How to Build a Wire Farm Fence on Uneven Ground Ditches

Barbed wire is tough, inexpensive and adaptable.

A wire fence is an effective and relatively cheap means of both keeping livestock on your property, and keeping unwanted pests out of it. However, sometimes the lay of the land presents a property owner with very little choice as to where to erect a fence, and erecting a fence in a ditch is one of the most difficult circumstances. The uneven ground requires some adjustments in laying the wire fencing, while the ditch demands ensuring the fence posts are properly set and drained.

Things You'll Need

• Tape measure
• Stakes
• Hammer
• Shovel
• Post hole digger
• Gravel
• Assistant
• Quick-setting concrete mix
• Bucket
• Bundles of fencing wire
• Fencing staples
• Wire cutters

Instructions

1. Pick out what looks like a typical fence post and measure its height with a tape measure.

2. Divide measurement from Step 1 by 3 to determine the basic depth for the post holes, then add six inches to that number for a foundation. Because the posts must be set in a very wet area, they must be set in a concrete plug with a proper foundation. If your posts are typically 8 feet (96 inches) tall, this foundation must be a total of 36 inches deep (96/3=32+6=36).

3. Drive stakes at intervals of 16 feet to mark post hole placement down the ditch.

4. Excavate the post holes by pulling out the stake and digging a cylindrical pit with a shovel and post hole digger. Use the depth established in Step 3, checking your depth with a tape measure.

5. Shovel six inches of gravel into the bottom of each post hole.

6. Drop a post into a post hole and strap a fence post level onto it. Adjust the post's placement until the level indicates it is in a plumb (perfectly vertical) position.

7. Instruct an assistant to hold the post steady while you mix a batch of quick-setting concrete in a bucket, following the manufacturer's instructions. Fill the hole with concrete up to two or three inches from the top. Repeat Steps 6 and 7 for each fence post.

8. Wait overnight for the concrete to harden. Return the next morning to fill up the remainder of the holes with dirt with the shovel, slanting the surface of the dirt so water drains away from the post and downhill with the ditch.

9. Unroll a bundle of wire, loop the wire around the first fence post in the line, and then twist and tie the wire down to itself tightly. Fasten the wire to the fence post further by hammering a fencing staple over the top of it.

10. Unroll the wire down the fence line, fastening it to each fence post with a fence staple. Follow the contours of the uneven ground at any significant change in gradient, raising or lowering the wire as need be. Anchor it to the last post in the line just as it was tied down on the first post. Cut the wire from the bundle with wire cutters.

11. Repeat Steps 9 and 10 for each row of wire on the fence. This fence has approximately 5.3 feet of fence post above ground, and fences of that height usually have between three and five rows of wire on them.

Tips & Warnings

• Always wear work gloves when working with wire fencing.

References

• University of Tennessee Extension; Planning and Building Fences on the Farm
• Small Farm Permaculture and Sustainable Living: Pasture Fence Field Put-Up Guide
• University of Missouri Extension; Constructing Wire Fences; Richard E. Phillips; October 1993.
• Virginia Tech Cooperative Extension; Constructing High-Tensile Wire Fences; Susan W. Gay, et al.
• Home Depot: Hillside Fencing and Stepped Rails
• Quikrete; Setting Posts in Concrete.