A fence is one of the first decisions on working land, and the wrong choice costs years. Wrong materials rot or rust faster than expected. Wrong post spacing means the fence sags before the second winter. Wrong wire gauge means the livestock find the gaps before you do. Gail Damerow wrote this book for people who want to make that decision right the first time.
Damerow — whose farm in Tennessee has run poultry and dairy goats for decades alongside the gardens and orchard — covers the full range of fencing options: woven wire, high-tensile wire, barbed wire, rail fences, electric fences, temporary fencing systems, snow fences, windbreaks, and garden trellises. Each type gets an honest treatment: what it does well, what it costs, what terrain and animals it's suited to, and how to build it correctly. Gates and hardware get their own dedicated coverage, as do the planning and layout decisions that determine whether your fence serves its purpose.
For the NWS reader working through our land and self-reliance guides, this is the reference behind the fence-building section — the book that turns a general understanding of fencing into actual decisions about post depth, wire gauge, and corner bracing for your specific property.
