How to Build Woven Wire Field Fencing

Walk along the proposed fence line with a measuring wheel, and pound a stake into the ground at 16-foot intervals to mark where the post holes will be dug. Tie string to each stake and create a taut line, and then use this line to check your fence line for straightness. Move any misaligned marking stakes.

Divide the height of a typical fence post by 3 and then add 4 inches to determine the post hole depth. For the typical 8-foot-tall post, this means a 3-foot-deep post hole. Multiply the width of the typical post by 2 to determine how wide the post holes should be.

Dig the post holes, using the measurements from Step 2 and using a mattock, post hole digger and shovel. Make the hole as cylindrical as possible.

Fill the bottom of each of the post holes with 4 inches of sand.

Set the posts. Place a post in a post hole, strap on a post level and adjust the post's position for plumb. While an assistant holds the post in position, mix quick-setting concrete in a bucket and pour it into the hole. Fill the post hole up to 1 or 2 inches from the top of the hole. Wait 10 to 20 minutes for the concrete to set, then move on to the next hole. Repeat this step for all the remaining posts.

Wait two to three days for the concrete to set. Fill in the remainder of the post holes with leftover dirt.

Anchor the woven wire to the corner post. Clip away the vertical wires with wire cutters from the first foot of the mesh, leaving just the horizontal wires. Lay the part of the fencing where the full mesh starts against the corner post, wrap the loose wires around the post and tie them back down to the mesh. Hammer in four heavy fencing staples to further fasten the mesh to the post.

Unroll the mesh down the fence line.

Attach the hooks from the fence spreader to the mesh when you reach either the end of the mesh or the end of the fence line. Hook up the fence spreader to the winch, and chain the winch to an anchor point.

Crank the winch to add tension to the fence. Most rolls of fencing mesh have a curved indentation in some of the horizontal wires for testing tension. When this indentation has only 1/4 inch of give left, the mesh is at the proper tension.

Fasten the mesh to every fence post along its length with a hammer and fencing staples, using four staples for every post.

Tie off the mesh by clipping away the vertical wires from the end of the mesh just as you did in Step 7 to anchor the mesh, except this time clip away only the wires above and below the area hooked by the fence spreader. Bend those loose horizontal wires back around the fence post and tie them off, then staple down the mesh. Unlock the winch, release the tension and then finish clipping wires and tying down this end of the mesh.