Welded-Wire Fence Questions - Sawmill Creek

We are looking at putting up a welded-wire fence in the area of the back yard where we removed honeysuckle. Looking over welded-wire fencing, some retailers offer PVC covered welded-wire fencing. Is it really superior to the zinc-coated variety? Does anyone know if it last longer or the life expectancy of any welded-wire fence in general? Any information will be appreciated. I second scott's comments. If the coating is done properly, it will look nice for much much longer. Speaking as someone who has a zinc coated dog fence attached to a split rail fence, and it is super rusty but still functional. The dog fence started rusting within a few years. The more it rusts, the weaker it gets (and it has broken out in some places, any time something catches on it - we have no dog, so it's not a big issue). I opted to use some T-Posts and goat panels for my back yard. Very heavy duty galvanized stuff in a variety of sizes and heights from tractor supply. I use the same kind of stuff for pole bean houses and sweet pea trellis. You can re-use it for years. No reason you couldn't use it inside a wood frame either. Here's a couple of examples:
http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/horse-fence-panel-5-ft-x-16-ft
http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/feedlot-panel-sheep-goat-16-ft-l-x-48-in-h Are you putting up fencing to keep animals in or wildlife out? ... or are you using it for decorative or landscaping purposes?

Some brands of welded wire fencing are worthless and will rust & break in the first season while others are designed to be more durable and hold up to the pressures of livestock.

If you're only needing a small amount of fencing and it's for landscaping, I'm with Ted. Stock panels are awesome. They are easy to move around, can be cut to smaller size and framed with wood for a more decorative look. We use 4 stock panels as a temporary holding pen. You can stand them up to form a square and hold them together with metal clips. No fence posts needed as long as you don't have heavy livestock trying to ram it and get out. I am mostly using it to keep the dogs in the yard BUT it won't hurt to keep out other interlopers (coyotes) since the dogs are quite small. The stock panels look very promising. This is on a hillside, a very steep hillside...

It says "pullout spacing" is six inches. Does that mean the holes are six inch squares?

Yes. The squares would be 6" wide when the fence is pulled out. Some fencing is evenly spaced all the way from top to bottom while others have extra wires along the bottom to help discourage small critters from going thru it. No climb fencing horse fencing helps contain the smaller critters from sticking their heads thru the gaps. We have a mix of different types of livestock fencing we installed at the rental. In the areas that have welded wire with narrow spacing at the bottom, our barn cats will jump up & thru the larger holes when they want to hunt in other areas. I don't know of any good quality welded. I like no climb. We have some inside split rail and other fences to separate dogs and horses.

I can't remember the brand name, but it's the other brand than Redbrand that has thicker hot dipped. We have some that's older than ten years old that still looks good.

I don't know of any good quality welded. I like no climb. We have some inside split rail and other fences to separate dogs and horses.

I can't remember the brand name, but it's the other brand than Redbrand that has thicker hot dipped. We have some that's older than ten years old that still looks good.

It could be Bekaert, Premier, or Toughstrand. I mentioned having a rusty dog fence.

WE did, however, have horse panel when I was a kid to fence in two goats. We fenced in about an acre back then, and I remember the fence being more shiny looking and not galvanized, but it wasn't coated with plastic, that's for sure.

It did last well, a completely different level of quality vs. the light duty dog fence installed in my back yard.

The goats rubbed it and tested it, too, and it stood up to that for years, and stood up to us moving their fenced area - they killed anything that didn't have dense hard bark, thus the desire to move their fence and let them clear underbrush. I can't thank you folks enough. After reading all your responses and keeping the limitations of the steep hillside in mind, it became apparent the rigid welded wire simply won't work. A knotted fence or "horse fence" seems the answer and those are the ones offering the most likelihood of working on the sloped hillside.