Everyone on here has been so helpful with info regarding moving to East Texas. Everything from a water well for the house, pre-purchase inspectors for pond, pond contractors, available properties.....you have all been amazing!
Thought I would ask you all for references, emendations and past quotes. I have to find someone to help build a horse barn/covered arena and fencing. I did our 3 acre pasture up here in Oregon. I Installed 8 inch round pressure treated post with 5 foot no climb horse fence. I'll never do that on my own again!
We've narrowed down property to Eastern Texas, around Sumner. I'm just waiting to hear back from the pond man for inspection and soil testing and such. I can swing a hammer, nail gun or drill but I would much rather hire this one out. References for barn kits suppliers? Ground up builders? Fencing contractors? I don't know what the market is like in East Texas and hope you all could help us out. Have a great evening!
Shawn....I don't know much about horse barns and such, but over the last 2-4 years we had this company build a couple of storage barns and we were happy with their work. You may find other companies that are better...I dunno.
ps: I know they have a store in Bonham, Texas which is in the vicinity of your new property. And no I didn't pick those ugly-ass white doors...they don't offer matching barn/door colors
Zep..... those are some good looking garages! We're going to need a couple just like that for equipment, tools and such. It's hard to find builders in that area to get appropriate quotes for a covered horse arena. I don't want a fancy professional steel version like you see at a professional rodeo that will cost me 80-100k just for materials. When I look at excavation, footing and building the arena, my budget is quite a bit less than that! I will check out your links and give them a call. Looks like they do really good work.
I would really appreciate that, we thought of piecing a barn together as well. What kind of fencing did you put up? We have horses, goats and dogs. We want to make sure that the perimeter fence around the property is a mesh fabric to keep all the dangerous wildlife out.
I use 6in and 8in round pressure treated posts up here. What do you guys use in Eastern Texas for posts? Metal? Wood? I will attach a picture of the current setup that I have that works really good for us.
Really nice looking fence but I went with heavy gauge T posts and a welded wire when I fenced my property. It was much cheaper and has worked great. I only put pressure treated posts on the corners for support. It doesn't look as nice as your fence but it's not bad.
Your dogs look like they're having fun. They sure look like great dogs.
It was the Mrs first ever horse pasture with fencing of her own. I wanted her to be happy with it and enjoy it. It is a really nice piece of property, 3 acres that would have been perfect for a pond!(see below) I'm a fan of T post, I think they are great and do a good job. I had to put quite a few up on another section of the property while the pasture was reseeded and taking root.
Sometimes I sit at the back door of my barn letting the dogs run out in the pasture just thinking about how incredible it would be to turn this piece of land into a great bass pond......then the Mrs calls out to me and snaps me to reality.
Would you mind attaching a pic of your fence so I can see your setup? I want our new fence to be dependable, sturdy and much more affordable than the last fence.
That is a pretty good looking fence. I'm sure it was pricey. Theres alot of big post altogether. I wanted mine my pond right up to the back door and the wife shut me down again. So I understand. #husbandproblems
I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow. I'll have to figure out how to post them. I promise that my fence is strictly utilitarian, nothing pretty about it.
Thank you. When I built it, I told her it was at least 2 acre ponds worth of fencing! There's 10 foot spacing on posts, extra strength for the horses and cattle. When I decided on the spacing, I was pretty sure we would get it back out of the place when we sold it.
On our new place, she has no problem if I put the pond right outside the back door. I would love to but worry about flooding, mosquitos among many other things.
Let's try to post these pictures. The first one is a typical corner. The second one is a post added wherever the run is very long or there is a change in direction. The final one is of the posts supporting the gate. All the wooden posts are set in concrete to allow for stretching the wire fencing. The T posts are the largest heavy duty ones at the local farm and garden. The final picture is just a shot of my little pond. It's very muddy with all of our rain and I'm also fighting an infestation of mudcats. Hope these will give you some ideas.
Looks good, sturdy and tight wire! I like the layout of your pond. I'm still considering my general shape but have a good plan as far as depth pockets and structures. I wouldn't care if my pond water was brown or purple, just as long as I had a pond. Thank you for sharing the pictures. I'm definitely going T post on the heavy duty side and wood posts about every 75 to 100 ft. I'm going to save a whole bunch of money!
Pictured below,if you look at where my vertical and horizontal wood post butt up against each other, you'll see them in joined in brackets. I'm glad I found them only for a couple bucks a piece and bought a whole bunch of extra! Any wood post that I bury when we move I'll make sure to use them. They make it looks smooth and keeps it sturdy.
Thanks Shawn. It sounds like you have plan! I like those brackets. I think something like that would be a great addition to my posts.
I know how you feel. A pond was essential item on my checklist too. I want the water to clear for looks, fishing and general health of the pond. I've eaten mudcats but to my thinking, they are only decent before it gets hot. But any pond pretty much beats no pond. One thing that I'm going to do is put aeration this Spring. I'm no expert but I think it will help my fish when the water gets hot this Summer. You might reach out to the experts on here for their thoughts.
We have expanded our search to include Arkansas and Oklahoma. Alot of nice property to be had. I'm definitely thinking of aeration as well. Keep the whole column of water moving and usable for the fish will definitely help overall health. Haven't had any cat in a long time but I could go for some catfish steaks .
I definitely want a clear pond but want to make sure it's deep enough so that I don't end up with a water weed garden. Anymore I'm catch-and-release no matter where I fish. Unless I go out after steelhead or salmon, there's always someone I know who wants some fillets.
When we do finally move and get our property and pond, I'm going to use local resources to cull my fish when needed. I plan to form some sort of community outreach fishing program for kids. Let them experience the thrill of fishing and occasionally teach them how to fillet a few! The mrs wants to rescue horses and start a kids program as well. I'm pretty confident there won't be any filleting in her program.
I've barely started to scratch the surface of the forms on here. There is a ton of useful information. Also going to order up a couple books and subscribe to the magazine. Not only for the magazine itself but I'm thinking about heading out to the get-together meet a bunch of the members. It should be a blast!
Great. As you can tell, I used to live in Arkansas. There is some truly breathtaking scenery up there. you might want to look around here as well. There's some nice property here too. My wife and I are planning to attend the gathering as well. I hope to meet y'all there.
Shawn, if Oklahoma, you need to be a good way from the southern border. ThrRed River gets its name from the red clay. The ponds all hold water but are muddy forever.
It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.
Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP Grandpa
There are some beautiful places in Louisiana and Oklahoma. My skin would crawl if my pond was excessively muddy/murky for a prolonged period of time. Our property searches have been concentrated within range of reliable pond management consultants. I'm very excited to report that a consultant from Texas recently contacted me. He sounds as excited as we are to start our programs. Tomorrow is gonna be a BIG day!
Will do! Heard back from an arena and barn builder, as well. I should have an estimate by tomorrow to review. Took a lot of Googling, researching and looking into reviews. From the pictures and reviews he seems to do pretty good work.
