If you're getting started with fencing your farm, you will need some basic supplies and tools to help you install and maintain your fence. Depending on the type of fence, you might need only some of these tools, and you can certainly substitute a tractor-mounted post hole digger or any other larger equipment for the hand tools here.
Heavy Leather Gloves
Gloves will protect your hands from sharp fence wire edges and cushion them as you handle rough wood and metal. Choose leather work gloves for durability and ease of movement.
Hammer
A good claw hammer can’t be underestimated in tool importance. Invest in a good hammer. You will use it a lot.
Shovel
Just your basic shovel will do, but again, spending money for the quality of your most basic and most-used tools is never a bad idea.
Post Hole Digger
If you have a tractor and can buy or rent a post-hole auger attachment for it, this will save an incredible amount of time, especially if you’re putting in a lot of fencing - like perimeter fencing your entire acreage. Otherwise, a strong back and a heavy duty hand post hole digger will serve you well.
Wire Cutters
This is another item to spend money on for good quality. You want good cutting edges on your wire cutters so that they can slice easily through high-tensile wires.
Crimping Tool
A crimping tool is useful for fence repair and for splicing fence wire together with swage sleeves.
Fence Tensioner
Choose from among several types of tensioners depending on your particular preference and needs, but the basic idea is that the tensioner clamps onto the wires, and as the pressure increases the tension on the fence increases. This is the tool you need to produce a nice, tight fence.
Post Pounder
Use a post pounder to bang T-bar posts (usually used with woven wire fencing LINK) into the ground. An excellent workout! Make sure that you prepare the hole for the T-bar using the tamping tool, below.
Tamping Tool
A tamping tool is a specially shaped bar that has a chisel point on one end to help break up hard soil, and a flat end on the other to tamp the soil down around the fence post. You must tamp the soil around the posts so that tensioning the fence doesn’t pull it out of the ground.
