Old Fence Removal & Fence Line Clearing in Lawton, OK
Lawton Farm Fence clears fence lines and removes old fence on ranches and acreages across Comanche, Cotton, Tillman, and Caddo counties, from Lawton out to Walters, Apache, and Indiahoma. Most new fence we build starts here, with a line that has not been touched in thirty years and a strand of wire grown into a mesquite trunk.
Clearing is done with a skid steer and a cutter, then by hand where the line runs close to a neighbor's improvements or an old rock wall. We cut a working width on both sides so the post driver, the wire trailer, and the welding rig can all travel the line. Old wire gets rolled onto a spool off a tractor rather than dragged in a wad, and staples get pulled so a scrap load is clean. Wood posts come out with a post puller or a chain and a bucket, straight up, since a post snapped off at grade leaves a treated stub in the ground that the next auger will find. Pipe and steel worth saving go on a separate pile. Brush pushed into a windrow at the fence corner and left there is how a new line ends up with a fire load and a den of skunks against it.
Mesquite, Cedar, and the Ground Under Them
Mesquite has spread through the shortgrass country west and south of town, and eastern red cedar takes any pasture nobody burns. Both grow right up the fence line, because that is where nothing gets mowed. Mesquite roots go deep and the stumps fight a post hole, so we pull them rather than cut them at grade wherever the new line runs. Cedar comes out easier and burns hot, which matters when you are deciding where the pile goes.
Staking the New Line
Once the brush is off, the line gets sighted and staked before a single hole is drilled. Corners come first, then the pulls, then the gate openings, and we walk it with you before anything is set. That walk is when the draws, the water crossings, and the granite come up, and every one of those changes what the fence costs.
Scheduling
Clearing runs almost the whole year here, and it is good work for the wet stretches when a post hole is a bad idea. Call (580) 555-0139 to get on the schedule.
Do you haul the old wire and posts off?
Yes. Old wire gets rolled and loaded rather than piled at the corner, because a coil left in the grass ends up wrapped around a mower or a calf's leg. Steel posts and salvageable pipe go to the scrap yard. Rotted wood posts go to the dump. What that hauling costs depends on the mileage and the tonnage, and it is on the estimate as its own line.
Why clear the fence line before building?
Because clearing is the cheapest cost on the job and the most expensive one to skip. A crew cannot run a straight line, sight a corner, or get a post driver in through brush. Worse, a mesquite or cedar left leaning over the line drops a limb on new wire two years later and you pay to fix the fence instead of paying to cut the tree.
Should the line be surveyed before you build?
If the fence is a boundary and the old one has been there a long time, get the survey. Oklahoma recognizes that a fence both neighbors have accepted for fifteen years can end up being the legal boundary, so an old line is not automatically the surveyed line and moving it is not automatically your right. We stake and build to whatever line you and your surveyor give us.
Can you clear mesquite and cedar off pasture too?
We clear the fence line and a working width either side of it. Broad pasture clearing is a different job with different equipment, and we will tell you plainly when a job has grown past a fence crew into a dozer job.