You could easily put up electric wire between each board and on top to keep them from chewing the ash. But I don’t think it would stand up to rain and outdoor conditions for very long.
You could sell nicely milled ash boards for indoor use; diy furniture and wood designs on walls are certainly quite popular right now.
According to the article, while oak is best - for durability, but it is expensive. - and it does tend to warp, shrink and split. Most of our fencing is oak, some of it very old, but it does shrink from the ends - lengthwise, which means even if the board itself is still ok, it no longer reaches properly. Also it is damn hard, which means almost impossible to put a nail in, so you need to use wood screws, and a screw driver.
Dwayne Job in the article does recommend ash as an alternative, and he also recommends using an electric wire to help keep the horses off the fence.
OP, I would think if you have the ash, and it is usable, you should use it. The price of wood is so high right now, I think people would be glad to have the alternative available.
I have pressure treated lumber and it’s working fine. Two of my horses ignore it completely. I have one cribber so he cribs on a few boards and you can see the wear on the top, but it’s honestly not bad.
Not sure if it makes a difference, but mine is painted.
We used pressure treated pine and wood screws. I don’t want nailed-in fence boards. I want screws for the added “bite” and the ease of removing them should I need to do so.
You do have to watch for knots, they’ll ruin a board fast because they are weak.
We just downed lots of our dead ash trees this past fall and into the winter and it is all great for firewood.
I am glad our experience is different than what you are having.
My horses didn’t get that memo. We built them a brand new wood shelter. They proceeded to eat it. We painted it in no chew, they kept chewing. We tried cayenne, they love spicy! We painted the entire thing in used motor oil and they loved it even more. It’s a running joke with our neighbours now.
What worked the best - loose pasture mineral. I went through a couple bags pretty fast, but the wood chewing has stopped almost completely. We still have to rebuild a shelter and replace about 30 fence posts, but at least they’re not making new damage…
I’d go to diesel fuel next. Some serious beavers you have!
We did. They ate that too. haha. Just one horse in particular. Thankfully, the loose mineral was the missing piece and it’s not too badly priced. A bag costs about $25 CAD and now it’s lasting us almost a month. I just mix it in their daily grain now, instead of free feeding it, since they’re no longer deficient. I found out after much frustration and research, that the pastures in our area are deficient in a certain mineral and that’s why the horses were chewing. We added mineral back and started feeding alfalfa cubes in addition to hay and everyone is happy again.
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