around the pond. If building a fence across a small hollow(only 3 0r 4 ft. el. difference), do you put the posts up vertical and the same height; perpendicular to the ground at the given point, or what. Does the fence run horizontal and fill in the bottom with more wire? I have pondered this for a while; now I give way to higher authorities. Yes, any of you with experiences, good and bad. Experience is usually something done not quite right, right?

Wire fence (woven OR multiple strand high tension) - put the posts in the same height above ground down into the hollow and back up the other side, put the wire on at the same place wrt ground level on each post. The top of the wire will follow shape of the ground down and back up.

Two situations where this approach may not be the best:
1) If the hollow is very narrow, with steep slopes. But I have seen the above method work well on slopes as steep as 3:1.
2) If water will flow through the hollow - you may want to allow some open space at the bottom so brush doesn't catch on the fence. If the hollow is more of a ditch that will have frequent flow, often the fence is run straight across and a (folding) extension is hung below (which bends downstream to pass heavy water flow and brush). I have seen this used on board fence, not on wire as yet.

We normally place the bottom of the fence about 6" above ground (keeping horses and cows in, not sheep or pigs or smaller stuff), and don't have to worry about water flows underneath it.

This will be more of an anti-personnel fence, so I was considering using the rectangular wire fence and either metal or possibly the 3-4 inch round treated wood. I will try and post a pic. I have to re-register with photo bucket and read DD1 explanation on how to post pics again.
Of course it will have an electrical strand on top that goes on randomly. Thanks for the good comments. I will have to ponder it to get the picture.

Sorry, but had to delete post as my darling wife saw the picture of her dishelved self(after wrestling with weanling horses to get pictures for registration) and had a fit until post deleted. I can get you some pics tommorow of just fence if they are benefitial. just let me know...du

Thanks, David. Here are pics. Fence going near the closest tree. Only about 120 ft. for this part.
Thanks also, Theo.

We've been building and experimenting with different style fences for different uses: board, split rail, high tensile eight and six wire, woven wire, and high tensile woven wire. We've used osage orange, black locust, milled treated pine, metal and fiberglass t-posts. We need to keep horses and cattle in and the kids from the sub division next door out.

Osage orange are the posts that last the longest, but need to be put in dug holes versus being driven because of each posts unique shape. Black locust posts can be driven, if you are selective when you purchase them. The milled posts are the most uniform in shape and can easily be driven. T-posts go in the quickest and require only a sledge hammer or a t-post driver to put in. Metal t-posts are the most durable. For a good looking fence, install all posts with a level and the same height from the ground (wood posts can always be shortened with a chain saw after installed).

Board fence encourages people to climb it.

High tensile wire does well with every other wire connected to electric. Bottom wire should be cold with the top wire hot. This fence holds up well to deer traffic and can easily be climbed through when not electrified. (Theo here: It can be climbed through while it IS hot if you are careful.) Some zoning laws will not allow it to be used for line fence. We use this method for interior fencing and prefer the six wire fence over the eight (turns livestock just as well and two wires cheaper). Easily allows water to flow through it and is more forgiving of debris.

48" woven wire with two strands of barb on top is standard for most line fence. CHECK OUT YOUR LOCAL ZONING AND LINE FENCE LAWS BEFORE BUILDING. Some states make your neighbor pay for and maintain his half of the fence. We've come up with a variation of this that we really like for our line fence and it's held up really well. Our oldest section is 22 years old and still turns cattle and horses. We run 39" high tensile woven wire. It has more galvanize on it than regular woven wire. On the top, we run two strands of high tensile wire with the top one electrified. The strands of high tensile wire on top seems to hold up better than barb from the deer hitting it as they cross.

The biggest detail to pay attention to (besides making sure you build your line fence on the line or your side of it), is to make sure you use good corner and end posts and that they are braced properly. It takes a lot more strength to hold the ends in place, than to hold the fence up.

No problem going across with a gentle "U" shape topline . it looks like the fence to the left is needing some repair or replacement. Is that your fence or a common fence? You sure don't want to tie into that with this fence. Two choices..first if the new fence is "T"ing into old one, rebuild old fenceline with same type as new fence going both directions maybe for 10-20' for now or replace entire old fence at same time. BTW, on the other end (I can't see),you will need some kind of "L" or "T" brace as it won't be sturdy enough to just kill fence on a straight run.Please consider pipe instead of wood..reason is zero maintenance..no rotting posts in very wet area..du





Top photo is 2 7/8" posts with 2 3/8" top rail & 48" 2x4" wire, the BLURRY bottom photo shows double H braces, T posts & 48" wire. In this situation the T posts are driven to 4 1/2' deep, not set level across top as described for wood posts..

Many thanks, Mr. and Mrs. Gallus, for the well described options. Now, David, dont you think that fence has 'character'? It has been propped up with catalpa wood for many years. Somewhat similar to Orange Osage in it's durability.
That fence will also be replaced. No property lines to worry about, it is all common property. I do have a gas 4 and 6 inch auger. I have to get this ole back limbered up. After this, I have to bring it back to Houston and replace our suburban fence after IKE. I will probably plant a row of something like Leland Cypress or other evergreen to sort of hide the fence and pond, even though all the kids around are well aware of the newly dug pond.

Impressive fence david U. That's nothing like we build here in the foothills of Appalachia.

It's also nothing like most of the "we's" build in Texas.

I recall seeing a fair amount of steel pipe fence kinda like that in between LL2 and the Metromess, but most of it isn't painted up as nice as david's.

I am pretty well known for stretching "bob" between 2 big trees and then putting in posts and stays between them. Some people laugh about it but I have some 25 year old wire that is still in place. Yeah, I'm lazy.

Bingo! You hit home with that one, Dave.

I put up vinyl around our place after tearing down 350' of woven wire fence shortly after erection. I've since learned that "that looks fine" while something is on the shelf isn't necessarily so once it's installed.

I drilled holes in the posts and ran aluminum electric fence wire through them between the rails to keep the dogs in and young neighbor kids out. All these posts are set plumb. In fairly level areas I set the corner posts to the desired height then stretched a string between the two to make it straight but not necessarily level. On rounded slopes I set the corners and 1 or two middle posts the same distance from the ground then adjusted the heights between to what looked good.





Here's how the electric was run


I first started using a solar powered electric fence but found it was easily shorted by weeds and was fun for the neighbor kids to touch with a piece of grass. I ended up installing one that was good for 50 miles and strong enough to burn through the weeds and throw a 1/2" spark. Each of my dogs and one of the neighbor kids tested it only once. The dogs won't get within 3' of it and it's been turned off for a year.

I once seen a 1 strand electric fence make a 1200 pound appaloosa do a backwards flip. It had been unpluged for a couple of weeks and he was starting to crowd it. I pluged it in and come back out to test it. Didn't have to, he tested it for me. He stuck his nose up to it like he was smelling it, and got to within about a half inch when I saw the blue spark jump to his nose. Never new a horse could move like that.

Ryan,

What's the water source for your pond? Do you have a well?
Just curious - the aerial looks pretty flat around the pond.

Scott

Just runoff fills it. Crops wouldn't grow where the pond is located because it would hold water too long after it rained. You can see the darker area beside the pond that is more moist than the rest of the field, it's about the same level as the area the pond was built. My overflow is only about an 2" lower than that spot and swales were cut in to help drain it. Here's a view after a heavy rain.