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  • From: Willie McKemie <mf AT austinfarm.org>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Deer Fencing
  • Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:32:11 -0600

On Thu, Jan 21, 2010 at 09:51:58AM -0600, Marie Kamphefner wrote:
> Regards to the list:
>
>
>
> We need to install deer fencing around our garden area. Where is a good
> place to start looking for something that won't cost an arm and a leg?

I've had very good results from my double fence:
http://austinfarm.org/homegrown/images/images3/index.html
http://austinfarm.org/homegrown/images/images5/index.html
It's been in service for 6-7 years now. The peas pictured would have
been impossible without deer fence. As someone else mentioned, deer
don't like to jump widths of more than about 30", though they can.
Another option is a slanted fence whose top is 30" or more offset from
the bottom.

Cost to add a second electric fence to an existing barbed wire or field
fence should be less than $1/foot. To build a double fence, probably
$3-$4/foot. A "real" and substantial 8' deer fence will cost $7+/foot
around here.

We had a pretty thorough discussion of deer control here before I built
my fence, probably in 2002. Lots of very interesting ideas. A guy
with an orchard adjacent to Camp David was using semi-wild dogs and
reporting good results. I don't know if archives are available.

My fence has done a good job with deer, but failed to keep out coyotes,
hogs, and coons. They no doubt get through where the fence crosses
drainages. The bottom wire, which I would hope to keep out the
above, is 1"-2" above the ground. Last year, I went around the
perimeter to insure some ground clearance; that was a multi-day
project. A few years ago, a couple of hundred feet of the fence was
laid down by flood borne debris. Once or twice a year, I notice low
voltage on the fence and have to go find the problem.

--
Willie, ONWARD! Through the fog!
http://counter.li.org Linux registered user #228836 since 1995
Debian3.1/GNU/Linux system uptime 768 days 6 hours 14 minutes




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