negatives of a non climb fence?

[Nestor]

I also installed no-climb for my barn, but because we breed Golden Retrievers and like to take the puppies for walks around the house, and therefore right past the barn. So my fencing is touching the ground, because I had nightmares just imagining one getting stepped on, and guilt over the demise of that imaginary puppy…

Plus it keeps out everything else. Or so I thought… just last week, we found a few deer in the front pasture. The gate was open, so clearly that’s how they got in, but one very easily jumped out and left its friend to struggle to find a way out for a few minutes.

[bdj]

I have 4’ 2x4 no-climb with a wooden top rail on all my pastures and dog yards. Anyplace that the fence is meant to contain my dogs, it’s on the ground, but in the horse areas, it’s a couple of inches off the ground, but probably not more than 4". Yes, the grass (and sometimes weeds) grow up around it, but, as someone else mentioned, I don’t mind, as it helps keep critters from testing it (much) - still had a skunk take a wander under it one day (and luckily, he wandered right back out) and had something (not a dog) dig under part in the dog yard once. I did once find what was left of a rabbit who’d made an unsuccessful attempt to go through the fence - sad, but it seems to have been a one time thing.

As other folks have said, the biggest drawback is that you can’t easily go over or through it like you can a board fence - so make sure to plan your gate openings accordingly. Can’t remember how far apart my posts are spaced - that had more to do with the length of boards than anything else.

[Whitfield_Farm_Hanov]

Im not sure what brand you’re looking at installing but I’ll only use Red Brand No Climb. Industry standard for a reason. It flexes much better than the others. I’ve learned the hard way. The others tend to break where Red Brand flexes.

[eaconlee]

Milestone for vines

[QUOTE=SMF11;7890635]
Yes, this! I don’t care about long grass growing up, but the honeysuckle, dratted multiflora rose, jimson weed and other random vines are the problem. Certainly if you let the multiflora run rampant it will end up destroying your fence.[/QUOTE]

If you aren’t completely opposed to spraying, try Milestone for the all the non-grass things growing along the fences. It leaves the grass alone, and no need to pull horses off the pasture. It does, however, pass through grazers intact, so don’t use manure in sprayed areas for garden fertilizer.

And the advantage to letting grass grow up into the bottom of the fence besides predator protection is that if you do need to patch fences years down the road, you can just cut the bad section out and splice without taking down the whole run - the grass will hold the fence that well!

[MightyG]

I was looking at beakert (?). You can get, to supposedly tsc sells it in a black galvanized color, which would match other aspects of the barn or turnout. It is a bit more for the class 3 with the dark color, but if I can’t get that, red brand was my next choice for sure. Thanks!

[QUOTE=Whitfield Farm Hanoverians;7892369]
Im not sure what brand you’re looking at installing but I’ll only use Red Brand No Climb. Industry standard for a reason. It flexes much better than the others. I’ve learned the hard way. The others tend to break where Red Brand flexes.[/QUOTE]

[GotMyPony]

[QUOTE=chicamux;7890222]
If you don’t put it all the way to the ground the smaller dogs can get under it. But the frigging vine thing, hiney suckle. morning glories, etc, can be a real headache and those will reach upwards for your fence any how.
chicamuxen[/QUOTE]
’

Thank you so much, I needed a good laugh and sometimes it’s the silly little things that bring it on :lol:

[flypony74]

I had the 2x4 rectangle no-climb on my old farm, on 8’ wood posts with a stand of wide hot tape on top, about 4" off the ground (just enough to run the weed whacker but low enough to keep any sizeable dogs out). It was fabulous, low-maintenance, and safe. I had a mare run into it at full speed and she bounced off without a scratch. We had to restretch the fence, but I’d rather do that than rehab an injured horse. It is a handful to stretch and install (it’s heavy and you need to stretch it tight), but it is worth it.

[MightyG]

how far were your posts spaced? Did you use 4" or 6" posts? Just curious! Thanks!

[QUOTE=flypony74;7893692]
I had the 2x4 rectangle no-climb on my old farm, on 8’ wood posts with a stand of wide hot tape on top, about 4" off the ground (just enough to run the weed whacker but low enough to keep any sizeable dogs out). It was fabulous, low-maintenance, and safe. I had a mare run into it at full speed and she bounced off without a scratch. We had to restretch the fence, but I’d rather do that than rehab an injured horse. It is a handful to stretch and install (it’s heavy and you need to stretch it tight), but it is worth it.[/QUOTE]

[Bluey]

Our diamond mesh on the old stallion pens is on 2 3/8" well pipe posts every 8’ and a top rail of the same pipe at 5’10", some 8" off the ground.

The pens are 12’ wide and the stallions were fine in there, could play along with each other, but not “reach and touch someone”.

The gates at the end are plain pipe.

Other places we used diamond mesh it was set on the ground, so only 5’ height.

Where cattle could rub on it, they really would stretch it, but horses never bothered those fences at all.

[Whitfield_Farm_Hanov]

I put the black Red Brand no climb as a backyard fence for my dogs. Love it. The rest of the farm has regular Red Brand no climb.