fence tips and tricks

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Farm Fence Solutions":26pl89kx said:
True Grit Farms":26pl89kx said:
Farm Fence Solutions":26pl89kx said:
Three strands of HT ain't fence, but I'll play along. What do you figure for annual maintenance?

Maintenance is very minimal, but we do check voltage sometimes. The deer will wrap the hot wire in my barbed wire fence and ground the fence out. I have had to change my circuit board and a couple of fuses out twice in my fence charger because of lighting. And every so often a deer will tear up an insulator. I bought a few bags of the cheap snap on insulators that are junk, you have to use the insulators that screw on the T post. I put springs and ratchets on both ends of a run. I definitely spend some money on herbicides, I mix a stiff batch of Element 3, Roundup and diesel fuel and spray the fence lines every other year. I've never had a HT wire break yet, even after two hurricanes and some terrible straight line winds. All I do is cut the trees off the wire and put a new insulator or two on the T post.
How can you not call a 3 wire HT fence not a fence?
fence
fens/Submit
noun
1.
a barrier, railing, or other upright structure, typically of wood or wire, enclosing an area of ground to mark a boundary, control access, or prevent escape.
synonyms: barrier, fencing, enclosure, barricade, stockade, palisade, fenceline; railing
"a gap in the fence"

In most states, that wouldn't be considered a legal boundary fence in the eyes of the law. I like a hot wire over net quite a bit better than barb, for some of the same reasons you prefer hot wire. Just a few more questions.... What are you using for posts and how far are they spaced? Are you using any kind of brace on the ends? What is the average length of a run of fence for you?

Ga may be like Texas. Unless you are on an interstate frontage road or certain state highways, there are no State "legal boundary fence " described fence standards.
Texas is an open range state..as it should be. Even the counties that have a stock law (mine does) there is no set of standards from the gubment for a livestock fence...county defers to State on the matter.
 
True Grit Farms":3pa909ig said:
"In most states, that wouldn't be considered a legal boundary fence in the eyes of the law. I like a hot wire over net quite a bit better than barb, for some of the same reasons you prefer hot wire. Just a few more questions.... What are you using for posts and how far are they spaced? Are you using any kind of brace on the ends? What is the average length of a run of fence for you?"

I use a 6' T post around 15 good steps apart. I built regular corner braces like I'd do for a barbed wire fence out of wood post. From now on it's going to be one piece of 8" thick wall pipe as deep as I can easily get it with concrete for electric fence. My fences look terrible compared to some and better than others. You and Fenceman build fence that I can only dream about. But I'm learning and my fence building skills are improving every day. Thanks to both of you.


15 steps apart.. Mine are 40' apart.
 
Artifacts from a prehistoric fence builder. After the fire destroyed his work the scorched earth reveals some artifacts entombed in the ancient concrete. Maybe he had a hole in his pocket. Or maybe it was his signature. Idk. ..but this fence will never burn again.






 
ddd75":v42mv1vh said:
True Grit Farms":v42mv1vh said:
"In most states, that wouldn't be considered a legal boundary fence in the eyes of the law. I like a hot wire over net quite a bit better than barb, for some of the same reasons you prefer hot wire. Just a few more questions.... What are you using for posts and how far are they spaced? Are you using any kind of brace on the ends? What is the average length of a run of fence for you?"

I use a 6' T post around 15 good steps apart. I built regular corner braces like I'd do for a barbed wire fence out of wood post. From now on it's going to be one piece of 8" thick wall pipe as deep as I can easily get it with concrete for electric fence. My fences look terrible compared to some and better than others. You and Fenceman build fence that I can only dream about. But I'm learning and my fence building skills are improving every day. Thanks to both of you.


15 steps apart.. Mine are 40' apart.
Normal walking step is about 30" toe to heel so you 2 aren't that much different.
30" X 15 steps =450" ÷ 12=37.5 ft.
 
fence_it":3ncr2y1n said:
New tool came in today. Think were going to get some use out of it.





Farm had one of those when he visited.
I kinda thought it looked a little cumbersome to use.
But in all fairness the battery on my cordless wasn't up to par. And I had spent a week trying to get some hogs found for him. After being hammed for three months of deer season they get pretty elusive. I'd found some the day before he showed. And I didn't give him much time. We went hunting instead.
 
callmefence":3meykjbw said:
fence_it":3meykjbw said:
New tool came in today. Think were going to get some use out of it.






Farm had one of those when he visited.
I kinda thought it looked a little cumbersome to use.
But in all fairness the battery on my cordless wasn't up to par. And I had spent a week trying to get some hogs found for him. After being hammed for three months of deer season they get pretty elusive. I'd found some the day before he showed. And I didn't give him much time. We went hunting instead.

We made the right decision.
 
Farm Fence Solutions":1djohat7 said:
greybeard":1djohat7 said:
fence_it wrote:
New tool came in today. Think were going to get some use out of it.
Ok..what is it..what's it used for?

It's a Wire Wizard....for making off low carbon net.
Around here, 'making off' means stealing........had to look at a video to see what it actually does and how.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZjoJx2R1v8

I can see where it would be a hand/finger/time saver if you do much net fence at all.
 
It definitely has a learning curve to use. You've got to bend the wire just right to get it started in the tool. Its wraps so tight and fast the knot will burn your hand if you touch it right after it was wrapped. We got it specifically to use on high tensile woven. Giving it a try in the field today, i've got a couple tie offs to do first thing this morning.
 
My hands are raw after about 10 tie offs. Hard to teach tying like that to someone to. The tool wraps wire tighter than any person could by hand. I dont know if thats good or not but the lines we pulled this morning held up good.

We have Milwaukee Fuel drills with 5.0 batteries, they last all day and then some. :cowboy:
 
fence_it":138pe4gc said:
My hands are raw after about 10 tie offs. Hard to teach tying like that to someone to. The tool wraps wire tighter than any person could by hand. I dont know if thats good or not but the lines we pulled this morning held up good.

We have Milwaukee Fuel drills with 5.0 batteries, they last all day and then some. :cowboy:

My fingers don't work right any more. I can't make a 3without using the pinkie, ring and index, I can't make a two without the pinkie coming up. And I can't shoot the bird. The middle won't come up without the ring and the pinkie. Which is my three. ...use your wire wizard, your gripples and your crimps. I'm telling you..use them
 
greybeard":15qqdn7l said:
Farm Fence Solutions":15qqdn7l said:
greybeard":15qqdn7l said:
Ok..what is it..what's it used for?

It's a Wire Wizard....for making off low carbon net.
Around here, 'making off' means stealing........had to look at a video to see what it actually does and how.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZjoJx2R1v8

I can see where it would be a hand/finger/time saver if you do much net fence at all.

I really appreciate all the leg work you do finding these videos to explain some of these things. :clap:
I also appreciate this thread. Even though 80% of what's here, I will never need to do, it's still very interesting to learn from the pros about the correct ways of fence installs. :clap: :clap:
 
callmefence":3jkw0x2x said:
fence_it":3jkw0x2x said:
My hands are raw after about 10 tie offs. Hard to teach tying like that to someone to. The tool wraps wire tighter than any person could by hand. I dont know if thats good or not but the lines we pulled this morning held up good.

We have Milwaukee Fuel drills with 5.0 batteries, they last all day and then some. :cowboy:

My fingers don't work right any more. I can't make a 3without using the pinkie, ring and index, I can't make a two without the pinkie coming up. And I can't shoot the bird. The middle won't come up without the ring and the pinkie. Which is my three. ...use your wire wizard, your gripples and your crimps. I'm telling you..use them

It was my dads idea to buy. He is 60 and starting to have problems, been fencing full time since he was 48 or 49, part time about 20 years before that. His wrists are messed up from running the post driver, too much repetitive motion. He is going to get alot of use out of this. Started using t clip gripples too, handy for the bottom wires.
 

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