Some history of fences:
In the past, livestock would roam freely and were fenced out of areas, such as gardens and fields of crops, where they were unwanted. Over time, especially where crop agriculture became dominant and population density of both humans and animals was significant, livestock owners were made to fence their animals in.
The earliest fences were made of available materials, usually stone or wood. In areas where field stones are plentiful, fences have been built up over the years as the stones are removed from fields during tillage and planting of crops.
The stones were placed on the field edge to get them out of the way. In time, the piles of stones grew high and wide. In other areas, fences were constructed of timber. Log fences or split-rail fences were simple fences constructed in newly cleared areas by stacking log rails.
A later development was the sunken fence, or "ha-ha," a type of wall built by digging a ditch with one steep side (which animals cannot scale) and one sloped side (where the animals roam).
Though the open range was part of the western tradition, over time, open range was limited long before it was eliminated completely; first came an obligation to keep cattle from roaming onto state and federal highways, where collisions with fast-moving cars and trucks created a public safety hazard.
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