arrowthreat]

I'm building fence at our place right now. In regards to the clearing, my opinion would be to take a dozer and clear a path for the fence that is wide enough to drive a truck next to it. I was hesitant in some areas because I wanted to leave the trees/cover, but I'm glad we did. It makes it a lot easier to keep it maintained by spraying, mowing, etc. It's amazing how fast a fence can be overtaken by foliage in etx.

[jp_over]

Dushon & RiverRat1 - no line of site so doing some chainsaw work sounds like priority one.

Arrowthreat - thanks for the feedback. I haven't thought about bulldozing it but that sounds like a fair idea.

[Dushon]

I’d hire a dozer. Clearing a mile of brush by hand, wide enough to get equipment through in the middle of the summer ain’t no joke.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DirtyDave]

I'm building fence at our place right now. In regards to the clearing, my opinion would be to take a dozer and clear a path for the fence that is wide enough to drive a truck next to it. I was hesitant in some areas because I wanted to leave the trees/cover, but I'm glad we did. It makes it a lot easier to keep it maintained by spraying, mowing, etc. It's amazing how fast a fence can be overtaken by foliage in etx.

^^THIS.
Dozer to clear the fence lines and make it wide enough to drive all the way around the property.

Any fence builder will also do the clearing by dozer, but charge you a bunch to do it. Most of them rent a dozer as well as charge you for the labor. You can just rent the dozer yourself and spend the weekend clearing the path

[DirtyDave]

As for keeping the dogs in, Barbed wire wont do that. You will need field fencing of some type. Depending on size of dogs, cattle/goat/horse fence etc. I will be fencing my dogs in with 6' No-Climb horse fence. 2x4

[1riot1ranger]

[QUOTE=jp_over;14195789]Friends,

I need some advice on how to proceed with fencing my land.

I'm looking at 5 strand barbed wire for the S, N, and E boundaries. The fence purposes are (prioritized):
1) designate my property lines
2) serve as a boundary for my dogs
3) contain livestock

I had a similar situation on buying acreage in a subdivided ranch. You will have to clear a line of sight to the corners. Fence builders will do it but it will be more costly. My goal was to mark property lines because the lot wasn't a true square or rectangle. Once the lines were cleared we discovered the adjoining neighbor had drilled a new well 17 feet into my property. State requires an offset from property lines for wells and will not approve a variance because there is plenty of room for either of us to drill a new well so, he has to plug this one. Fencing is a necessary expense in many cases.

[Big pig]

Dozer. I have done the hand method in the summer and it was brutal. And I still couldn't drive it. I would mark the corners and work with my neighbors on what trees need to be removed. We used a long, long string pulled tight to mark the line.

Hopefully they will share the costs. Mine did. But I would have done it regardless. Field fence sure is working to keep hogs out of my food plots .
And my dog in the yard.


And hope a tornado doesn't lay down dozens of trees over your new fence.

[Arrowthreat]

Dushon & RiverRat1 - no line of site so doing some chainsaw work sounds like priority one.

Arrowthreat - thanks for the feedback. I haven't thought about bulldozing it but that sounds like a fair idea.

Field fence or no climb wire would be your best bet for dogs. If any of the land is in flood plains, do barb wire. I'm slowly making my way around replacing the field fence we had in the river bottoms with barb wire. Barb wire will wash out, but not nearly as easily as field fence or no climb wire.

[CabezaBlanca]

If it's not grown up that tall you can drive t-posts at the corners and slide a 20' joint of 1 1/2'' PVC over them. You can see them from corner to corner, IF it's not that overgrown.

[jp_over]

Lots of great suggestions all around, thanks!

[Tbar]

There should be survey markers along those boundaries between the corners. Find them and mark the lanes with engineering tape.

Then call in the folks with the right tools for the job.

https://youtu.be/ViyotOUuRAQ

[meltingfeather]

Step 1: Line of sight corner to corner
Step 2: Hydro ax!

https://youtu.be/OF02FlB8Xd4?t=62