Everything You Need to Know Before Building a Crossfence or Offset
Jeremy McGill is a Gallagher field rep who covers Kentucky, Tennessee and Puerto Rico in addition to raising a small herd of his own commercial cattle with his family. Jeremy shares insight on what mistakes to avoid when building cross-fences and offsets and how to create an overall successful fencing system.
What are Cross fences and Offsets?
A cross fence is either a permanent or temporary fence that splits the area inside the perimeter fence into smaller sections. These are often built to fit the grazing needs of different operations. Jeremy recommends getting aerial shots of your land and using those to sketch out where you want to put your cross-fence before building it and to start with temporary fencing first.
An offset is found on the perimeter fence or another physical barrier. This typically looks like adding an electric wire to an already woven-wire or barbed-wire fence. The purpose of an offset is to combine the benefits of electric and permanent fences to meet the goals of your operation’s grazing plans and fence strategies. These are commonly used on leased pastures.
What are the main mistakes made when building them?
There are several mistakes that can be made when building cross-fences and offsets. For cross-fences, the main limiting factor is water. So, when you build the cross fence; you need to be aware of where all your water sources are located or if you need to add one to the pastures. Another mistake with cross-fencing is not having the proper energizer. You need to make sure you have a large enough energizer to power your fence.
A common mistake made when building offsets is not building the correct offset and using the correct insulators for the permanent barrier it is being applied to. Producers also need to keep in mind the optimum height for offsets. Jeremy recommends having your offsets at 30-36 inches high to protect your physical barrier from cattle scratching and keep cattle in.
