cross fence

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baldy

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I want to cut a 200 acre pasture in half using 2 or 3 strands of high-tensile in a fairly remote area... no power available. It is fairly flat land but will cross some hog wallows and brush\weeds etc. My main concern with electric is I want to be positive that I won't start any fires( i haven't used electric,just barb)..Second I want to contain 20 heifers and 1 bull and keep neihboring bulls out. The fence will create a 200 yard buffer zone between my heifers and my 4 wire barb perimeter fence. (neighbors bulls have jumped this fence in the past). I was also thinking of running 1 strand on top of the perimeterof hot wire so here is a summary ...1. any chance of fire 2.are 3 wires enuff(top and bottom hot) 3. is that 200 yards enuff 4. Solar vs. Battery P.S. The high tensile will be a curved 1/2 mile
 
The only difference between solar and battery is usually the solar panel is used to charge the battery and the battery does the work.

dun
 
baldy":1gnaj4n4 said:
I want to cut a 200 acre pasture in half using 2 or 3 strands of high-tensile in a fairly remote area... no power available. It is fairly flat land but will cross some hog wallows and brush\weeds etc. My main concern with electric is I want to be positive that I won't start any fires( i haven't used electric,just barb)..Second I want to contain 20 heifers and 1 bull and keep neihboring bulls out. The fence will create a 200 yard buffer zone between my heifers and my 4 wire barb perimeter fence. (neighbors bulls have jumped this fence in the past). I was also thinking of running 1 strand on top of the perimeterof hot wire so here is a summary ...1. any chance of fire 2.are 3 wires enuff(top and bottom hot) 3. is that 200 yards enuff 4. Solar vs. Battery P.S. The high tensile will be a curved 1/2 mile

All of our interior fences are three strand electric. Works great; just make sure you run the under ground cable in sch 40 pvc pipe when you cross a gate. The new chargers are not "weed burners" and you should have no problems with fires. We're probably charging over 10 miles of three strand fence with a 110v "Wasp". I would certainly recommend the 12 1/2 ga high tensile wire over the the regular 17 ga stuff (Only place I've found the 12 1/2ga is the Jeffers catalog). If you have to run a battery get a solar panel. We use a deep cycle marine battery to charge a 1000ft run of 3 wire 12 1/2 ga and the battery will only last 2 to 3 weeks.

Good Luck.

Norris
 
1) The key thing is to have it hot! The cheap fencers are too weak so you end up having to replace them. Buy a good one (solar or battery) and also buy a digital tester. My big battery powered charger puts out about 7,000 to 8,000 volts on a half mile fence and it is respected. The old charger put out about 2,500 volts which was not enough.
2) I have 1 or 2 wire cross fences. One wire works unless the ground is very rough. Three wires sounds excessive for a cross fence. The key thing is to have it hot!

We have skipped using the pipe. How much longivity do you gain with adding the schedule 40 pipe underground at gates?
 
baldy

I agree with the above posts. Really good advice. For high-tensile wire check a TSC store if there is one in your area. My local TSC has it.

I buy most of my fence materials from Kencove. They have quality products, competitive prices & are great to do business with. They have a free catalog with lots of good fencing tips. Here is a link to their website. You can request the catalog here.

http://www.kencove.com/

For good animal control in all conditions do not skimp on energizer power. A wimpy charger will result in many headaches.

Good luck & happy trails

Brock
 
Stocker Steve":2k27f86w said:
We have skipped using the pipe. How much longivity do you gain with adding the schedule 40 pipe underground at gates?

It depends on how rocky the soil is and how frequently it's driven over with heavy vehicles. We've used pipe in a couple of places but generally just lay the wire in a shollow trench just below the surface. If it's a gat that the cows won;t walk through like back into the woods, I just lay it straight on the ground.

dun
 
Stocker Steve":fuaogcpc said:
1)we' ve skipped using the pipe. How much longivity do you gain with adding the schedule 40 pipe underground at gates?

We gain several years. Underground cable without pipe won't last more than a couple of years here. Tried without pipe first and had to go back and rework EVERY gate after a couple of years. Only problem we have now is when the bulls dig it up. We're deep sandy soil with 40+ inches of rain. Different soils may be different.

Norris
 
Stocker Steve":3cwujor7 said:
Do you put on elbows and seal the open ends of the pipe or just make a straight run and leave the ends open?

Unless I have a splice in the wire in the pipe I just put the wire in with now ends. With the proper wire, i.e. double insulated heavy duty, all you're trying to do is keep the wirefrom being damaged from the traffic.

dun
 
Stocker Steve":32cv1o3r said:
Do you put on elbows and seal the open ends of the pipe or just make a straight run and leave the ends open?

We run up the post and put on a 90 sweep and then a 45 elbow. Helps keep the water out and easier to pull cable through.

Norris
 
dun":7ka00bun said:
Stocker Steve":7ka00bun said:
Do you put on elbows and seal the open ends of the pipe or just make a straight run and leave the ends open?

Unless I have a splice in the wire in the pipe I just put the wire in with now ends. With the proper wire, i.e. double insulated heavy duty, all you're trying to do is keep the wirefrom being damaged from the traffic.

dun

Down here in the sandy land we also have those "all natural" pasture areators called gophers that like to chew through cable. Most of our problems have been short outs rather than traffic.

Norris
 
Almost forgot! Fire ants caused the biggest shortage problems with underground cable. They just love to punch holes in the insulation. If it weren't for battling critters, the weather and the markets there just wouldn't be any challange to raising cattle!

Norris
 

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