Rotational Grazing

[plumber_greg]

My electric fences could be called temporaily permanet. I use 1/8 cable, or wire rope, whatever you want to call it.When you open the gate the cable seems to follow the contours of the ground and is easy to drive over. I have had trouble with the tape wrapping in my 4-wheeler tires. To connect, use a barb wire connector, 1/8 is the same size as #9 smooth wire. gs

 

[hayray]

Like Dun mentioned, use a underground cable and try not to rely on the bungy or poly wire to carry current as a lead out to the perimeter fence, if you have enough connections you will notice some voltage drop but I have done it alot in the past and with a large enough energizer have not had too many problems. I make gates out of the high tensile wire all the time, I drop them on the ground and drive over them, not seeing any problems. Just like the current feed of the 12.5 wire better if the gate is what I am relying on for feed out to particular area of the pasture.

 

[hayray]

I avoid the spring-loaded handles too, just make my own and use the natural stretch of the tape. Dealing with a 'sprung' handle when you're in a hurry and need to shut that gate again is no fun.
I've been intrigued by the bungy gates, but never seen any in action.

Whatchya making the gate handles out of , It is getting expensive buying handles? Surprised you like the tape so much, if anything is going to cause a voltage drop or resistance it is sure to the tape as the wires in the tape easily are damamged.

 

[dun]

Like Dun mentioned, use a underground cable and try not to rely on the bungy or poly wire to carry current as a lead out to the perimeter fence, if you have enough connections you will notice some voltage drop but I have done it alot in the past and with a large enough energizer have not had too many problems. I make gates out of the high tensile wire all the time, I drop them on the ground and drive over them, not seeing any problems. Just like the current feed of the 12.5 wire better if the gate is what I am relying on for feed out to particular area of the pasture.

I don;t drive over them anymore if I can help it. One time a tire put an odd shape to the wire and I spent too long laying under the truck clearing the wire from the drive shaft with the cows wanting to come wandering theough that open gate. Only took once, just as easy to toss it aside then pull it back.

 

[agmantoo]

I buy a $3+ heavy electrical gate handle (Dare brand) from I think Jeffers and do as plumber_greg does with galvanized wire rope. To date, this is the best I have tried. Over time the heavy handles have a weak point. It is electro galvanized and in a few months starts to rust. I wish someone made a hot dip galvanized handle. If I could find a thin wall hot dipped galvanized tubing I would make my own.

 

[regolith]

The gates on this farm are high tensile and I hate them - it certainly wouldn't be possible to drive over them because as soon as they're released they curl up in a tangle. If the farm owners hadn't taken a dislike to me I'd have replaced them all with tape gates long ago, since I'm leaving it's not worth it. Farm owners seem to think it's okay to take several minutes untangling a gate then strain your back trying to close it.
It's evident hayray's gates are nothing like that - maybe a longer length or only using a single wire, not two?

Yes, the tape wires fail easily, but I've never found it a problem except one area where the tape gate was carrying the electricity (which shouldn't be attempted) and there was a short further down - in the right weather the bounce on the tape created quite a sizeable flame. A failed or broken tape is a two minute job to replace or knot (I knot back a bit of length so the first patch can be done on the spot without fetching new tape, have used the spare length a couple of times, not often.)

For the gate handles I use number eight wire (soft, heavy gauge - not sure what you'd call it) and half inch alkathene pipe. Make a loop in one end of the wire and wrap the loose end tight above the loop, fit a length of pipe twice the width of your hand down on to the loop then bend the bit of wire sticking out the top into a handle curve. The less soft, heavier wire is better and the longer the straight length leaving the curve is the harder it will be to open and the less likely for the cows to knock it open or bend the wire back. Then I make a double loop with the same wire and fit it into a pin-lock insulator for the gate catch.
I like them because I've never seen one break and you don't have to worry about driving over them, plus I've worked for many farmers who didn't like spending money but had lots of number 8 wire and half inch alkathene lying around on the rubbish heap. I've seen a lot of similar handles made with 3/4 alkathene - mine are better ;-)

 

[cjk]

Have you a picture of these gate handles?

 

[regolith]

Try this one, it's made the same way but not with alkathene... I was in a hurry and didn't have any to hand.
I'd need to wait for daylight and go and take some photos to show you the real ones.

That's a piece of string attached to it, not electrified anything - but it's still there, still doing its job (holding the steel gate open). The 'alkathene' on this one is a rubber milk tube, which it turns out you can get a handy shock through.

 

[agmantoo]

This is the Dare brand handle with the small cable that I use. When disconnected and dropped to the ground the cable goes limp avoiding all the tangles associated with HT wire. You will not get the voltage drop that one gets with small diameter stainless steel used in polywire and ribbon wire. I use these handles as disconnects in the back of the farm. I do not have a remote controlled fence charger.