It is no secret that we utilize every single animal we have to clear our land, fertilize, and produce delicious food in the process. Each animal is at the very least dual purpose, some tri, some quad! In order to do this, proper fencing for the homestead is paramount.
Our Icelandic Sheep rotationally graze our pastures and fertilize while producing delicious grass fed lamb and fleece. The pastured meat chickens follow the sheep, and scratch and peck through the freshly mowed grass while dropping their nitrogen rich manure. Our dairy goats clear brushy and overgrown areas to convert into milk. Then, our wonderful pigs till and turn over the soil in our woods in preparation of converting it to pasture while packing on the pounds with all of the forage the land has to offer. Before fulfilling their higher purpose of feeding us, our animals heal and reclaim our land.
With all of these animals moving around in different frequencies and areas of our property, it can be a complicated choreographed dance. Through this, we have gotten quite skilled at fencing and have accumulated many different types as we have fine tuned our processes. I have touched several times on fencing for the homestead as it pertains to our different animals specifically. But, I figured I should break it down for each animal in one comprehensive and digestible post to refer back to.
General Set Up
Understanding what we use and how we use it will probably be easier if you understand our set up. My (crudely) drawn map below shows an aerial view of our property, with different colored lines each representing a different animal’s area. PS it is soooooo much more open now, I can’t wait for a google earth update!
- Aqua X: Location of our AC electric fencers. One in the goat barn, one in the garage. Each one feeds its side of the property with power via travel lines to allow us to easily hook up our netting to
- Red: this is our “new” sheep silvopasture that we have recently reclaimed from thick overgrown woods. The entire perimeter is fenced in with permanent perimeter fence and has an electric travel line that runs along the inside.
- Blue: Goat silvopasture off of the barn. Perimeter is fenced in with a combination of a couple different types of permanent perimeter fencing. This is the first area we established when we moved here.
- Yellow: Our pigs areas (both feeders and breeders) The area off the farrowing barn has permanent perimeter with a training line of electric on the inside. Everything else is 100% electric.
Sheep
The sheep without question are the most frequently rotated animal we have. Because we want grass fed lamb, we rotate our sheep everyday to fresh ground. This way they have as much as they can eat that particular day, but don’t stay in a place long enough to over graze and stunt our pasture growth. They move around our newly created pasture (red) that we break up into paddocks with our netting, as well as the front and side lawn, logging trail, and anywhere else we can stick them. If there is a travel line to hook up to nearby and there is grass, we will put them there. Each year we are creating more pasture, which gives us more opportunity to graze. The frequency of rotating the sheep would be impossible without the use of electric netting and the tools we use.
- Permanent perimeter fence: Red Brand Sheep & Goat Woven Wire 4×4 Square 48″ high with a galvanized travel line running along the inside via T-post insulators
- Premier One Electric Netting – my life will never be the same after discovering this. This netting is essential for us for easy rotation and security of our animals
- Premier One Power Links – allow you to quickly connect two strands of netting together, gate to the netting, or netting to travel line. We have about ten of these, we use them everywhere!
- Premier One Gate – easy electrified gate that comes in different widths for either walking through, or driving a side by side. Depending on set up this can be extremely handy.
Goats
The goats are rotated less frequently than the sheep. I try to keep them as close to the barn as possible due to milking, so they spend most of the time in their blue pasture. However, there are several times in the summer when we put them to work clearing a stone wall or some brushy areas. When we move them around, they are contained by the same Premier One netting as the sheep. Their blue pasture is surrounded a hodge-podge of permanent perimeter fence. Some we bought initially and have since replaced because it was the wrong kind, some we got for cheap, some we got for free. Below are the different types we have ripped from another blog post:
- Cattle Panels:
- Feedlot panels (6′ x 16′): These are by the far the most expensive panel I have ever seen or purchased, but in the small paddock directly off the back of the stalls of the barn this stuff is what encloses it. This panel is tall enough to deter anything from jumping over (whether that be out or in) and the squares are so small the entire way up that even the smallest Nigerian Dwarf baby goat can’t squeeze through. When the kids are very young they don’t get to go out into the big pasture quite yet, so they stay in the smaller paddock with mom. This allows them to be truly contained and safe.
- Feedlot hog panels (50″ x 16′): These are cheap at a local TSC in comparison to the aforementioned Fort Knox grade panels. These are used in approximately half of our big pasture and make setting up fencing really easy and are much more aesthetically pleasing than spooled fencing. They also have small enough squares on the bottom half of the panel to keep babies from slipping through.
- Woven wire: Used in approximately half of my large pasture for the goats. It can be a little bit of a pain to get set up because you have to do a lot of pulling and stapling to prevent a saggy fence, but it does hold up very well to rubbing and is cheaper than panels if you’re fencing a large area. My recommendation is to get the tallest one you can to deter jumping, and with the smallest squares. We use Red Brand 48″H 4″ x 4″ square. If you end up getting goats with horns, if they can stick their head through they will get stuck and can strangle themselves. Small squares keep this from happening and help prevent baby goats from being able to slip through.
Pigs
I talk a lot about using our pigs to clear our land and how big of a difference they have made in turning overgrown woods into pasture. This year we opened up a new wooded pasture for our breeding stock yellow pasture that’s on “top” of the map. This is a virgin area of woods that we fenced in with our three strand polywire set up. The girls have been digging, rooting, and turning over the soil for us and come fall after they’ve been moved back to the farrowing area, we will come in and drop trees, rake, and seed or bale graze this winter. The yellow pasture that’s on the “bottom” of the map is also fenced in with our three strand polywire set up. This is a heavily wooded area that we rotate our feeder pigs through. Just like with the goats, we use a combination of different types of fencing for the pigs depending on where they are physically, as well as their stage in life.
- Farrowing area: off the back of the farrowing house we utilize 34″ x 16′ long hog panels to fence in their farrowing pasture. We have a single line of polywire that runs along the inside for training purposes.
- Premier One Hog Netting– we utilize this netting for training piglets on electric fence
- Three strand polywire set up – once the pigs are sufficiently trained, they will be contained with this set up from thereon out.
Meat Chickens
The meat chickens are kind of the unsung heroes in terms of the power they posses to transform your land. After seeing with our own eyes the incredible difference their manure makes in pasture grass growth, we have become obsessed with utilizing them as much as possible. Thanks to our mobile chicken coop, we are able to easily move them wherever we feel the pasture needs a little something extra in terms of fertilizer. They scratch and peck around, nibble on greens, pack on the pounds, and drop their gold-like manure onto our soil. Like anything else it’s about finding a balance. The frequency with which we rotate varies greatly depending on their size, and the condition of the paddock they’re on. You want them to be on a particular piece of land long enough to make a positive impact but not a moment longer. They leave the land richer than they found it. Just like any other frequently rotated animal, we would be lost without the use of our electric netting:
- Premier One Electric Netting – keeps the birds in, the predators out, and makes moving a breeze
- Premier One Electric Gate – essential for easy entry and access, bringing in water, feed, etc. Ours is wide enough to drive our side by side through
- Premier One Power Links – like I said before, we use these constantly!
We have learned a lot over the past four years here and have fine tuned and improved our methods as we have become more established. I like to think of myself as a bit of a fencing connoisseur, and it is one of my favorite things to do. It didn’t always use to be so easy moving this many animals though! Through the use of quality fencing for the homestead, we have a good system in place and strong fencing to keep our animals contained and safe, while improving the quality of our land in the process.
Happy Fencing,
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Proud Premier 1 Partner
We have finally done it. After years of raising Ranger meat chickens we have FINALLY designed and built the ultimate mobile chicken coop to fit our needs. No more hoop houses or chicken wire lined wooden frames that need perfectly level ground and constant repair. No more brooder boxes and transitioning to a coop. And best of all, NO MORE TARPS! It has taken us several years and a lot of headaches and grief, but by Joe we have finally done it. Last year we started it, this year we finished it. Our mobile chicken coop dubbed “Big Daddy’s Meat Wagon 2.0” is officially completed with its first flock inhabiting it.
The ultimate goal for this chicken coop was very simple and basic: Something mobile that would allow us to easily rotate it around our rocky and sloped pasture. I never want to have to shovel chicken poop again, and it had to be set up for use from day old chick brooder until butchering day. It also had to be largely made of existing material we had lying around from other projects, but couldn’t be a hideous eyesore. Seems simple enough…
The Basic Design
Dimensions and Floor
The design is extremely basic as it’s built on the frame of a 6 foot trailer that we already had and rarely used. Nick welded a two foot extension, giving us 8 feet total of coop length. With its ~4 foot width, it gives us an area of 32 squarish feet total with two (easily) removable roosts running the length of the coop. We are at the point where we no longer need to raise a million chickens a year thanks to the abundance of pork and lamb we raise. So for our 30+ birds we are shooting to keep for butcher, this is a fine size considering that the coop is merely serving as a brooder and a place to roost at night. From sun up to sun down they will be outside foraging on our pasture.
We have an abundance of hardware cloth leftover from other projects, so the “floor” of the mobile chicken coop Is 1″ hardware cloth. Not only is it strong and able to withstand the weight of 30 full sized grown birds, but it is more adept to keep a predator out than something like chicken wire.
The first two weeks of life the chicks are small and there are concerns about them hurting a leg or foot walking on the wire floor. They could potentially drop a foot through and get stuck, break a leg, etc. But remember, one of my requirements was that this be all inclusive, so it has to easily be adapted to be used as a brooder. To protect the chick’s feet (as well as help retain heat) we popped out the roosts and lined half the coop floor with pieces of cardboard with a cardboard dividing “wall”. Shavings go on top, hang a heat lamp from the roof frame, and voila, we have a brooder! Once the chicks are feathered out and bigger around the 2 week mark, the roosts will be put back in, and the cardboard can be taken out and composted. This 1″ square floor will support their feet, but most importantly when they go to roost at night their manure will directly fall through and onto our pasture fertilizing it. Added bonus: no more shoveling chicken poop for me!
We keep the food and waterers in the coop for the next couple of weeks to help train the chicks to go back to roost at night. They learn this is where they sleep, eat, and drink. Once they’ve gotten bigger and need more space in the coop, we switch to our large waterers and feeder that will go outside. At this point the coop is strictly for sleeping.
The Roof
The roof is a simple A-frame style roof made from leftover galvanized metal roofing. But, we knew we would have to reach in to change water, feed, and adjust the heat lamps when the chicks were young. Then we’d have to reach in to grab full grown birds on butchering day. Knowing this, we made one panel of roofing on each end and the opposite side hinged to allow us easy access inside the coop. So, the front and back of the coop each have a hinged panel on opposite sides.
With this hatch set up, a standard metal roof cap wouldn’t work because it doesn’t allow any flexibility at the hinge. So, to overcome this we used some scraps of rubber roofing. It gives protection so the rain doesn’t come pouring through, but allows that much needed flexibility in the two hinge points in the roof. PS this was my idea. Nick wanted to cut some tarp and call it good, I said no tarps, this is the year we are tarp-less! And then I got some rubber roof scraps from my father in law. Problem solved 
The Ramp and Door
I wanted this coop to be as functional and as easy to move as possible. I didn’t want to have to carry a million things with each rotation, and I didn’t want a thousand different hooks, chains, etc hanging off it either. Simple was the goal and remember, a requirement was it needs to look good!
The door is a very standard hinged door. It flips up and is held open by a hook on the door, that loops through a chain that is secured above near the roof’s peak. It has a simple sliding bolt to lock the birds in at night as well.
The ramp is connected to the coop in a secure but easily removable way. Long bolts are screwed on both sides at the top of the ramp, and they each go through the opening in a short length of metal chain that’s fastened to the frame. It’s strong, will support the weight of the birds, and will not go anywhere. Last year when we would go to move the coop we had to remove the ramp and carry it. It easily pops out no problem, but it was just another thing to carry. So this year, I put an eye bolt at the bottom of the ramp. On the same chain that the door hooks onto to stay open, there is a carabiner clip that hooks to the eyebolt on the ramp. Holding the ramp up at an incline gets it off the ground for transport, while simultaneously putting tension on the hinge point to keep it in place.
Finishing Touches
What would a project be without the finishing touches? I think that for the first time ever we actually put the finishing touches on a project. Basically, everything else we have done we get it to 98% and then it comes down to the little details that really pull it all together aesthetically, and we’re like ehhhhh we will do it another time. Then we don’t.
Any opening was covered with hardware cloth or chicken wire for ventilation. While chicken wire isn’t “predator proof” like hardware cloth, nothing is guaranteed. If an animal is that determined, they will find a weak spot. Thankfully we aren’t really concerned with predators because we have three levels of protection: our LGD Annie that patrols the permanent fenced pasture at night, the electric netting that surrounds the coop, and then the coop itself that houses the birds. Despite this, we try to make it as impenetrable as possible.
For aesthetic purposes (remember, not being a hideous eyesore was a requirement!) we used rough cut wood to cover part of the roof’s peak so it wasn’t completely open. We wanted to allow enough open for ventilation, but not so wide open that it would allow rain in. Finally, the cherry on top was paint. Using leftover SW Rookwood Red from painting the house doors, I painted the body of the coop, and used Rustoleum white spray paint on the metal frame and edges that happens to look like trim. It looks like a little mini barn on wheels rolling around the pasture.
The only thing we didn’t get to that we plan to incorporate into the design next year is a watering system. For now, we use a couple of 7-gallon waterers from our local co op that sit out on the ground. Next year, we plan to weld a bracket to the neck extension of the coop to mount a water tank attached to some kind of watering system. We didn’t get to it this year, so we have a year to figure it out.
Moving Day
The meat chickens will follow our sheep being rotated around our pasture with Premier One Electric Netting. They will spread out the sheep and donkey manure, eat grubs, bugs, and grass, and fertilize our soil with their own nitrogen rich manure.
This mobile chicken coop has made our moving process incredibly easy, just like our mobile livestock shelters have for our other animals. In the morning while the birds are still locked in the coop from the night before, we take down the electric netting and toss it over the top of the coop. We back up the tractor to the hitch and hook it up. Waterers, feeders, and the wooden stand we use to prop the wagon up when it’s parked is thrown in the bucket of the tractor. Then, away she goes! Once it’s moved to the next location we unhook the wagon and prop it back up with the stand, put feeders and waterers in place, put the netting back up, chock the tire, and then open the door to let the birds out.
This is an incredibly simple process that start to finish takes less than a half hour. No chasing or herding birds, no repairing ripped tarp roofs. Just simple, easy, stress free rotational grazing which makes for happy birds and happy homesteaders.
Finishing this project has been a huge weight off of our shoulders. We have created for ourselves the tools that allow us to be more efficient, which in turn will allow our animals to be more productive. Not only in aerating and fertilizing our soils to improve our pasture, but by providing them a fresh natural diet that allows them to express their natural behaviors while creating the best nutrient dense chicken possible.
It may have taken us a while to get to this point, but without trying all of those other aforementioned housing options, we wouldn’t have been able to really hone in on what worked and what didn’t for us. Or, truly appreciate what we have now in this mobile chicken coop. So as it always seems to go, the headaches, late night repairs, and moments of regret were worth it.
Happy Building,
**Some of the links on this site are affiliate links. I only link to products I have used, abused, and believe in. While I do not make commissions on these, they do allow my partners to track business I have generated for them. I wholeheartedly appreciate you using my affiliate links for any of the products I recommend you may purchase! It keeps the educational and informative content coming.
Proud Premier 1 Partner
A few years ago my husband and I began our path down the road to self sufficiency. Being meat eaters, we couldn’t really call ourselves self sufficient without raising our own! So, we decided to get our feet wet and started with meat chickens like most do. Our initial round of birds we raised were the Cornish Cross because well, that’s what everyone raises! So they must be good right? Wrong. Well, wrong for us at least. We couldn’t stand these birds, and after that first round we swore we would never raise them again…and we haven’t. We immediately switched to the Rangers. A robust, slower growing breed that is more adapt for being raised on pasture. We have raised a couple hundred since then, and have been beyond thrilled with the breed overall.
So why the Rangers and not Cornish Cross? Read on!
Cornish Cross
My experience with the Cornish Cross was not a pleasant one. Ultimately, the breed itself just wasn’t right for the environment we raise them in (pasture versus confined) and their obvious genetic selection for certain attributes just didn’t sit well with me. Again, this is my experience. I know plenty of people that happily raise them and plenty of others that have sworn them off just like me. Some key points are:
- They aren’t hardy. The Cornish Cross are a hybrid breed just like the Rangers. However, the breeding stock are chosen for very specific traits such as exaggerated large breasts to meet the high demand of white meat eaters, sparse feathering, wide set legs, extremely fast growth, and foraging suppression. All of these traits are desirable for the large scale poultry farms, which is the industry the breed was tailored for. These traits aren’t natural, and as a result, the bird’s health suffers. Their body is designed to put on an incredible amount of weight in a short amount of time, causing other systems to be compromised. They are notorious for leg issues and organ failure among other health problems. This is why most people don’t raise them past the 8-10 week mark because they physically will not be able to make it. After this point, the mortality rate spikes and you are really taking a gamble on if the birds survive no matter how well you care for them. In addition to health issues, they are very sensitive to extreme temperatures and are not equipped to withstand the elements of inclement weather. All it takes is one short heat wave to completely devastate your flock, I have seen it personally.
- Yes, they grow fast. But I mean man do they grow fast. They have a high feed conversion ratio meaning they very efficiently and quickly convert their feed weight. They do it better than any other breed and is one of the many reasons why they are a favorite of large poultry farms as well as homesteaders.
- They just don’t seem natural. If you’ve ever seen an animal in its live form and thought “man that thing is gross I wouldn’t even want to eat it” that’s how I feel about the Cornish Cross. Their splotchy feathering and exaggerated wide set legs to support their front heavy stature make them look like a science project gone awry. It just isn’t natural. Even worse, we had to prop their food trough up on bricks to raise it so they actually had to stand to eat. Otherwise, they would lay down in front of the food dish, in their own poop, and eat. No matter how much space they had to move and forage, once they reached a couple weeks old these birds would plop themselves in front of the food trough all day long. Overall, they are minimal foragers in comparison to other breeds which for us is a big no no.
Let’s sum them up:
- Pros: do well in confinement setting, reach slaughter weight quickly (as little as 6 weeks), easier to pluck due to sparse feathering, large breasts for white meat lovers, widely available.
- Cons: don’t make good foragers, generally unhealthier and lack of hardiness, don’t display normal chicken behaviors, unhygienic.
Rangers
Since switching to the Rangers we have been extremely happy with their performance. They are a slower growing breed which allows more flavor to impregnate the meat that you just can’t get in a quick growing bird. They are also known for their dark meat, which makes them more desirable if you are a chicken leg lover such as myself. Some key points are:
- The Rangers are very similar to dual purpose laying hens in their appearance and personality. They are fully feathered with their breast meat being proportional to their body unlike a Cornish. They also display normal behaviors such as active foraging, roosting, taking dust baths, etc. Even with a feeder full of grain, they will still opt to forage making them an ideal pastured bird.
- I have raised Rangers in varying temperatures and seasons without issue. They are very hardy and are able to hold up to inclement weather regardless of a heat wave or cold snap without any special accommodations. Because we raise our birds on pasture, this is an absolute necessity without a controlled environment.
- They grow considerably slower than the Cornish Cross. While the average age to process is around the 12-14 week mark, we have never processed our birds that early. We always end up pushing them out further and process between 16-20 weeks, and have dressed weights between 7-8 pounds. There are two schools of thought on this: Some see this as a negative because they want the birds to grow out as fast as possible. Others see this as a good thing because longer growth equates to more flavorful meat. I take the latter point of view, and like the slower growth rate. It allows more time for flavor to develop, but because we process our own birds it also gives us the luxury of processing them on our own time. Unlike the Cornish, the Rangers will not succumb to multiple system failures so they can be processed whenever we get to them whether they’re 10 weeks or 10 months old.
Let’s sum them up:
- Pros: natural foragers reducing feed costs, very hardy, display normal chicken behaviors, more flavorful meat, great for dark meat lovers
- Cons: take longer to reach slaughter weight (if you consider that a con, which I don’t), fully feathered so harder to pluck, smaller breasts than Cornish Cross (again not a con for me, they’re far from “small”!)
Let's Talk About Slow Meat
Everyone is familiar with the notion that you can’t rush quality, and meat chickens are no exception to this rule. Flavor takes time, and it’s a process that can’t be rushed. This is a concept that people are starting to realize with the “slow meat movement” taking its hold.
Is there really a noticeable difference though? Absolutely!!!! Night and day. A big part of the difference in flavor is of course the feed given to the birds as well as supplemental pasture. But, time is a huge part of it as well and is a variable that can’t be rushed. If you raised a Cornish Cross and a Ranger side by side under the same exact conditions and processed them at their respective average slaughter ages, there would be a noticeable difference in the appearance and flavor.
As I previously emphasized, choosing the breed of meat chicken to raise is very much a personal preference based on what is important to you. Maybe you don’t care that the Cornish aren’t foragers because you’re going to raise them in a small pen. Or you live in a hot climate and want to raise them in the summer so you need a hardier animal and decide to go with the Rangers. I know people who raise the Cornish Cross knowing that they will always lose at least 10% of their flock, and they are okay with that, so they order extra anticipating loss. It is a personal choice just like anything else.
We love raising the Rangers because to us, they are how a chicken should be. Natural. They run, scratch through the dirt, chase each other fighting over worms, thrive raised on pasture, and just all around are a robust healthy bird. Sure it takes longer for them to grow, but it’s a non issue because the result is incredibly nutrient dense delicious chicken for us! But, as they say the proof is in the pudding! See for yourself as I teach you how to break down a whole chicken. You just can’t get that dark red meat and healthy yellow fat from a fast growing sedentary bird.