In the United Kingdom, the law is different for private land and common land. Over time, court cases steadily limited the application of open range law until the present day, where it is the exception rather than the rule in many parts of the American West. In addition, voters could voluntarily choose to make certain heavily farmed areas a "herd district," where livestock needed to be fenced in, a process that also became popular in areas where development of hobby farms created conflicts between large and small landowners. Though the open range was part of the western tradition, over time, open range was limited long before it was eliminated first came an obligation to keep cattle from roaming onto state and federal highways, where collisions with fast-moving cars and trucks created a public safety hazard. For example, until the mid-20th century, most states in the American West were called " open range" ("fence out") states, in contrast to Eastern and Midwestern states which long had "fence in" laws where livestock must be confined by their owners. The tradition of fencing out unwanted livestock prevails even today in some sparsely populated areas. Earth could also be used as a fence an example was what is now called the sunken fence, or "ha-ha," a type of wall built by digging a ditch with one steep side (which animals cannot scale) and one sloped side (where the animals roam). Log fences or split-rail fences were simple fences constructed in newly cleared areas by stacking log rails. In other areas, fences were constructed of timber. In time, the piles of stones grew high and wide. The stones were placed on the field edge to get them out of the way. In areas where field stones are plentiful, fences have been built up over the years as the stones are removed from fields during tillage and planting of crops. The earliest fences were made of available materials, usually stone or wood, and these materials are still used for some fences today. Over time, especially where crop agriculture became dominant and population density of both humans and animals was significant, livestock owners were made to fence their animals in. Historically throughout most of the world, domesticated livestock would roam freely and were fenced out of areas, such as gardens or fields of crops, where they were unwanted. History Timber agricultural fence (photo taken in 1938). If not too narrow, it acts as a habitat corridor. It may be a hedgerow or a shelterbelt (windbreak) or a refugee for native plants. Most agricultural fencing averages about 4 feet (1.2 m) high, and in some places, the height and construction of fences designed to hold livestock is mandated by law.Ī fencerow is the strip of land by a fence that is left uncultivated. They can be made from a wide variety of materials, depending on terrain, location and animals to be confined. In agriculture, fences are used to keep animals in or out of an area. JSTOR ( December 2007) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Ī sturdy and well-made wooden post and rail fence.Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.įind sources: "Agricultural fencing" – news Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.
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