Douglas
Well-known member
when you need short cross fences can the poly wire by cut and tied back together? Or should you always leave it on the roll?
Poly wire ?
- Thread starter Douglas
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S&WSigma40VEShooter
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It can be cut and tied together. I did it on my fence when I fenced my whole acreage. Fence works fine.
It can be cut and tied but you have to make sure that all of the conductors in both pieces are contactacting each other.
I don;t understand why you would cut it for short runs. If you have it on a reel you just pay out what you need and leave the rest on the reel/spool/whatever.
I don;t understand why you would cut it for short runs. If you have it on a reel you just pay out what you need and leave the rest on the reel/spool/whatever.
JRGidaho`
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The PolyBraid from PowerFlex fence can be cut and spliced much more easily than the old twisted polywires. Because the conductors are braided together, you only need to have one contact point in your knot and the energy flow is good. With a simple square knot, you will have several contact points so voltage loss in minimized.
I have a couple of reels made up with 8 to 10 100+ ft sections of PolyBraid as well as several reels with continuous unbroken PolyBraid. When I measure voltage at the far end of line there is only about 100 volt difference between 1320 ft of continuous PolyBraid and the spliced reels. With twisted polywire that many splices would usualy cost us at least 1000 volts.
Like dun, I wonder why you're cutting pieces for each move or is this temp fence staying up longer than a day or two?
I have a couple of reels made up with 8 to 10 100+ ft sections of PolyBraid as well as several reels with continuous unbroken PolyBraid. When I measure voltage at the far end of line there is only about 100 volt difference between 1320 ft of continuous PolyBraid and the spliced reels. With twisted polywire that many splices would usualy cost us at least 1000 volts.
Like dun, I wonder why you're cutting pieces for each move or is this temp fence staying up longer than a day or two?
SRBeef
Well-known member
I suggest using aluminum rather than poly for cross fences and on a Gallagher reel.
Using a good reel makes all there difference in the world to the success or failure (= too much work) of a rotational grazing system.
Here is the Gallagher reel:
http://www.gallagherusa.com/electric-fencing/permanent.component.aspx?mktprodid=759
Aluminum is also almost as light as poly but a lot less likely to leave slivers in your hands than poly and doesn''t stretch and droop as much.
Put a light spring handle on one end of the aluminum to hook over a hot wire and hook the non-conducter metal hook on the reel over a cold barb wire near a post with a few step ins (the Gallaghers stepins are worth the money here too) every 8 - 10 paces and you have a simple fast, no sliver cross fence system that you can reuse almost indefinitely.
Tying poly together just is not a long term acceptable system in rotational grazing in my opinion. The easier and less troublesome the wire moving is, the more likely you will do it. Jim
Using a good reel makes all there difference in the world to the success or failure (= too much work) of a rotational grazing system.
Here is the Gallagher reel:
http://www.gallagherusa.com/electric-fencing/permanent.component.aspx?mktprodid=759
Aluminum is also almost as light as poly but a lot less likely to leave slivers in your hands than poly and doesn''t stretch and droop as much.
Put a light spring handle on one end of the aluminum to hook over a hot wire and hook the non-conducter metal hook on the reel over a cold barb wire near a post with a few step ins (the Gallaghers stepins are worth the money here too) every 8 - 10 paces and you have a simple fast, no sliver cross fence system that you can reuse almost indefinitely.
Tying poly together just is not a long term acceptable system in rotational grazing in my opinion. The easier and less troublesome the wire moving is, the more likely you will do it. Jim
Douglas
Well-known member
I am trying to divide a couple rye/ryegrass plots into smaller section which will not be moved till next May or so.
JRGidaho`
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I guess we are all the product of our individual experiences...
SRBeef, we're you referring to the Gall. pigtail step-ins or the plastic ones? I've found the pigtails to be fine but the plastic ones becoming very brittle in a relatively short period of time.
Twisted polywires can leave slivers in your fingers (both plastic and wire). The braided polywire does not fray in the same way as the twisted wires so slivers aren't a problem there. I'll agree aluminum has great conductivity and with difficult to control livestock it can be an effective option.
We've used almost every brand (Gallagher, PEL, Speedrite, Dare, Waikato, Stafix, Premier, and a lot of farm store junk) of electric fence reel over the past 25 years and have found the O'Brien 3:1 geared reel to be the most reliable, durable, and cost effective. We have been using them for about 15 years now. Once you use geared reels, you'll have a hard time doing straight cranks anymore.
We've also used almost every brand of step-in posts (same as above re reels) and found the O'Brien Treadline post to be the most reliable, durable, and cost effective. We've been using the O'Brien step-ins for over 20 years now. We have quite a few of these posts that are 10-15 years old. Most of them I can still bend over into a 'U' and they still come back straight. Occasionally one will break just from age.
We graze center pivots here and the temporary fences I run are usually between 800 - 1000 ft. It usually take 12-15 minutes to take down and put up the 800 ft runs and 18 to 20 minutes to do the 1000 ft runs. Back in MO we used to run just 300-500 ft stretches and those usually took me about 7 minutes to make a paddock change.
SRBeef, we're you referring to the Gall. pigtail step-ins or the plastic ones? I've found the pigtails to be fine but the plastic ones becoming very brittle in a relatively short period of time.
Twisted polywires can leave slivers in your fingers (both plastic and wire). The braided polywire does not fray in the same way as the twisted wires so slivers aren't a problem there. I'll agree aluminum has great conductivity and with difficult to control livestock it can be an effective option.
We've used almost every brand (Gallagher, PEL, Speedrite, Dare, Waikato, Stafix, Premier, and a lot of farm store junk) of electric fence reel over the past 25 years and have found the O'Brien 3:1 geared reel to be the most reliable, durable, and cost effective. We have been using them for about 15 years now. Once you use geared reels, you'll have a hard time doing straight cranks anymore.
We've also used almost every brand of step-in posts (same as above re reels) and found the O'Brien Treadline post to be the most reliable, durable, and cost effective. We've been using the O'Brien step-ins for over 20 years now. We have quite a few of these posts that are 10-15 years old. Most of them I can still bend over into a 'U' and they still come back straight. Occasionally one will break just from age.
We graze center pivots here and the temporary fences I run are usually between 800 - 1000 ft. It usually take 12-15 minutes to take down and put up the 800 ft runs and 18 to 20 minutes to do the 1000 ft runs. Back in MO we used to run just 300-500 ft stretches and those usually took me about 7 minutes to make a paddock change.
We do with poly what srbeef does with aluminum, Poly is a lot lighter then the aluminum unless you're using the right light wire.
I saw some of the geared reels that Jim is talking about and will be using them to replace the Gallaghers as they fall aprt. Been 10 years and they haven;t started falling apart yet, but I'm sure in time........
We tried plastic stepins, pigtails and finally went with the 3/8 UV treated figerglass with the wire loop that you adjust for height. In our soil you have to drive them with a small sledge about half the time (rocks) and with the varying ground contour the wire loop deals makes it much easier to get the wire at the height you want.
But as was said, whatever works for the individual ...................................
I saw some of the geared reels that Jim is talking about and will be using them to replace the Gallaghers as they fall aprt. Been 10 years and they haven;t started falling apart yet, but I'm sure in time........
We tried plastic stepins, pigtails and finally went with the 3/8 UV treated figerglass with the wire loop that you adjust for height. In our soil you have to drive them with a small sledge about half the time (rocks) and with the varying ground contour the wire loop deals makes it much easier to get the wire at the height you want.
But as was said, whatever works for the individual ...................................
andybob
Well-known member
We use the Rappa systems here, whole reels can be left on the anchor posts, we have an ATV mounted fencing unit to both put down and retrieve poly wire and flexible steel wire,with two wheelbarrow models for short fences. We use temporary fences to rotate cattle, sheep and pigs around the pastures, I tie the polywire with a reef knot which always makes enough contact to conduct the power across the break. We cannot use any temporary fences for the Buffalo, they walk through polywire as if it isn't there!
http://www.rappa.co.uk/index.cfm
http://www.rappa.co.uk/index.cfm
