Edison Avecillas

Thank you everyone for your ideas and advice, thank you very much.

I also thank Becky for the information and idea as I might be proceeding with something similar in what we have planned.

What I have in mind to do is the following:

My plan is to build an 8' high deer property fence around the house area and added acreage perimeter which would be a wide square/rectangle around 1-2 acres from our total 7+ that is wooded. Purchase 50-80 4"-6" X 11' (3' dug in) black locust posts,  High Tensile 12.5g Solidlock®Pro Fixed Knot at around $380.00 per 330' roll and set posts every 15'-20'.

Hire a laborer and work together with another friend that has experience with building fences and other things and start from there. I think I will be spending around $3,000-$5000 for this whole plan and it will also include the gates I need to access the outside of the house area road, access to the rest of the property and woodland, and access to a trail that leads down a cliff to the Delaware river.

Keep in mind I was quoting around and 2 fence companies wanted to charge $12k-$18k depending on what layout I had in mind but just at the minimum is way too much for us and we would prefer to learn to make our own fencing for future referencing. They also were only going to use treated pine which we do not want as we want to go organic. If we used black locust with them it would have been an additional $3k!

I have a source for black locust posts in upstate NY but I wonder if anyone near me in NJ or PA might have it at a better price and availability.

The reason I am thinking of doing such a fencing plan is because of our heavy deer population which crosses through our property and home area as well as bears as I've been told bears have been seen in our home area by people working there and seeking their droppings.

Another main reason for this is we have neighbors around surrounding our 7 acre property and a main county Rd and though we have some privacy to some extent, we do not want to risk any of our livestock/animals having access to outside areas, unwanted visitors/animals to enter the property, and deer having access to where we will be growing some nursery stock trees and vegetable/fruit planting. Not to say we would prefer to feel secure that we have a well made 8' fence that surrounds the home from any invader and bears to some extent and help keep inside our guardian dogs because we have heard of them climbing over 6' fences.

We have though about the electric fence/powered high tensile wire and we might put a strand or two on the inside of the fence to give extra security in no animal trying to touch the fence but we have heard stories as mentioned above of electricity not bothering deers, not containing livestock, and definitely not containing guardian dogs that have resistant long coats and stubborn demeanors!

In my opinion and after research a high and strong fence solves all that. We would barb wire or use high tensile powered wire for the rest of the property line fence to make it more economical but for the main house living around it feels better to have a well made physical fence.

Any additional advice and information is greatly appreciated. I'm just trying to learn more on building this fence and how to build well made H/corner braces to support the fence and how we will be able to work with the 300lbs roll of wire we would be using as do not have any equipment but just myself, a paid laborer and a friend or two that would help.

Thank you all once more.

Hello and good day everyone.

We have about 7 acres of land that are mainly forested with the majority of our property consisting of dying or died off hemlock that we intend to have harvested with the help of a forester.

Our goal is to have pasture on our property as well as in the forest in order to keep some livestock for pasture but also as a way to cover the soil and help with erosion, etc.

We will also be planting some black locust trees along with some other fruit and nut trees and plants for harvest and such.

We would like to know what would be the best type of pasture mix for us to use in our area being that we are in Sussex county NJ and intend to raise livestock (goats, sheep, poultry and pigs) on pasture.

We also intend to go organic and are not sure if we need to start off with organic pasture seed as that would be important for us to know to start off well.

Any information, advice and source referrals on where to locate pasture seed and how to build a pasture would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much.

Hello Travis.

The property line deer fence is not only for deer but to keep away any predator from going in and to keep our animals inside. We also are getting a Great Pyrenees and they require at least a 6' fence in order to keep them contained in our property.

We have two close neighbors on one end so we really don't want any issues with that either in any animal going into their property.

Any advise and suggestions are greatly appreciated. Does anyone have any recommendation for a source for high tensile woven wire for deer fence and how to install them?

Please let me know.

Thank you.  

Hello everyone.

We purchased 7 acres in northern NJ that we will be homesteading. We would like to raise some livestock, grow some vegetables and tree seedlings as part of our homesteading plans but before we can do any of that we've come to the reality that we would need a good property fence.

The property is pretty much wooded with the exception of the house area. The wooded 6 +/- acres have a lot of deer browsing. We hope to fence off the house area initially before fencing the rest of the property because of it being too costly.

We have been doing our research and have been told the best permanent property line fencing we should look into is 8' deer fence which we have decided we would like to have installed ourselves because of the following:

We inquired and received two quotes for different options of fencing which ranges from $12k for just the one acre house perimeter area, all the way to $18k for the whole property.

To be honest, we highly doubt we can afford that or it just isn't something we feel we should spend right now because the property's house has needed a complete house renovation and new septic approved by our lender and we need to stay in budget with our finances.

We would though like to start raising some animals and doing some activities on the property but it doesn't make sense to do so if we do not have a good fence to contain and protect our animals from predators and keep anyone or thing out.

Due to it being cost prohibitive in hiring a company to do the instalation themselves, we were thinking in building the deer fence on our own. We know a source for good black locust posts and would purchase the 8' woven metal wire ourselves.

We just don't know how difficult or well we could build this permanent property deer fence and how to exactly built it. I'm sure we could built it at a much lower fraction of the cost of someone else doing the work and that will defintily help us out to begin well with our dreams.

If anyone has any suggestions, advice and ideas we would greatly appreciate it. We really would like to know how to do this project well and our own if possible.

Thank you very much.

I believe there is a timber strain that is grown by some people here in the US. I know two people in that sell it but they don't have any available for sale. I believe it was developed here in the United States and not the true improved type from Europe.

Hello everyone.

My family and I just purchase some acreage we will be using for some small scale homesteading and farming.

We have some pasture but the majority is wooded with hemlock which is not high in value and dying due to the adelgid disease. We are working with a forester who will be helping us harvest the majority of these trees in order to make space and renew our woods to some extent.

We hope to plant tree seedlings of high value and that have different benefits. After doing much research and knowing of the many benefits of black locust, we have decided to grow them all over the property in particular we have set our minds on the improved strains of black locust tree.

The improved strain comes from Europe with much faster growth and straight trunks and also higher pollen/honey yielding traits.  

Does any know where to purchase this improved variety or knows of anyone that has imported any of them from Europe where they bred for these specific traits?

I believe we came across two sources here in the United States that carry an improved straight trunk variety but they are sold out for the season and I believe they are not the ones from Europe.

Any help and guidance is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.