How do you keep fence lines clear?

I have not had to deal with this issue on my new place. I did it a way before that I don’t want to use here. I’m coming up on year 3 of a new fence that was dozed down. I can tell it will be an issue this year. Briars, shrubs, etc. Need to find a good way to protect the investment hopefully other than weedeating the whole thing. That’s an immense amount of work.

On the sides I can reach both sides of the fence mowing does a good enough job. But I can only do that on 1 side.  

Thanks for any input

Hey Joe. It's a tough question, and I'm facing it myself. I don't know that there is a simple answer.

How long is your fenceline?

Fencelines are a temporary land disturbance -- ripe openings for all manner of plants that will take advantage of the opportunity. Maybe after the initial bloom of weed seeds and nasty characters, you could selectively whack the nasties and encourage the friendlies?

I recall running cattle in fenced quarter sections. They would reach into the barbed wire for anything they could chew on, grass or young saplings, and keep the fenceline fairly clean. They were also a destructive bulldozer that ran roughshod over native plants in the whole zone.

I also know that some people resort to "magic dust" and yet while that seems to "solve" an immediate problem it also seems to create three new ones.

Anyway, just posting to say "I get it." Wish I had a quick fix to offer.

If the fence dos not need to hold anything small then keep the bottom of the fence high enough so the mower deck of the riding mower fits underneath. That is what works for me.

How much room do you have on the outside of the fence?

If you have 3 to 4 feet, and it is not to unduly in terrain, you could rent a walk behind sickle bar mower. I have done that, and they can take down surprisingly big saplings with ease. It gets tiring walking behind the thing all day, but much better than using a weedwacker.

If the ground is too rough, you can use a hand scythe. The key is to swing and use your hips and not your arms.

If it is smooth and wide, you can obviously use a tractor and bushhog, or offset flail mower.

And all this leads up to kind of one thing, planning the fence before it is built. If a person has little acreage, I understand putting the fence just as far out as possible, but if a person has significant acreage, building it back a bit so that behind the fence can be mown by machine can go a long ways in ease of maintenance and length of time the fence stays intact.

Fence line is 18 acres. The one side I can mow on both sides is no problem. But the others are a problem.

I am in the Hill Country, where most folks here have a track ho come in and get the brush on either side of the fence knocked down for easy access.

The Track ho will knock down all vegetation in its path.

First pass with the chainsaw for any trees. Second pass with the reciprocating saw with arbor blade to clear out anything between 1 to 3 inches. Third pass with the brush cutter (saw blade on a weed whacker) for anything else.
Maintain with normal string trimmer a couple times a year. Also I treat stumps so they don't grow back, but don't tell Permies I said that. Unless you have free labor, that's the only practical way to keep things from growing back without digging them up.