I’m getting ready to install about 3000 feet of new 4’ woven wire fence on the back half of my property. The property is heavily wooded and I eventually will thin this to silvopasture. Typically when I start a fence project I clear a 15’ wide section, along with any trees that look they will fall over the fence line. Then I install the fence and over the years will clear the inside of the fenced area to silvopasture.
This system works well but leaves lots of fence maintenance to do. There are always trees that I miss and the thinning makes them more prone to coming down in storms. It also opens up the canopy and now I have more light and therefor grass growing at my fence line. So more grass cutting and fence maintenance.
My thought on this new section of fence was clear just enough trees to get the fence through and anything that does not look healthy. Eventually when I thin for silvopasture I will leave a buffer around this perimeter fence. This should always keep the fence in heavy canopy and maybe not have the grass growing issue on the fence line.
The downsides I see to this is I lose silvopasture acreage. Because the fence will always be in shade I won’t have great grazing in that entire 3000’ by 20-30’ wide fence area (about 2 acres of 19). I’m not sure if I will see more or less tree damage to the fence. There will be more trees but they will not have lost their neighbors and be as exposed to the storms.
Anyone every try something like this or have any thoughts?
I would wonder what you project the difference in maintenance to look like - you’ll still have some understory plants to deal with (yearly? every other year?) and that’s a lot of pasture to give up. Would you normally project to graze all the way up to the fence line?
I imagine maintenance going from what is an every other month trimming operation to once a year or every other year removing some saplings. Hopefully this type of maintenance can be done in off season as opposed to open field fencing that need constant summer maintenance.
Giving up this much pasture may not be an issue, at least for a long time. This is an expansion project that will take me many years before I start maxing out the usage out of this new area. It certainly is something to think about though.
@BOTLFarm I’m actually wondering if having more shade rather than less will work to your advantage rather than disadvantage. True that you might have less grass, but you certainly can make the choice later to thin EO tree to reduce the canopy cover. And it’s a lot easier to take away than to add it back later to grow up.
I usually do the same thing, and in the past it has worked before the Gypsy Moss killed the oaks. Now my neighbors dead oak trees are falling on my fence!! So what do I do now? It’s very frustrating and time consuming!
Pictures of your pasture/target area would help. I wonder what kind of fence you have in place? My thought would be that if at all possible, you want to have high tensile fence passing through wooded areas. Aside from a tree falling on and damaging posts, removal of trees/limbs that have fallen on the wire/fence should allow the fence to return to its previous state. Potentially some occasional tightening may be needed.
Now that I am getting into it there really are not a lot of larger trees. Most is just a dense understory. At least on this first line I’m clearing now.
I’m looking to put in woven wire fence with electric inside and out. I need more security then just high tensile. I am of the mind set nothing in and nothing out.
What kind of livestock do you have? There may be some forage for goats here, but it is only browse and will not regrow in any timely fashion. I don’t see any grass at all. Are you intending to seed anything? If you don’t open up the canopy, there will be no reason for the animals to really be here except shade. There will be nothing to eat.
I primarily raise pigs, but also have goats and chickens. I intend to open the canopy to silvopasture and seed in as I go.
My process from turning scrubby forest to silvopasture has always been
install perimeter fence
make some rough temp paddocks to start getting animals in
remove some under mechanically
graze in pigs and goats
Alternate remove understory and graze animals
Eventually start dropping larger trees and opening up the canoly a little at a time.
This is a slow and gradual process for me that lets the animals do a lot of the clean up work and leave minimal mechanical work for me but takes years to complete.
Here is a pic of the same processes I have done on another part of the farm.
