another fencing question

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I rented a pasture that was "kinda fenced"... the fence that was there is REAL light, and rusty looking. Now I am having a terriable time keeping cattle in. The fence is fine, it works in places, is it the old wire that I used? Is thin wire okay? Does it lose it's ability to carry a charge after along time? Or what's going on?
 
Is this a high-tensile electric fence.If it is you should be using good wire,not rusty stuff.The thicker the wire the better the current will flow. Several multi hot wire work well in area with regular rainfall.Better than a single hotwire.Pay particular attention to your fencer and its ground.A digital voltmeter is also a very handy tool as well. :D :D
 
Rsuty wire won't do the job. A lot of people use 17 1/2 gauge and it keeps the cows in ok, but the lowered visibility makes the deer run through it. The key to 99% of the problems with hotwire is the ground system. Even in a dry climate hotwire is very effective, IF you have an adequate ground system. We use 6 6' galvanized rods driven as far as they will go. Even after a couple of iles of fencing 12 1/2 gauge, we're reading over 75k volts. Some chargers can drive a charge through wet grass and moderate shorts, a a poor charger will give out with just a half mile or so of grass.

dun
 
Aluminum wire works really well, but is soft and breaks easily,

You have to have good wire that is not being grounded along the way, you have to make sure there are no shorts along the length of the fence, and you have to make sure your charger is delivering an adequate charge alonge the entire length of the fence

You must also have catle that respect the hot wire, most of mine don't they hit it once and break it then they don't have to wory with it and move wherevever they like, however I only use solar powered chargers, I know if they were hooked up to a good hot charger they would learn some manners
 
Michelle Pankonien":3nilrdus said:
Aluminum wire works really well, but is soft and breaks easily,

You have to have good wire that is not being grounded along the way, you have to make sure there are no shorts along the length of the fence, and you have to make sure your charger is delivering an adequate charge alonge the entire length of the fence

You must also have catle that respect the hot wire, most of mine don't they hit it once and break it then they don't have to wory with it and move wherevever they like, however I only use solar powered chargers, I know if they were hooked up to a good hot charger they would learn some manners

My solar puts out 7500 volts and that's sure been adequate. When I use it as a seperate charger from the main fence I use the old existing barbed wire fence as a ground and still get 5000-54000 volts. At the old farm we were running a couple of miles of fence off of it. But we use only 12 1/2 gauge high tensile for permanent and polywire for the temp runs.
It was enough that when the neighbors bull came over/through a barbed fence to visit the young ladys he stopped and stayed between the hot wire and the fence he had broken down. That was a single strand of polywire at 30-32 inches off the ground.

dun
 
I have a Gallagher solar charger with that soft alum wire. I'd like to put stronger wire up. I saw barbless wire the other day and though to replace it with that. Does the barbless conduct well?
 
kjerckie":icqd4qb9 said:
I have a Gallagher solar charger with that soft alum wire. I'd like to put stronger wire up. I saw barbless wire the other day and though to replace it with that. Does the barbless conduct well?

Mostly it depends on the funtional size of the combined individual wires that comprize the wire. Steel will conduct better then aluminum, I've been told anyway that it will. If one wire is 16 gauge and the other is 12 gauge, the 12 gauge will allow more juice to flow. Think of it as a barden hose. The larger the diameter the more water that can run down the hose. But, why not just go with 12 1/2 gauge hi-tensile that's actaully meant for electric fencing. With solid end posts well braced, you can stretch it tighter and end up needing fewer posts. Generally we have found that although the wire costs a little more you more then make it up on posts and insulators. A word to the wise, if you go with hi-tensile, build/borrow/buy a spinning jenny to hold the wire and pay it out. A kink in hi-tensile when pulled tight will cause the wire to break at the kink. Also, learn how to make a square not in hi-tensile. It's about the handiest way there is to join pieces together, Without a jenny you will need to splice a lot of pieces together.

dun
 
kjerckie said:
I have a Gallagher solar charger with that soft alum wire. I'd like to put stronger wire up. I saw barbless wire the other day and though to replace it with that. Does the barbless conduct well?


Kjerckie 12 quage Hi tensile wire is good .I have seen guys fence in bison with it.The keys are a good ground, good wire ,adequate fencer and a digital volt meter. We also use a lighting choke on the fencer.

We put in6- 8 inch 10 -12 ft cornerposts, 4 ft in the ground.Then space out the post 35-60 feet apart, depends if the ground is rolling or not insulators on all wires. 3 hot wires for cattle /5 for sheep (3 hot 2 ground.)We have it set up so we can switch some wires to a positive/ ground system if we need.My ground for our main fencer is in a slough.The moist ground helps.


BtW Speedrite has a really good handout book on electric fencing. :D

Good luck with your project.
 
Frenchie,

Do you concrete all your post, just the corners, or none at all? I'm buying another forty and would like to try high tensile on it, but I've never built a high tensile fence. How hard is it to construct compared to barb wire?

Thanks,

JB
 
J baxter

We just drive a 10 or 12 ft post 4 ft into the ground at the corners,no concrete. Then another post about 1o ft out from the corner post then brace them.


Hi tensile is relatively simple to build, The wire is very springy.So you have to be careful not to let go of it well stretching it. I stretch mine with a truck or tractor.I use inline tensioners as well.It is consideribly faster than barb wire and cheaper.

Have to go got a call on my cell .
 
We use a rented hydraulic post pounder,that lifts high enough to drive them.(Made for driving posts for ELk fence.) Some guys drive them in with a backhoe bucket one guy here augers them in I don,t like that the post is loose and needs to be tamped.

You could auger them part way and then drive them.
I like big corner posts because I will put posts up to 60 ft apart.


You can save a lot of money on these fences, Last year I fenced 80 acre for 1200 dollars Cdn .About 900 U.S.

Use good insulators as well.

I would find out if you have a Gallagher or Speedrite dealer close. They would good to talk to and possibly assist you.
 
Thank you all for the wire info. Starting from atop my truck bed with post pounder, I did pound a long grounding rod and dug down around it to pour water in dry season to keep moist. I'll go build a better fence now.
 
kjerckie":3q0qse1x said:
Thank you all for the wire info. Starting from atop my truck bed with post pounder, I did pound a long grounding rod and dug down around it to pour water in dry season to keep moist. I'll go build a better fence now.

You need more then 1. 3-6 depending on the soil and moisture. Even in rocks and dry soil, 6 will keep your fence up and working.

dun
 
kjerckie, In that rock pit that is Yelm, Dun is right. More like 4 to 6 ground rods. PM me I have a ton of electric fence information I can send you.

Dave
 

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