Per linear foot: barbed wire runs in the low single digits, net and no-climb wire in the mid single digits to low teens, and welded pipe fence roughly in the teens to $30-plus depending on rail count and steel prices. A quarter mile is 1,320 feet, which is why fence math surprises people. Gates price separately.
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Fence pricing is linear-foot math against real distances, and the distances are what surprise: a quarter-mile of road frontage is 1,320 feet, so the difference between a $4 wire fence and an $18 pipe fence on that frontage is the difference between roughly $5,000 and $24,000 before gates. The per-foot tiers track material and labor. Barbed wire (5-strand on t-posts with braced corners) is the economical perimeter for cattle at low single digits per foot. Field fence, net wire, and no-climb (horse-safe mesh) run mid single digits to low teens depending on the mesh and the posts under it. Welded pipe fence (drill-stem posts and rails, welded joints, painted) is the premium tier in the teens to $30-plus per foot as rail count rises, and it is the tier that survives horses, equipment bumps, and decades. Hybrids earn their popularity: pipe posts and top rail with no-climb mesh below gives horse safety and pipe longevity at a price between the tiers. What moves any tier: corner and gate assemblies (the braced, concreted anchors that carry the fence's tension), rocky or root-bound ground that fights the auger, clearing the fence line before building it, and terrain that breaks the pulls into short runs. Gates, cattle guards, and automation price as their own line items. The walkthrough tapes the actual line, and the written quote prices your feet, your corners, and your gates rather than an average.