[Bedlingtond]

I am brand new to all of this! My husband and I are closing on 50 acres of land out in West Texas. His old boss used to raise Texas longhorns, and my husband would love to do the same. I remember those gentle giants fondly. The owner of the land we are buying used to have 35 head of cattle out there once upon a time. We are not looking for anything in that realm at this point. We are probably talking about starting with like 5. No bulls. But We don't know a whole lot. My husband knows a little bit from working on the ranch about 10 years ago. As far as how to lay out the land, where to put our house, anything like that... we know nothing. There's currently barbed wire fencing that goes all the way around the perimeter of the property, and the owner has his home at the very front of the property roadside. However, there are huge oak trees that block off the back 45 acres of the property, and we'd rather have our home back there where the cattle will also go, because of the privacy it affords. But then that would mean driving through a cattle pasture to get to our house. I don't know anything about what layout should look like or how that would go if we're really talking about longhorns in the future. Seperate pastures, etc... Need some expert advice.

 

[MontanaBredRancher]

I am brand new to all of this! My husband and I are closing on 50 acres of land out in West Texas. His old boss used to raise Texas longhorns, and my husband would love to do the same. I remember those gentle giants fondly. The owner of the land we are buying used to have 35 head of cattle out there once upon a time. We are not looking for anything in that realm at this point. We are probably talking about starting with like 5. No bulls. But We don't know a whole lot. My husband knows a little bit from working on the ranch about 10 years ago. As far as how to lay out the land, where to put our house, anything like that... we know nothing. There's currently barbed wire fencing that goes all the way around the perimeter of the property, and the owner has his home at the very front of the property roadside. However, there are huge oak trees that block off the back 45 acres of the property, and we'd rather have our home back there where the cattle will also go, because of the privacy it affords. But then that would mean driving through a cattle pasture to get to our house. I don't know anything about what layout should look like or how that would go if we're really talking about longhorns in the future. Seperate pastures, etc... Need some expert advice.

Welcome @Bedlingtond!
If you and your husband are set on your house being built in the back pasture with the cattle, I would definitely plan on building some fences The barbed wire fence is great. My favorite fencing is dowel fence with hog wire.
We raise many horses so the hog wire is essential to preventing injury and escaping foals, etc.

A good plan for your house and property could be a long driveway along the EDGE of a fence to your house. The picture I am attaching is a driveway running through a pasture, ultimately splitting it in two.

I think you should consider pipe fencing. It is rather expensive, but great for a small farm.
1: pipe fencing
2: dowel fencing (our favorite, but we prefer building with hog wire as well)
3: driveway