Fence Planning Advice, Raw Land

[sqiggy]

If you want to do it quick, use a dozer.
If you have time and not in a big rush, use a backhoe and burn as you go.
Only problem with a dozer, the operator will have to have a place to "pile" it up. I was lucky enough my neighbor had a pasture. We pushed it up on his place, then he had it all buried. You will be surprised how much will pile up.

[tdwinklr]

^^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

Been thinking about this myself for my own fence lines, also have a lot of cedars to clear, what's the going price for dozer rentals now days? At least one
big enough to do the job right.

[Dudley]

I had the same situation on a property almost tis exact size. I used the survey and a compass to shoot a line from one corner to the next. No line of sight, so I marked it with flagging tape every 30-100 feet as I went, depending on how far ahead I could see. Got to the next corner and found I was off by about 20'. So I backed up and started over, moving my flags a little at a time as I went. After a few tries I had a pretty straight line between two corners. Then went to the next corner and repeated the process. It takes a while, but you can get very close if you work at it. Then I started with the chainsaw.

[DirtyDave]

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.

I like this idea. Give you something to aim for. Long as you can see it from the seat of the Dozer

[Matt_C]

Also, on your corners and at your gates, Use the a head post that is at least 8" diameter.

[texan4ut]

[quote=1riot1ranger;14195977]

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.

1Riot you might check into forming a water co-op with your neighbor to share the well. If you could then it would be joint ownership and you may get a variance. Win/Win he won't have to drill another one and you won't have to drill one.

[Arrowthreat]

Another food for thought is if any of the property line has electrical lines down it, the electric company will do the clearing for free. IF

[tkusak]

Have you thought about putting up net wire instead of barbed wire? It doesn't raise the cost very much, and helps slow down hogs (not sure of your area). Finished cost should be pretty close to $3.00 per foot + clearing charges.

[texan16]

Get a dozer and a gps. Mark your 4 corners on the GPS. Take dozer to the SW corner and head toward the SE corner. Make a left turn and head to the NE corner, then to the NW corner. Gonna get you pretty dang straight.

[DirtyDave]

Be sure to get with the neighbor about any clearing that needs done for a few feet on his side of the fence. He may want a 12' wide road on his side and chip in on the dozer. He may only allow you a foot or 2 also LOL

[jp_over]

Thanks for all the good advice.

I've also considered contracting a "forestry mulcher" to clear the lanes which should make a path which is ready to be bush hogged for maintenance without the "pile" a dozer would make.

Dushon - thanks for the +1 on the dozer.

DirtyDave - Thanks for another +1 on the dozer. The dogs we have (English Shepherds) are pretty good about boundary fences so I hope we can avoid needing anything heavier than 5 strand. However, I appreciate the suggestion about "no climb". I'll have to check it out.

1riot1ranger - that's crazy about the well and that's exactly the kind of situation I hope to avoid by keeping a very low margin of error.

CabezaBlanca - that's a really good idea about the t-post & PVC. It's overgrown by a good bit. I'm beginning to think waiting until the winter would be my best option.

Tbar - Excellent video! I hadn't considered engineer tape but agree that the lines / lanes to be cleared have to be marked so there's no question on the property boundary.

meltingfeather - another great video. Yes, a forestry mulcher would do a great job I think.

sqiggy - Good info. I hadn't thought about how much material can pile up.

Dudley - good info, thanks!

Matt_C - good to know

Arrowthreat - power lines are only on the main road, not along the property lines (just recently subdivided).

tkusak - I haven't thought about net wire but I might need to as we have lots of hogs in the area.

texan16 - I've thought about getting a Garmin 64st series and doing so but am very hesitant about what kind of margin of error I might get over the 1408' runs.

DirtyDave - excellent advice. I've reached out and am waiting to hear back from the neighbors.

To all, thanks for the great discussion and advice!

[jp_over]

Just got an estimate on having a licensed surveyor flag it all the way through the woods on the S, E, and N boundaries: $4,500. This is the same surveyor who did the initial survey to subdivide the tract.

Sounds pretty expensive but it would give some peace of mind that the clearing work and fence lines can't be brought into question. I'm going to get a few more bids to see if I can get it done for a bit less.

[Arrowthreat]

Thanks for all the good advice.

I've also considered contracting a "forestry mulcher" to clear the lanes which should make a path which is ready to be bush hogged for maintenance without the "pile" a dozer would make.

Dushon - thanks for the +1 on the dozer.

DirtyDave - Thanks for another +1 on the dozer. The dogs we have (English Shepherds) are pretty good about boundary fences so I hope we can avoid needing anything heavier than 5 strand. However, I appreciate the suggestion about "no climb". I'll have to check it out.

1riot1ranger - that's crazy about the well and that's exactly the kind of situation I hope to avoid by keeping a very low margin of error.

CabezaBlanca - that's a really good idea about the t-post & PVC. It's overgrown by a good bit. I'm beginning to think waiting until the winter would be my best option.

Tbar - Excellent video! I hadn't considered engineer tape but agree that the lines / lanes to be cleared have to be marked so there's no question on the property boundary.

meltingfeather - another great video. Yes, a forestry mulcher would do a great job I think.

sqiggy - Good info. I hadn't thought about how much material can pile up.

Dudley - good info, thanks!

Matt_C - good to know

Arrowthreat - power lines are only on the main road, not along the property lines (just recently subdivided).

tkusak - I haven't thought about net wire but I might need to as we have lots of hogs in the area.

texan16 - I've thought about getting a Garmin 64st series and doing so but am very hesitant about what kind of margin of error I might get over the 1408' runs.

DirtyDave - excellent advice. I've reached out and am waiting to hear back from the neighbors.

To all, thanks for the great discussion and advice!

My personal opinion would be to stay away from any mulching. I try to warn people because it has cost us a tremendous amount of money. We tried this for the first time on our new place, and it was an expensive learning experience.

Mulching takes 3 times as long as a dozer does which adds up very fast if you're paying an hourly rate. Also, my biggest complaint with the mulching is all the stumps it leaves that have to be dug out after. A big problem for us with trying to run our horses and cows.

We are currently finishing clearing our new place with a track loader and dozer. Much cheaper and cleaner. The burn piles are no big deal for me.

We cleared over 500 acres of the 680 acres of our previous ranch in Llano with a dozer and burn piles. It turned out very clean as compared to this mulching at the new place.

[jp_over]

Arrowthreat - that's good to know about your first hand experience. I have space for burn piles especially if it keeps costs down and speeds up the process. Sounds like I need to re-think the forestry mulcher option.

[RiverRat1]

Be sure to get with the neighbor about any clearing that needs done for a few feet on his side of the fence. He may want a 12' wide road on his side and chip in on the dozer. He may only allow you a foot or 2 also LOL

If you have a decent neighbor you split the costs, get a new fence, properly marked boundary, make a friend plus if you rent a dozer each of you can use for the rest of your property.. That would save a lot of money if you each know what you want cleared.

Add in a 2nd neighbor and your golden. That will take some luck though LOL