Temporary Electric Fence

[greatgerts]

We currently have high tensile electric fence around most of the farm (got 60 acres not right now) and was wanting to learn a little on splitting some of the paddocks up with a temporary fence. I have been looking at reels and polywire, but would like some input from some on here as to what they use, and how they do it.
How do you attach each end? Do you set up the temp posts before you run the wire? Do some of you have pictures of the connections to show?
We would be moving the wire once a day, maybe twice if need be.

 

[BettyLandercasper]

we use step in fiberglass posts with attached hooks for the wire. The pigtail ones are easiest to use but more expensive. For little calves it takes 2 wires as they lie down next to the fence,get up on the other side. For anything bigger single strand is fine. We hook to the main fence with a gate handle, or more commonly we use a seperate "can" fencer with a marine battery for these interior lines. The fencer is on a step in metal post, the kind about as big around as a pencil. This post is the "ground".
We dont reel wire up, we just move it flat out. After a day or two cattle get the plan.

 

[dun]

We use a regular hotwire gate hook at one end and slip it over the hot wire as a feed. I use an insulated all plastic handle at first with the metal hook in it and the plastic over the hot wire then run the wire out to the other end. That gives me a line to use. Then I walk it out and drop the posts as I go. When I run out of an armfull of posts I walk back to the mule and put the posts in as I go and hook the polywire to the posts. When I get back to the mule I drive to the last post I put in and start walking and dropping, I repeat the process till the wire is strung. We use the polywire reels with a ratchet for the none electric end. Hang the reel from the insualted hook and tighten the wire then drive back to the start and hook the metal gate hook over the hotwire.
Sounds more complicated then it is!

 

[1wlimo]

I used to walk beside my quad driving it with my left hand and use the right to hook post onto wire then tred in. Then you do even need to stop. Or at least with one wire.

 

[JSCATTLE]

I have high tensil lanes in my pastures . I use poly wire to allot how much grass the cows get for 3 days . I tie it to the high tensil and use step in post for the poly wire . I use a 8 foot PVC pipe to hold up high tensil to make a gate into each section when they graze .

 

[Kingfisher]

If you use the search feature you can find some details and pictures from agmantoo ( ?) on how he does it.

 

[SRBeef]

I do it pretty much as Dun describes. I prefer aluminum wire to the polywire though. Tend not to have splinters and can be pulled tighter without stretching. Yet it is not as heavy as a reel full of steel wire. I like the P type step in posts. You will need a couple reels w gate handles so you can put up a lead cross wire then take the current one down.

I usually get the electric juice from the hot wire on standoffs inside my perimeter fence for the gate handle. I use #14 or #12 steel wire to make some loops at the tee posts on my semi permanent interior divider fences to hook the reel onto. Use a temporary non conductive handle in line with the regular gate handle, walk the reel up to wherever I am going to hang it, tighten the wire, walk back putting in P type posts (fast and slip over the wire easily) about every 10 paces to the other end, remove the non-conductive handle and I'm done.

I also like longer rectangular paddocks that I can advance a lead wire and not use a back wire at least for 4-7 days before they would start grazing the new growth. Broke the pasture shown up into two long paddocks with a semi permanent lane down the middle. They work from the camera towards the woods then shift over back again in grazing the paddock on the right of the lane. Lane gives them a path to water. All sorts of different possibilities at different times of year. They also use the lane for access to the woods for shade during the heat of summer.

I try to put them in when the growth is about 10" tall (but not stemmy nor gone to seed) and move them when they eat it down to about 4" tall. There are also lanes back to water. In the pictures below I will open the slinky gate in the right rear when they get to that point, put up a back wire and they will use the lane to get back to water.

Here are a couple pictures from a May rotation in 2010.

Jim

A before and after - ran the gate handle on the semi permanent in the picture, reel is hung on perimeter fence.

Patiently waiting. Rotational grazing really helps the legumes in the mix on the right

Next day will put in a back wire and open slinky gate in right rear so they use lane to water rather than coming back through what is already grazed. You can see the new lead wire reel hanging on the perimeter fence in the left rear. Just need to watch it doesn't hang in a way it shorts out to the barb wire.

 

[dun]

The 9 conductor poly doesn;t stretch much at all but it's enough to be able to get a little slack when it's tight hook/unhook the gate hook. I maybe should have mentioned that all we have is hightensile (except in a copule of smallish holding areas) and use the high tensile as a backbone for all of the polywire partitions.

 

[greatgerts]

Thanks guys. We have started rotational grazing in 2005, but still feel there was room for improvement, and this is what I am wanting to start when we start moving cows around this spring. We have cut our hay usage down around 20% so far, and would like to keep cutting those costs down.
The other 60 acres are being seeded and fertilized since they had once been wooded areas and we are putting them in pasture.

The ideas I had before now seem to be a mix of Jim's and Dun's. I do like the idea of making a lane to the water so they will not be on the grazed area as much.

 

[greatgerts]

If you use the search feature you can find some details and pictures from agmantoo ( ?) on how he does it.

Agmantoo sent me a pm with some links. I knew there were a ton of posts on this subject, and while at work (on a break) I didn't have a ton of time to go through all of the fencing posts so I had just posted the question.

 

[Douglas]

If you can figure out a way to move cattle without putting up new fence too often, do it. Nothing wrong with perm. cross fencing. I use a single stran h-t with some t-post for areas i can leave for a while and you don't have to worry about ice or snow or deer . The tpost can be pulled up and i have the h-t in sections i can hang on the outside fence. You can not have the sections to big or you will need help moving them. Just depends on your lay out and water locations.

 

[Douglas]

I use a 5/16 slip hook on the ht wire and have plastic doughnuts on the perimeter posts.