electric fence tape

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deerhunter

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i am thinking about getting this for my cattle and was wondering if anyone has used it and if so how well does it work. Also how does it work is there just one wire running through it or what?
 
Why? Electric fence wire works great and will save you a lot of money.

And.... I believe the tape has several wires in it.
 
The electric tape I used was yellow nylon with real thin wires woven in it. It is easy to move if you are going to move it a lot. It also turns cattle well. But it is more expensive than wire. I used it on when I was doing a lot of real intensive pasture rotation. Now I have permanent paddocks and rotate less frequently so I use electric wires to divide the pastures.
 
The only drawback to the polytape vs polywire is in windy areas the tape chafes on the posts and the conductors will break more frequently then the polywire. IT does have higher visibility and that can be a plus
 
deerhunter

Another thing to consider is the polytape collects more ice in icy condition than the polywire. As you can see there are pro's and con's of each. Also the tape/twine with stainless steel wire is a lot more durable than that with copper wire. Personaly, I prefer polywire with 9 stainless steel strands for line fences and 5 or 6 SS strand polytape for gates. Just my 2 cents worth.
 
I've used it all and know that tape isn't worth a dang.Use wire and get some muletape for visibility.That electric tape and rope with the little wires will let you down,and here's why. if one wire breaks and another breaks 200 yds farther and then a third a little farther you end up with nothin at the other end.I've had that crap start meltin itself from a broken strand that was arcing.
Only thing that stuff is good for imo is temporary pastures,but thats just been my experience.others may have had better luck.
 
sorry this is a little late, we have started using electobraid, from Canada. I, 100%, love it. Post every 50ft, we do ours every 48. Highly recommend it. We are in Florida, so ice isn't that big of a deal. No more barb wire for me.
 
I have been using the polywire for several years and I have had good luck with it. The electric fence wire the deer were continually getting in it and breaking it or tearing it down. I like the white, they seem to be able to see it better. I normally use t-posts and an insulator but I tried the plastic posts that have a small metal thingy on the end to step into the ground and they seem to work fine and are quite a bit cheaper. The cattle learn to respect it. It sure is a lot easier than the wire. I get the plastic windup things from Lowes that people use to wind up extension cords on and use them to wind the poly wire on.
Fred
 
deerhunter":2pnh9fqk said:
i am thinking about getting this for my cattle and was wondering if anyone has used it and if so how well does it work. Also how does it work is there just one wire running through it or what?

No experience with it, but the neighbor uses it for his horses. If you have any wind you will want to twist it to keep the wind from whipping it around and breaking it. Other than that, it seems to work just fine.
 
I tried using the tape vs. wire so I had a visual. It worked great for a few days, but then the wind picked up and I had some issues with it becoming loose. I am not sure if it can stretch but mine sure did. On top of that, it was considerably more expensive. Should have just stuck with wire. Hope this helps.
 
MaineAnjous":1xkgiek6 said:
I tried using the tape vs. wire so I had a visual. It worked great for a few days, but then the wind picked up and I had some issues with it becoming loose. I am not sure if it can stretch but mine sure did. On top of that, it was considerably more expensive. Should have just stuck with wire. Hope this helps.
That's exactly the reason we use polywire instead of tape. Have had problems with the wires breaking in the tape from the flex/vibraiton/whipping the tape takes
 
I use it often and get good results ...for a while

It soon gets dirty ,
The sun breaks down the plastic and in 2 years its breaking all over the place
You join it by tying a knot and then the spark jumps the gaps and burns the tape as it does so
In 3 years you toss it and go get a new roll
That's what they want you to do .......No?
 
tytower":25n1wzlp said:
I use it often and get good results ...for a while

It soon gets dirty ,
The sun breaks down the plastic and in 2 years its breaking all over the place
You join it by tying a knot and then the spark jumps the gaps and burns the tape as it does so
In 3 years you toss it and go get a new roll
That's what they want you to do .......No?

:wave: If after your tying the knot you twist the wires together there won't be any spark jumping. :tiphat:
 
Any problem with the wire getting cought around the cattle's legs?
If something happen I figure the tape would rip alot easier then the 5 or 9 string wire. So I dont know which one to use aswell.

Thank you,
 
codymccue":p6b3f530 said:
I've used it all and know that tape isn't worth a dang.Use wire and get some muletape for visibility.That electric tape and rope with the little wires will let you down,and here's why. if one wire breaks and another breaks 200 yds farther and then a third a little farther you end up with nothin at the other end.I've had that crap start meltin itself from a broken strand that was arcing.
Only thing that stuff is good for imo is temporary pastures,but thats just been my experience.others may have had better luck.

If you use a braided polywire (PowerFlex polybraid) individual wire breakage doesn't matter because all the wires are in repeating contact with one another. It's also much harder for any of the conductors to break because they are in bundles of three rather than individual wires. Also filaments are .2 mm rather than .15 mm as most polywires.

The only way the wire filaments can generate enough heat to melt the plastic if it's arcing is if you are using a 'weed burner' energizer. That is one that runs long pulses or continuous current. A low impedence energizer does not generate heat. Most polywire packaging will say only use with low impendence energizers.

I put together one reel of polybraid from 13 pieces of about 100 ft +/- segments. Measuring the voltage at the beginning and end of the quarter mile showed only about 200 v loss through the 12 knots. That is the power of braided polywire vs. twisted polywire.
 
tytower":1qxygmav said:
I use it often and get good results ...for a while

It soon gets dirty ,
The sun breaks down the plastic and in 2 years its breaking all over the place
You join it by tying a knot and then the spark jumps the gaps and burns the tape as it does so
In 3 years you toss it and go get a new roll
That's what they want you to do .......No?

I bought some cheap tape and had the same experience you describe. Torn up in a couple of years. On the other hand, I have Premier Intellibraid I have been using for over ten years. There is a huge difference in the quality and durability of the products.
 

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