Farm and Ranch Fencing

Farm and ranch fence is the work that built this company. Most of the ground around Lake Livingston is some mix of pasture, timber, hay meadow and hobby farm, and all of it needs a fence that holds livestock, marks a line and survives a decade of weather without constant attention. The styles below are the ones we build week in and week out, and a big share of our ranch work is repairing or extending fence that somebody else built. The difference between fence that lasts and fence that sags is almost always in the corners, the post depth and the stretch, so that is what this page is about.

Farm and ranch fence styles we build

• Corral Fence Construction

  Corral and working-pen fences in pipe, wood or cattle panel, built with deep-set posts and strong corners for livestock around Lake Livingston, TX. Free estimates.

• Cross Buck Fence Installation

  Cross buck wood fences for horse properties, driveways and ranch frontage around Onalaska and Livingston, TX, with optional wire mesh backing. Free estimates.

• Barbed Wire Fence Installation

  Four- and five-strand barbed wire fences with H-braced corners, stretched tight for cattle pasture and property lines across Polk and San Jacinto County, TX.

• Field Fence Installation

  Woven wire field fence for goats, sheep, cattle and general acreage around Lake Livingston, TX, stretched on braced corners with wood or T-posts. Free estimates.

• Garden Fence Installation

  Garden and orchard fences that keep deer, rabbits and dogs out of your beds, built in wire, wood or a mix around Onalaska and Livingston, TX. Free estimates.

• Cattle Panel Fence Installation

  Welded cattle panel fences for pens, corrals, small pastures and yard boundaries around Lake Livingston, TX, framed in pipe, T-posts or wood. Free estimates.

• Hog Panel Fence Installation

  Hog panel fences with tight bottom spacing that keep hogs, goats and dogs where they belong, built around Polk and San Jacinto County, TX by Texas Rural Fence.

• Rolled Wire Fencing Installation

  Welded wire, woven wire and non-climb rolled wire fencing for yards, pens and pasture around Lake Livingston, TX, stretched on braced posts. Free on-site estimates.

• Game Fence Installation

  Tall high-tensile game fences for deer, exotics and hunting acreage in the Lake Livingston area, built with heavy braced corners by Texas Rural Fence.

• T-Post Fence Installation

  Steel T-post fences with wire, field fence or panels, driven straight and spaced right for pasture and property lines around Lake Livingston, TX. Free estimates.

• Dumpster Enclosure Fence Construction

  Wood, metal and chain link dumpster enclosures with heavy gates for businesses, RV parks and HOAs around Lake Livingston, TX. Built to take daily use.

For a side-by-side comparison by animal, budget and lifespan, read farm and ranch fencing types explained.

How we build ranch fence that stays tight

• H-braced corners and ends. Two heavy posts, a horizontal brace and a diagonal brace wire, set deep. This is the assembly that holds the pull of a stretched fence for decades. Here is how a proper H-brace goes together.
• Posts set to the soil, not to a number. Sandy ground near the lake and black clay on the uplands need different depths. We set corners and braces below where the ground moves between wet and dry.
• Wire stretched with the right tool, to the right tension, and tied off properly. Hand-pulled wire sags by the first summer.
• Line posts spaced for the fence: closer for panels and taller fence, wider for barbed wire on flat ground, with stays where the run is long.
• Gates where you actually drive and walk, hung on heavy posts, sized for the trailer, tractor or hay equipment that has to pass.

Matching the fence to the animals

Cattle on open pasture are held by barbed wire or field fence. Goats and sheep need woven wire with small openings low down, because they test every fence they meet. Horses should never be on barbed wire; horse fencing covers no-climb wire, cross buck, pipe and board. Hogs, whether yours or the feral ones you are keeping out, need hog panel. Working pens and corrals take the hardest pressure on the place and get built heaviest of all. Deer and exotics on hunting land call for tall game fence.

Clearing the line first

A lot of old fence rows in Polk and San Jacinto County have grown up in yaupon, pine, sweetgum and vines. New fence cannot go in through that, and old wire tangled in a tree line is dangerous to work around. We talk through clearing as part of the estimate and price it honestly. Clearing fences and fence rows explains what is involved.

Repairs, extensions and tie-ins

Much of what we do on ranch properties is fixing what is there: resetting a leaning corner, rebuilding a brace that was never built right, re-stretching a run after a tree came down, splicing field fence, tying a new pasture into an old line. We match wire type and post style so the new fence works with the old, and we will tell you plainly when a stretch has reached the point where a rebuild costs less than another repair. See fence and gate repair.

Seasonal care

Walk your fence after storm season and before winter. Look for leaning braces, slack wire, rubbed posts and trees leaning on the line. A half hour with a fence pliers and a come-along in the fall saves a pasture breakout in January. Winterizing farm and ranch fence has a checklist.

Frequently asked questions

Which fence is right for my animals?

Cattle on open pasture: barbed wire or field fence. Goats and sheep: woven field fence with small openings at the bottom. Horses: no barbed wire; use no-climb wire, cross buck, pipe or board. Hogs: hog panel with tight bottom spacing. Mixed stock: field fence topped with a strand of barbed or electric. We will walk the pasture and talk through it.

Why do you make such a point of corner bracing?

A stretched wire fence is pulling on its corners every minute of every day. Without a properly built H-brace the corner post leans within a season and the whole run goes slack. The corners are where a wire fence is won or lost, so we build them heavy.

T-posts or wood posts?

Most pasture fence uses steel T-posts for the line with wood posts at corners, ends, gates and braces. All-wood line posts cost more and look more traditional; they are common on cross buck and board fences near the house.

Do you repair ranch fence other people built?

Yes, and a large share of our farm and ranch work is exactly that: resetting leaning corners, rebuilding braces, re-stretching wire, splicing field fence and replacing rotted posts. We will tell you when a stretch is worth repairing and when it has reached the end.