Barbed wire is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand(s). It is used to construct inexpensive fences. A person or animal trying to pass through a barbed-wire fence will suffer discomfort and possibly injury. Barbed-wire fencing requires only fenceposts, wire and fixing devices such as staples. It is simple to construct and quick to erect by a skilled fencer.
The most successful barbed wire was patented by Joseph F. Glidden of DeKalb, Illinois in 1874. It was an improvement on earlier less successful pointed wire products such as that invented in 1865 by Louis Jannin of France.
Patent Drawing for Joseph F. Glidden's Improvement to Barbed Wire, 24 November 1874.Barbed wire was the first wire technology capable of restraining cattle. Wire fences were cheaper to erect than their alternatives and when they became widely available in the late 19th century in the United States they made it affordable to fence much bigger areas than before. They made intensive animal husbandry practical on a much larger scale.
In the American Southwest
In the American Southwest barbed-wire fencing led to disputes known as the range wars between free-range ranchers and farmers in the late 19th century. These were similar to the disputes which resulted from enclosure laws in England in the early 18th century.
These disputes were decisively settled in favor of the farmers, and heavy penalities were instituted for cutting the wire in a barbed-wire fence.
Barbed-wire fences remain the standard fencing technology for enclosing cattle in most regions of the US, but not all countries. The wire is aligned under tension between heavy, braced, fence posts (strainer posts) and then held at the correct height by being attached to wooden posts and battens, or steel star posts. The gaps between star posts vary depending on terrain—on short fences in hilly country they may be placed as closely as every 3 metres, whereas in flat terrain with long spans and relatively few stock they may be spaced out up to 30 to 50 metres. Wooden posts are normally spaced at 10 metres (2 rods) in any case with 4 or 5 batterns in between
