We recently purchased a larger farm that isn’t currently set up for horses. The lower pasture is approximately 10 acres and is in a winter flood zone. We only plan on using this area in summer and early fall and we need to decide what sort of fencing to use. It needs to be horse safe primarily but extra bonus if it can at least deter the coyotes that are so prevalent here along the river.
The field has been under several feet of water for much of our very wet winter this year.
TIA
Do the flood waters flow or move a lot or is it more static like a big pond? If it’s moving water I would use big round metal posts and electric and take the electric down each winter. A major pita, yes but moving water will destroy any kind of permanent fencing except high tensile wire (and it might at that) and standing water will rot wood posts.
If it’s pounded water any kind of non rot fencing should be fine: plastic, metal pipe, wire. I’d still avoid mesh as it gives a big cross section for debris to get caught on. And plan on way more maintenance than normal.
The water is generally pretty still but I wouldn’t think that any sort of a mesh would hold up at all. We had already thought of putting up/taking down hot rope each year but that seems like such a chore. I was hoping for some miracle solution that I hadn’t thought of yet.
Does anyone use Ramm or Centaur fencing in a similar application? What posts did you use?
Anything you leave up is such a hazard. The creek I live near overtops it’s banks every other year and the barbed wire fences get coated with debris. Where there is current it’s been laid down almost to the ground by the debris creating drag, and if there is any wildlife trying to get through it’s an entanglement hazard for them. I’d be happier with a pole fence or leave it a very large area which my first re-riding trainer did, she dedicated her flood plain to her X-C course.
Most of the places I have seen where there is a lot of standing water in the pastures use wood fencing. I think it is the only type that doesn’t rust or catch debris, which is probably why.
if you Google “Floodplain Fencing” several PDF files come up that have great detail with photos about how to construct a flood plain fence
Can you put a permanent fence above the waterline?
Stepping in fiberglass electric fence posts is pretty easy, both to put up, and to take down. Make sure that your horses are “schooled” to the electric fence before using the fence as a perimeter fence. Using a solar ticker box can make the fence functional isolated from a source of electricity. They work well.
Don’t worry about coyotes, they won’t bother horses, especially horses in a herd. We have had coyotes in our horse pastures all the time, have for decades. The horses will either ignore them, or chase them. Coyotes are looking for mice, bunnies, and marmots, not horses. If you have rodents of any sort, coyotes are your friends.
[QUOTE=Checkmate;8517383]
We recently purchased a larger farm that isn’t currently set up for horses. The lower pasture is approximately 10 acres and is in a winter flood zone. We only plan on using this area in summer and early fall and we need to decide what sort of fencing to use. It needs to be horse safe primarily but extra bonus if it can at least deter the coyotes that are so prevalent here along the river.
The field has been under several feet of water for much of our very wet winter this year.
TIA[/QUOTE]
You’ll have to look up township ordinances. Flood zones must remain unobstructed in the event of a flood, and fences are basically perfect devices for catching debris and creating trouble. They may allow you some leeway if the fencing is in the direction of flow, but since horses require an actual enclosure that’s not really useful.
Also worth noting: what good will the land be, if it lies that low? Not all open space is suitable for pasture.
Thanks for the thoughts.
This pasture has been used for many years as hay fields and cattle pasture. It is near a river that overflows its banks every winter and floods the surrounding valley. It dries out in early spring and is beautiful pasture until the rains bring the water level up again in November/December.
The old fencing that is there is 4x4 field fencing on rotten wood posts. This fence definitely needs to come out and we are trying to determine the best bang for our extremely stretched bucks. I have been looking at the flexible rail type fencing and Nobel’s contour fencing (metal posts and rails). Metal posts seem like they would just rust away and wood posts rot but these type of permanent fencing require substantial posts.
Coyote concerns are not for the horses but for the smaller critters closer the the house and barn. The chickens and rabbits are in well fenced enclosures for their safety but keeping the coyotes even farther away with a good perimeter fence seems like an added safety bonus.
I am surprised to read that wood fencing is often used. I lived on a farm with a very similar situation to what you’re describing – seasonal pastures that are often flooded in the winter. Even when they weren’t flooded, the water table was so high that we could never have had horses out on the fields in the rainy season. They would have been trashed and the horses would’ve been up to their knees in mud.
Anyway, what we found about the fencing was that the fence posts drift with the pressure of the water. Picture two nice vertical railroad ties on either side of a metal gate. Now picture coming out the following spring and finding that the gate doesn’t work because those beautiful railroad ties now form a V instead of being vertical. I can just see wood fencing popping apart as the distances between the posts vary. We used coated white electric wire which had the advantage of being quite forgiving of the ebb and flow (literally) of the fence post supports. It also did pretty well with debris – it could stretch when a log landed on it or a bicycle – yes, it happened! – got its pedal caught on it.
We have playa lakes here, that are dry most of the time, but if it rains, they may have water in them for months at the time, some times years.
Since they are dry most of the time, we have steel post and five barbwire fences across those.
Some of those fences spend, at least a few wires worth, under water some years and they are still fine.
When we have ice and it breaks up and moves with the wind, that tears some of that fence and we have to fix it then.
One of those fences we have has been in now a good 30+ years, since we replaced the whole fence, the old one was wooden post and ancient wire.
The wood corner posts and the rest of the fence higher than where it gets wet is still the old, 1920s fence.
Now, most fences here are barbed wire, probably not where you are and with horses not used to it, you probably don’t want to use that, but other kinds of fencing material.
I think you are very wise to think about this carefully. I have spent many of my horse involved years keeping horses in various forms of flood plains, and it is not for the faint at heart.
So much of it depends on the type of flooding that you get.
When I boarded on a river with all the pastures in flood plains (it came over it’s banks between zero and three times a year, often the fencing would remain, but often the fencing would be torn off the posts. Jumps (including cross country would be gone). They used the cheapest lightest white electrical tape on plastic insulators and wood posts. The wood posts were pounded into the ground which helped but sometimes they got bent/removed in flooding based on what hit them. Usually the water level went over the fence posts by a lot. I think now they use high tensile wire (also on wood posts) for this same application. I don’t know how it has worked out, but the fencing always looks good when I see it. I do know I would prefer not to have my horses in high tensile wire though.
Second scenario, a smaller creek that overflowed it’s banks by up to 14 feet (5 to 7 more common) several times a year. Water would rise and fall within a 24 hour period taking everything that was not nailed down-mounting blocks, water troughs (more than 2 fences and a foot ball field away from the creek) away forever. This place was sort of at a bend of a creek and while the current could be very bad, I think this helped the fence to stay up better since it was on the side where it was more overflow than current. All the fencing was 4 board. It bent and it broke and boards needed to be replaced after logs went through it, but surprisingly this was rare. It absolutely would not have worked 1/2 a mile down the creek though. Gates often could not be opened as the posts would shift. Sometimes the footings around posts had to be shored up as the water would pull away at the foundations.
The current scenario that I know of (but do not have to experience thank goodness) is the kind of small creek that most people wouldn’t even think of as a creek and would never imagine flooding. The property has been through 5 different people in the last few years as I think it keeps getting sold without anyone realizing the severity of the issue as it seems so unbelievable. It can go from water you can splash through with short boots on to 20 feet up with one good rainfall. This property had the 4 x 4 squares which would get pushed down a bit and eventually had to be lined with an interior electrical fence. It had 4 board wood on the parts furthest from the creek and that went the same direction as the creek. This fencing also “lost it’s balance and was pushed one direction, but it still worked.” Anyway, a new owner thought 3 board would be great and spent a ton of money replacing all of the fence. 3 months later, one rain and most of it is gone, has been pushed flat, or has been steam rolled by debris. This property is dangerous and there is no where completely safe on the 7 acres although if horses have access they can get as close to the road as possible in one corner which would prevent drowning. The old owner used to trailer the horses away whenever the forecast looked bad. The house can be unreachable when it rains. We are in a fairly large city and no one would believe this unless you experienced it.
Because land is in such short supply here, much of the open space turns out to be flood plains. This is a big deal both for the quality of the pasture but also for the safety of the horses and other animals and for the cost of maintenance.
I am finally at a property with no flood pain and I breathe a sigh of relief every time that it rains.
In your situation, I might think about driven in wood posts with a coated high tensile wire but I say that without any knowledge of what the personality of your flooding is. Or, the cheapest electric that you can either take down or not loose your shirt over if it washes away. I would almost recommend living there for a few years and putting some stuff out that you are okay with floating away so that you can better understand what is likely to work.
Good luck!
I would check out the Horseguard temporary fence kit. It uses electric tape and fiberglass rods. It’s pretty straightforward to install and remove.
Also check out https://www.premier1supplies.com electric fence offerings. If you wanted something with a denser set of strands, they have a lot of products meant to work well for rotational grazing, so ease of removal and installation is key. The fencing reels they offer make it much easier to work with the fence.
I think these kinds of temporary fences would work much better for you than putting in any kinds of permanent material. (You could put in permanent corner posts and gate posts which might make it nicer to use in summer.
I’m a fan of the Centaur/Ramm flex fence, but one of the things about it is that your end posts need to be in very solidly, because of the tension on the fence. Land like this is generally not good at keeping things in one place when under force.
You may also consider that, to avoid neighbor disputes over fence lines, you need to have some kind of solid, clear demarcation where your land ends and others land begins.
At least have very solid corners and a post here and there that may be solid enough to make it thru the flooding.
we have this
the best solution we have found is pounded in wooden posts(the metal t posts float up when the ground gets water-logged) about 14-16 feet apart and 2 strands of Horseguard bi-polar tape,with the lower tape a couple feet above the ground. Then debris doesn’t pull down the fence and you just have to clear the posts. And tape fencing is super easy to clear of debris if you want 3 strands. Just turn off the electric and shake the lower tapes.
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