2 strand high tensile fence ?

[Stocker Steve]

For one hot and one ground wire - - how far apart would you put the two wires?

 

[Nesikep]

I usually go 3 wire, each a foot apart, the lowest about a foot off the ground, hot-ground-hot.. Never done a 2 wire with a ground wire, always had both hot, and about a 18+18" spacing.

 

[pdfangus]

for division fences I just use one wire....maybe 30 inches high.....

 

[Nesikep]

Ditto for me, but I don't use high tensile, we found some really good 3/16th stainless stranded electric fence wire that has really held up well... MUCH easier to roll up!, I have a piece of threaded rod in my 1/2" cordless drill and can roll up a 250 yard fence in about a minute.. Doing it with a cordless drill instead of by hand also means you don't add or remove twist from it. I usually start the fence at about hip height, and once they've grazed the grass off I'll lower it down a couple inches.

 

[herefordlover]

Our 2 strand is @20 & 40 inches both hot really need an odd number to have a ground wire

 

[Aaron]

2 strand electric, one hot, one ground only works for yearlings - calves won't respect it. Space should be, ground wire 25 inches from ground, hot wire 10 inches above ground wire (35 inches from ground).

 

[Lucky_P]

Majority of my place (even perimeter fence) is 2 strands - both hot - at 20 & 30". Have not had 'escape' issues in over a decade - and that was calves that wouldn't stay in, 'cause the fence wasn't 'hot' enough. They took a ride to town, and I cleaned things up and got the shorts/grounds taken care of.

 

[Gunner]

My electric fence is 1 hot and one ground about 6-10 inches apart. I want the animal to get both wires at the same time. I ran the ground wire because the ground was so dry the animals were not getting shocked. I have not had a problem since I ran the ground wire.

 

[highgrit]

We run 2 hot, one at the knees and the other waist high. Calves less than a month old have gone under or through it. So far we have not had any cows get out. We try and turn the fence off till the calves get a few weeks old. Our fence paralyzed our neighbors dog so we try and keep it off when we have young calves.

 

[hillbilly beef man]

Our fence paralyzed our neighbors dog so we try and keep it off when we have young calves.

You do know that you are supposed to use a fence box for an electric fence. :lol: What kind of charger are you using that is that hot? I have a 50 mile box on 300 yards of fence and it will hurt your teeth a d you taste copper for a week, but I do not think it would paralyze anything.

 

[Nesikep]

What is the goal of this fence? Are you planning on keeping it permanent or is it a temporary thing? I think we'd all be able to give you better advice if we knew the purpose of it.

If it's going to be permanent, don't mess with 2 wire, go with a legal fence if it's on the property border (that definition varies with area, but here its 5 wires with droppers)
If it's a dividing fence that's relatively permanent, I still like 5 wires, but don't use droppers
If it's a rotation grazing fence that you're taking out on a regular basis, 1 or 2 wire with a 3/16" poly/stainless braided line is good enough, both hot, and I use 3/8" steel posts I can drive into the ground with a hammer.