Fix Fencing and Gate

Montana’s open range classification (most of Montana is classified this way) means that we are actually responsible for fencing out neighboring cattle while ranches aren’t responsible for keeping them in their property

Wildlife Friendly Fencing

The fencing is really tall along some stretches so it would be good to adjust the height of the barbed wire, replace the top and bottom strands with smooth wire, and put PVC along the top strand. However this 40" height associated with the ideal wildlife friendly fence seems quite low however I suppose it just needs to be tall enough to keep out cattle.

Leaning Fencing

It looks like the best way to fix this is to take off barbed wire from the posts and then pull/reset them.

It looks like they sell post pullers at Murdochs so I got one.

Strand Separation from Post

The barbed wire has separated from the posts in some places. We need to replace the metal clips.

Broken Barbed Wire

The barbed wire has snapped in several places especially adjacent to the road where the snow plows push the snow against the fencing. We need to get crimping sleeves and a crimper for these sleeves. I'm not sure if the crimper that I used for the truck battery cable will work.

Mess of Wire

There is a quite a bit of smooth, light gage wire hanging all over the place. I’m not sure what it’s there for but we should probably clean it up.

• Fence Stays

  • Fence stays keep the wires spaced appropriately and they sell these at the Home Depot

• New Gates

  • The existing fence is shown in yellow, the existing gates shown in red, and a couple proposed gates in green

  • Many of the existing gates are in rough shape.

  • The proposed gates would allow us to collect firewood and clay pigeons

• Under Section 45-6-201 of the Montana Code (MCA), if a landowner fails to post a no-trespassing notice, entering the property is not technically trespassing (at least until you refuse to leave after the owner tells you to vamoose).

• Section 45-6-201 states that: To provide for effective posting of private land through which the public has no right-of-way, the notice provided for in subsection (1) must satisfy the following requirements:

(a) notice must be placed on a post, structure, or natural object by marking it with written notice or with not less than 50 square inches of fluorescent orange paint, except that when metal fenceposts are used, the entire post must be painted; and

(b) the notice described in subsection (2)(a) must be placed at each outer gate and normal point of access to the property, including both sides of a water body crossing the property wherever the water body intersects an outer boundary line.

• Addition of wooden posts

  • Wooden line posts can be placed every 50 to 75 feet to help keep steel posts from bending and improve fence stability. I'll also need these to tension the line.

We are in the data collection phase of this project and my deadline for this is to get this done by 4/1/2020. At this point before we start planning improvements I need to walk the fence line to:

• mark where the gates are,

• mark the distance between wooden posts,

• mark the problem areas, and

• map out where the fencing is wildlife friendly.