hi tensile in high water

[S&S Farms]

hi tensile in high water how does it stand up to flooding. I have witnesses my calving pasture under water now twice in three weeks. I am in the process of putting in permenant fence. I know what a five strand barb wire fence looks like after under water what a mess to clean off trash. Will hi tensile stand up any better?

Jeff

 

[bigbull338]

the only thing i see that you night have todo after the water goes down is retighten all your wires.because im betting they will get loose.

 

[S&S Farms]

the only thing i see that you night have todo after the water goes down is retighten all your wires.because im betting they will get loose.

Thanks that I can handle getting trash off of barbed wire is no fun.

Jeff

 

[marimus]

Just bait your barbs n catch some fish

Pretty sure I heard a tale about that once, though the teller was a pretty tall fella

 

[dun]

Set the fence up so that it can tear away without damaging the fence on either side. If enough junk flows down it can take out a pretty hefty chunk of fencing on either side of the water gap. Better to just have to fix a short span then a long one.

 

[S&S Farms]

I understand the water gap theory it is the along the stream (parallel) that is my woory 99 out of 100 no problem it is that 100th time I am trying to work with. When the water gap goes from 100 feet to 200 yards.

Jeff

 

[dun]

I understand the water gap theory it is the along the stream (parallel) that is my woory 99 out of 100 no problem it is that 100th time I am trying to work with. When the water gap goes from 100 feet to 200 yards.

Jeff

If it's not across a channel it sholdn;t be a problem (much) of getting taken out by the running water

 

[yme]

It will hold but it will get very loose and it will have trash on it you will have to remove. It will also pull your corners if they are not heck for stout. Been there, done that, bought the tee shirt. I used to use seasonal fence around a couple hay fields for fall and winter pasture but decided a few years ago to put up 2 wire HT. Worked great for years (no major flood) but last fall we had a 100 year flood that caused me to have to rebuild most of the fence and we have had two major floods this spring that caused some clean up on the bottom wire. Forget steel post and go ahead and use hedge for some of your line post as the steel will bend flat in high currents. The only good thing about them bending is that when your fence goes down it takes allot of pressure off the corners. During the big one last year it floated a couple big bales down and the fence stopped them. Before anyone asks, they were above what I thought was the high water mark (my father who would of been 76 always said it has never got above this one point in his life time so no need to worry)

 

[Aaron]

High tensile and steel t-posts with wide spacings are the only way to go in low water/flood prone areas. I've tried and seen it all when it comes to fencing around waterways. If your willing to clean off the wires at least once a year, or after a flood (takes about 10-15 minutes), then it is the way to go. I've spent 4 days cleaning off barb wire fence in low areas after a flood, never mind tightening wires. :cowboy:

 

[S&S Farms]

I think I have it figured out what to do the easieast is just open range we are a free range state :0 Hi tensile it will be.

Jeff

 

[Stocker Steve]

High tensile and steel t-posts with wide spacings are the only way to go in low water/flood prone areas. I've tried and seen it all when it comes to fencing around waterways. If your willing to clean off the wires at least once a year, or after a flood (takes about 10-15 minutes), then it is the way to go. I've spent 4 days cleaning off barb wire fence in low areas after a flood, never mind tightening wires. :cowboy:

Cleans much easier than barbed.
Put the wire down stream and use plastic insulators. They will break before the posts do.

 

[poorboy]

Yep, Make sure you put the wire on the side of the post that it will break the insulator and not push the post with the wire. Most of the time it will just break the peg in the insulator and not wash the post away. But when replacing the plug use something that will break the next time instead of putting a roofing nail in it. Don't ask.

 

[lifeofleisure]

after driving mor posts, and draging wire up out of the trashy mess we started placing wire on downstream side, and splicing it btween wood posts.

Now since we create a weak spot, we still have posts mostly in place, and can just resplice wire and trash washes on down creek.

 

[hayray]

High tensile and steel t-posts with wide spacings are the only way to go in low water/flood prone areas. I've tried and seen it all when it comes to fencing around waterways. If your willing to clean off the wires at least once a year, or after a flood (takes about 10-15 minutes), then it is the way to go. I've spent 4 days cleaning off barb wire fence in low areas after a flood, never mind tightening wires. :cowboy:

Why are the t-post the best way to go in flood areas? Is it because wood post will settle? Also, what are the best insulators to use on t-post. I have a lowland cannary grass area that is semi-permenant wetland I will be fencing soon. How wide of t-post spacings?

 

[dun]

High tensile and steel t-posts with wide spacings are the only way to go in low water/flood prone areas. I've tried and seen it all when it comes to fencing around waterways. If your willing to clean off the wires at least once a year, or after a flood (takes about 10-15 minutes), then it is the way to go. I've spent 4 days cleaning off barb wire fence in low areas after a flood, never mind tightening wires. :cowboy:

Why are the t-post the best way to go in flood areas? Is it because wood post will settle? Also, what are the best insulators to use on t-post. I have a lowland cannary grass area that is semi-permenant wetland I will be fencing soon. How wide of t-post spacings?

T-posts will bend and not break off so all you have to do is pull them upright. We use the black Plastic Gallager insulators, haven;t had one break down internally yet. But they;ve only been up for 10-12 years so far.

 

[Aaron]

High tensile and steel t-posts with wide spacings are the only way to go in low water/flood prone areas. I've tried and seen it all when it comes to fencing around waterways. If your willing to clean off the wires at least once a year, or after a flood (takes about 10-15 minutes), then it is the way to go. I've spent 4 days cleaning off barb wire fence in low areas after a flood, never mind tightening wires. :cowboy:

Why are the t-post the best way to go in flood areas? Is it because wood post will settle? Also, what are the best insulators to use on t-post. I have a lowland cannary grass area that is semi-permenant wetland I will be fencing soon. How wide of t-post spacings?

It all comes down to reducing the surface area of the fence supports, thus reducing weight of the load of trash that the support with come in contact with. After a good storm with a lowland creek, a 6 inch wood post with barb wire could easily collect 50 to 100 lbs of debris, depending on how much wood dams up. A T-post after the same storm, and at proper spacings with hi tensile, won't even collect a 1/4 of the debris.

Most lowland/creek fences made with wood posts, that I have seen, have put them at 8'-10' spacings. Way too close. Using T-posts, go for at least 20 foot spacings, no more than 30' through a creek, and at least 50 feet on creek banks and through lowland fields (I go 70 feet).

Best insulators are T-post insulators that are snug to the post, not the extended 2-3" ones...again...the extension adds surface area which increases the weight load.

Also guys have been mentioning about putting the insulators downstream. I only recommend that if your cows are on the downstream side. If your cows are upstream of the fence, put the insulators upstream. A cow with an urge to rub will do more harm to the post than water and debris will do to the line. Use new 12.5 gauge wire when you do it, with proper strain insulators and braces and the wire will not break (unless of course an entire tree floats through it). I've had wires with well over 200 lbs of debris on them, and they don't break.

Through a creek, bottom wire is maximum 6 inches above the water level, next wire 20" above that, and the third 20" above the second. Through a lowland field/pasture, first wire 18-20" above the soil and the 2nd one about 12-15" above that. :cowboy:

 

[dun]

Also guys have been mentioning about putting the insulators downstream. I only recommend that if your cows are on the downstream side. If your cows are upstream of the fence, put the insulators upstream. A cow with an urge to rub will do more harm to the post than water and debris will do to the line.

Our cows will scratch on a t-post or any post that has barb wire hanging on it but they don;t come close to touching one that has hotwire on it.