Fence for home on a farm

Since moving to our farm a little more than a year ago, we've acquired an assortment of animals: geese, chickens, dogs, goats, llamas, etc... Some of the more annoying of these animals are very good at escaping from designated pens and finding their way to our porch and pool and laying waste to vegetation, pooping on our mats, defecating in the pool. sheesh!

It became abundantly clear, at least to me, we need a fence to keep out the riff-raff from our home area. The fence needed to be aesthetic, not too tall to block our view over the top, and inexpensive. We have heard that deer do not like to jump fences they cannot see through, but we didn't want to spend the $ on a pure wood fence. Hence we decided on a wire mesh fence created with treated fir posts.

Here is the design: 5' treated fir posts (3-4" diameter) set 2' in the ground with 3/4" gravel surrounding. The gravel is 3/4" open (meaning there are no smaller pieces than 3/4"-- it does not pack as tight as a 3/4" minus but drains a bit better. We figure the top posts will help secure the fence itself so we don't have to worry too much about packing). The posts are braced on the top with another post that is notched to sit firmly on top of each post. The posts are spaced 10' apart from each other with 5" galvanized spikes holding the tops in place. We will be using a 2"x4" welded mesh wire stapled to the posts and stretched (not too tight!) and held in place with staples. The galvanized mesh is 36" high. When the fence is done, we will be planting vines, shrubs, and some small trees along the fence to create a visual barrier for animals attempting entry or perhaps jumping.

Approximate cost of fence:
100 10' 3-4" treated fir posts .... $700
9 rolls 2x4" welded wire,36" high... $385
~4 tons 3/4" Open gravel ..... $40
5" galvanized spikes .... $65
plants, etc.... $200

Many thanks to the Tilt-Reuben Family who helped us start this project a couple of weeks ago. I'll post some pictures in a few weeks when we hope to have this project completed!