Wish I had your fence for my gourds! I think it will work just fine. And, I don't think the dinosaur gourd will be any heavier than the others, so plant away!
As for the sheep, I believe they mostly graze off the ground and shouldn't be a problem.

A lot of gourdening is trial and error, so you just gotta do it! You won't know if you don't try!!

Jan

I have that same type of fence, and my biggest dino gourd grew between the fence! They get tricky and hide from you at times until its to late and their stuck in the fence, not to many though.
Although they are easy to train up the fence they do vine out alot too, so you can have plenty of vineage on the ground also.
Best of luck and have fun.
Sandy

Thanks for the confidence booster! Any suggestions on how far apart to plant or how many per hill?

--freefour

Are there any planting recommendations on your seed packets? If not, put 2 or 3 seeds per hill, 4' apart, then thin to 1 or 2 strong plants. If you have a really long fence area, put the hills 6' apart. Remember, some plants will trellis and some will vine along the ground.
I prefer most of my vines along the ground...you get the most interesting shapes.!
If you're going to till the ground before you make the hills, a little of the sheep manure will help the soil.

Jan

I'd keep an eye on the sheep. I have seen cows, goats, pigs, horses and cats eat young gourdlings on the vine, so I observe any 4 legged neighbors around my vines before saying they will or won't bother them.

With 120 feet of fenceline you can get 30 plants @ 4 foot intervals, or 40 plants @ 3 foot intervals.. Since it is a long row along the fenceline you could actually get away with planting between two and three feet intervals, if you are wanting to grow more than 40 plants :)

Thanks guys, I will keep an eye on the sheep. I think 30 plants will be plenty! :) I have read that some of the vines get 30 feet long so I didn't want to over-crowd them.

--freefour

As for the vines growing 30 ft. long, you will want to keep an eye on them and trim the main stem vine back to 10 ft. This puts more growth in to the lateral vines and the gourds as they are growing.

Jan

I looked on craigslist under tools and found someone with a lot of old wooden ladders. I bought some and made a overhead growing area for gourds and squash. Ladders were old and cheap. needed for growing not climbing. works out very well. birdhouse gourds and some msc smaller ones. had trouble with some mildew but i think they will survive the season.