A lot of the places we fence around Lake Livingston are five to twenty acres with a few goats, a couple of horses, some chickens and maybe a cow or two. On that much land, how the fences are laid out matters more than what they are made of. A good layout lets one person move animals, rotate grazing and get to the water and the barn without opening six gates. A bad one is a chore every morning for the next twenty years. Here is how we lay it out with owners on the estimate.
Start with the perimeter
The outside fence is the strong one: it keeps your animals in and the neighbor's dogs and hogs out. Field fence on braced corners for mixed stock, no-climb for horses, with a top strand for cattle. Build it right once; interior fences can be lighter.
Plan for rotation
Grazed continuously, a small pasture is bare dirt and weeds by July. Divided into three or four paddocks and rotated, the same acreage stays in grass. Lay the paddocks out so each is a workable size for your animals, with a gate from each into a lane or a central hub.
A lane and a hub
The layout that makes chores easy is a lane, a fenced alley from the barn or the gate, with paddocks opening off it, or a hub, a central area with water and shade that every paddock opens into. Either way, moving animals means opening one gate and closing another, not walking them across someone else's paddock.
Water and shade
One trough at the hub that every paddock reaches, or a lane that leads to it. Shade in every paddock or at the hub. Animals go where water and shade are, and a layout that puts both at the hub does half the herding for you.
Gates: more than you think, and in the corners
A gate in the corner of a paddock, where two fence lines meet, funnels animals naturally. Gates between adjacent paddocks save walking the lane. Gates wide enough for the mower and the tractor into every paddock. See gates.
Fence by animal
- Goats: four-inch-opening field fence, braced corners, nothing to climb.
- Horses: no-climb with a top board, or board or cross buck. No barbed wire. Horse fencing.
- A cow or two: field fence with a top strand, or interior electric.
- Chickens: a run with small mesh low and a buried or aproned edge.
- Pigs: hog panel at grade. Hog panel fence.
Mistakes we see
No lane, so every move crosses a paddock. Water in one paddock only. Gates in the middle of a fence line instead of the corner. Paddocks too big to rotate. Barbed wire with horses. Fence lines through the only shade. Corners without braces that let the whole layout sag. Farm and ranch fencing types helps pick the fence; a free on-site estimate is where the layout gets drawn on the ground.
Frequently asked questions
How many paddocks do I need on five acres?
Three or four lets you rotate so each one rests while the others are grazed. Two is the minimum for rotation; one is a dry lot by midsummer.
What fence between paddocks?
Interior fence can be lighter than the perimeter: field fence on T-posts, or electric for trained stock. The perimeter should be the strong one.
Where does the water go?
Where every paddock can reach it from one trough, usually at a hub where paddocks meet, so you fill one tank and the animals walk to it.