T post fence?

[BILL CLAYLAND]

I plan on fencing in an acre out of a five acre hay pasture while I clear some brush in a larger bottom field that hasnt had cattle on it in 8 years. one of the long sides of the lot will go up against a wood pole and wire cattle fence.
I have 3 head, Hereford Moma- bull calf and a black white faced steer(T-bone).I plan on using single brace corners and T posts, 14gauge elec wire. 4 strand.
Corners will be concrete in.
I plan to take the whole 5 acres and put in hi tensile in the future. This year ill have the neighbor bale it up and plant some fescue, clover in half of the 5 acres for grazing, or maybe all 5,,thoughts?? (orchard grass now,, lots of it)
The soil here in maryland is loam and rocky and also some slopes.
Do you think this fence will hold them in? or should i think more permenant. Also how far apart could i place tht t posts?

Bill

 

[Aaron]

30 foot spacings will work well. Use insulators with an extended/long neck to keep the wire as far away from the posts as possible to help eliminate any stray voltage loss. :cowboy:

 

[hayray]

Sounds like to me that you already are constructing everything you need to put your high tensile fence up, just so much stronger then what you are planning and cheaper also. The 14 gauge low carbon steel wire works well until deer run into it and break it and it typically has a low amount of galvanile coating and starts rusting fast and weakens. There are good insulators designed for t-post, use real good ones otherwise the big problem with electric wire and t-post is shorting out.

 

[BILL CLAYLAND]

Thanks Aaron,, Hayray.
See this is where i get confused, Ive always used Aluminum elec fence wire 14 gauge to elictrify
our wood post and board fence, I just used 2 wires.
This is the stuff from TSC. Do i need to use the 12.5 gauge galvanized steel that is reccomended for hi tensile for the T-POST fence
There is farm around me that has 6 wire fences, wood posts. lotsa black cows on that field

 

[Angus Cowman]

Bill
have ya thought of using power flex post instead of t-post and insulators
www.powerflexfence.com

 

[hayray]

The 14 gauge aluminum wire from TSC will give you nighmares, it is just so weak and has a low visability rating so wildlife runs into it and breaks it and if you have untrained livestock they may run through it before getting shocked. Two strands of wire is fine for keeping trained cattle in as long as it is strong and visable, this is where the high tensile comes in. Deer can run right into it and bounce off of it, the other wire will bend and or break and cause a short and then your fence won't work well and cattle could escape. The worst that will happen with the high tesile is that you will break some insulators off the post. Also, you can go twice the distance with post if you go to high tensile.

 

[Angus Cowman]

The 14 gauge aluminum wire from TSC will give you nighmares, it is just so weak and has a low visability rating so wildlife runs into it and breaks it and if you have untrained livestock they may run through it before getting shocked. Two strands of wire is fine for keeping trained cattle in as long as it is strong and visable, this is where the high tensile comes in. Deer can run right into it and bounce off of it, the other wire will bend and or break and cause a short and then your fence won't work well and cattle could escape. The worst that will happen with the high tesile is that you will break some insulators off the post. Also, you can go twice the distance with post if you go to high tensile.

Don't have that problem with power flex post

 

[dun]

The 14 gauge aluminum wire from TSC will give you nighmares, it is just so weak and has a low visability rating so wildlife runs into it and breaks it and if you have untrained livestock they may run through it before getting shocked. Two strands of wire is fine for keeping trained cattle in as long as it is strong and visable, this is where the high tensile comes in. Deer can run right into it and bounce off of it, the other wire will bend and or break and cause a short and then your fence won't work well and cattle could escape. The worst that will happen with the high tesile is that you will break some insulators off the post. Also, you can go twice the distance with post if you go to high tensile.

Don't have that problem with power flex post

We tied them at a neighbors. Couldn;t get them to wedge their way in between the rocks far enough.

 

[Angus Cowman]

Don't have that problem with power flex post

We tied them at a neighbors. Couldn;t get them to wedge their way in between the rocks far enough.

Maybe you just weren't doing it right as I am pretty sure your ground is no rockier than ours as I have built fence in your area also
we either use a pilot driver or a piece of drill stem and a hammer to drive a pilot hole and have had no problems at all

if you can get a T-post in the ground you can get a powerflex post in the ground

Now when we done Jed's he cheated he put a 1" auger bit in a cordless drill and drilled the holes then drove the post in the ground but then again if you wnat rocks down there you have to drive 100 miles to get them
Heck his wife hauls rocks home from here when they come up

 

[dun]

Don't have that problem with power flex post

We tied them at a neighbors. Couldn;t get them to wedge their way in between the rocks far enough.

Maybe you just weren't doing it right as I am pretty sure your ground is no rockier than ours as I have built fence in your area also
we either use a pilot driver or a piece of drill stem and a hammer to drive a pilot hole and have had no problems at all

if you can get a T-post in the ground you can get a powerflex post in the ground

Now when we done Jed's he cheated he put a 1" auger bit in a cordless drill and drilled the holes then drove the post in the ground but then again if you wnat rocks down there you have to drive 100 miles to get them
Heck his wife hauls rocks home from here when they come up

I kind of figured you would have to make the hole first. Since I've never had a problem with T-posts shorting out the fence I'll stick with the one step method of getting the posts in the ground.

 

[hayray]

If I had to go out and buy the post I would go get the Powerflex or the fiberglass sucker rod post. I inheareted a lot of t-post so I made use of those before buying anything else. I like how the Powerflex post bend, but they are hard to drive straight and alot harder to drive then the fiberglass post. I ordered some to do a horse fence for my girlfriend using polyrope, they are nice post but I am not really sure they are better then the fiberglass post yet.

 

[Angus Cowman]

If I had to go out and buy the post I would go get the Powerflex or the fiberglass sucker rod post. I inheareted a lot of t-post so I made use of those before buying anything else. I like how the Powerflex post bend, but they are hard to drive straight and alot harder to drive then the fiberglass post. I ordered some to do a horse fence for my girlfriend using polyrope, they are nice post but I am not really sure they are better then the fiberglass post yet.

You need a pilot hole to install the powerflex post and if you talk to the people at powerflex they will tell you that
Hayray can you run over the fiberglass post and not hurt them??

I frequently drive over my power flex post and it doesn't harm them at all they bend down to the ground and stand right back up

if in rocky ground use a pilot driver and if in good soil use a 1" auger bit on a cordless drill and they you can install a powerflex post in less than 30 seconds

 

[JRGidaho`]

The 14 gauge aluminum wire from TSC will give you nighmares, it is just so weak and has a low visability rating so wildlife runs into it and breaks it and if you have untrained livestock they may run through it before getting shocked. Two strands of wire is fine for keeping trained cattle in as long as it is strong and visable, this is where the high tensile comes in. Deer can run right into it and bounce off of it, the other wire will bend and or break and cause a short and then your fence won't work well and cattle could escape. The worst that will happen with the high tesile is that you will break some insulators off the post. Also, you can go twice the distance with post if you go to high tensile.

Don't have that problem with power flex post

We tied them at a neighbors. Couldn;t get them to wedge their way in between the rocks far enough.

dun, have you used their pilot driver to punch a hole for the PF posts? We have used powerflex posts in some incredibly rocky situations. I will admit that we have also resorted to the using a hammer drill in really serious shelf rock.

jr

 

[dun]

dun, have you used their pilot driver to punch a hole for the PF posts? We have used powerflex posts in some incredibly rocky situations. I will admit that we have also resorted to the using a hammer drill in really serious shelf rock.

jr

We frequently have to use a hammer drill to get a lost in the ground (the term ground being used loosley). All but the lowest pastures are shelf rock, some only 4-6 inches thick some over 10 feet thick. When I can fracture the rock with the pneumatic T-post driver, if the post is in 4 inches or so it will stay forever. The good part is that the mud in most places only gets about an inch or so deep.

 

[hayray]

Even if I am drinkin' I still never get that bad that I run over my fence post.

 

[BILL CLAYLAND]

Thanks for all the info. Powerflex looks great, but i have 35 t-posts and bags of insulators sitting around here.
Looks like ill scrap the 14 ga alum wire and go with the 12.5 ga hi tensile.

 

[gimpyrancher]

I need to establish three sides of a perimeter fence on a 160 acre rectangular parcel. This is wooded forest land. T-posts every 10 feet is a significant but perhaps necessary outlay. The flexible posts are interesting because of resident game. The wire, of any type, is still going to be 1.5 miles per strand. I need it to keep a few cattle, a horse or two and maybe other small food animals. Are 792 T-posts and 4.5 to 6 miles of whatever type of wire, is this my best option?

The thought is overwhelming at the moment but doable.

 

[JRGidaho`]

I need to establish three sides of a perimeter fence on a 160 acre rectangular parcel. This is wooded forest land. T-posts every 10 feet is a significant but perhaps necessary outlay. The flexible posts are interesting because of resident game. The wire, of any type, is still going to be 1.5 miles per strand. I need it to keep a few cattle, a horse or two and maybe other small food animals. Are 792 T-posts and 4.5 to 6 miles of whatever type of wire, is this my best option?

The thought is overwhelming at the moment but doable.

gimpy, where are you located. makes a difference how I would answer this.

Here's what we do for perimeter fences if elk aren't a big issue. Four-strand electrified hi-tensile with 1 1/4" x 72" powerflex post every forty feet. I suspect you will have some dips and rises where you will need to use a wood post. Call that 10% of the line posts. On your 1.5 mile of fence you would have about 180 PF posts and 20 wood posts. The very best 12.5 ga hi-tensile wire (180000 psi NZ wire or 200000 psi US wire) should cost between $27-$33/ 1320 ft (1/4 mile). Floating brace end and corner assemblies and this fence will be less than half the cost of barb wire on T-posts. Use about a 3-joule energizer with two 6ft ground rods and you'll be set.

JR

 

[gimpyrancher]

JRGidaho,

> gimpy, where are you located. makes a difference how I would answer this.

South central Oregon, high desert (4500ft).

Thank you for the rest, so far. This is what I need.

My property has perhaps 20 feet elevation change.

 

[hillbillycwo]

We use a lot of 14.5 and 17 gauge wire for cross fencing and temporary fencing. It is electrified. To help the cattle and deer see it we use red surveyors tape and tie it to the wire leaving 6 inch streamers every 15 feet or so. This makes the wire very visable. Cows leave it alone and the deer jump right over it. We use high tensile wire to subdivide pastures for grazing but we only use one strand electrified about 30 inches off the ground. It works well. Our perimeter fencing is mainly 4 strand barbed wire with one strand hot high tensile. Works great and very economical. We use round posts made from 1/2 inch rebar cut four feet long every 15 feet for this. Place a T post every 90 feet and then on the 180 foot mark and ends we use wood posts. Good luck.