We were relatively unscathed from IRMA , I will say I have never seen winter in September but that's what we had the last few days , For me it was hard down cold in the 50's, 40mph winds constantly and rain, we had some 75mph gust at times which is what I attribute to the trees down on some fences. One had the top broken out and fell on a barb wire fence broke 2 stands and the other 3 will have to be retightened one tree 20" dia trunk was sheared off about 6' above the ground fell on my HT fence after cutting it sprang back up to original and good as new . I wish I had HT around every field . so easy to work with
Fences
- Thread starter m5farm
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Well, I was going to mention that when the last HT wire was take down around here I breathed I huge sigh of relief..... but I tend to get people riled up around here awful easy with my opinions so thought I'd let it pass lol.
I just got in from finishing up 3/4 of a mile of brand new barbed wire fence after tearing out the old stuff and re clearing the trees. If this one lasts as long as the last one did it won't be me replacing it!
I just got in from finishing up 3/4 of a mile of brand new barbed wire fence after tearing out the old stuff and re clearing the trees. If this one lasts as long as the last one did it won't be me replacing it!
Silver said:
Whats your aversion to HT , Its cheaper easier to work with and with the trees we have in the South its so much easier to repair when damage is done. I have one place complete and starting on other fences that the web wire is nearing 50 yrs old
highgrit
Well-known member
We worked all day on fence, I hate barbed wire. Ruined 4 insulators on the HT, and spliced the barbed wire in 10+ places. The HT took about 15 minutes, the barbed wire about 6 hours.
m5farm said:
Are you talking HT barbed wire or HT smooth wire with electricity? In my experience HT with barbs is a horrible wire to work with. Hard to work with, and when trees come down on it the barbs still catch on the staples and things break. Smooth wire is a great way to teach cattle to craw fences, and trees and brush grow so fast here you can't make a good electric fence out of it. Even if you can, one break in the wire and the fence is down or at least very loose for a few hundred yards and the cows are gone. I've seen HT wire work to great effect in the right spots with great care given to ensuring the electricity is flowing and the fence is up but it's a lot more fence checking than I can handle.
Fences look like this in no time around here:
https://i.imgur.com/5dK0GhQ.jpg
4Diamond said:
Buy the biggest charger you can afford - - - when the torhado came thru hear about 8 years ago I was so busy with the house and barns it took me 2 weeks to check fence.
The pasture the cows were in had a 2 strand hi tensil with power - - - fallen trees had about 100' of it flat on the ground and not a single cow crossed it!
My charger says it will charge 150 miles of moderatly weedy fence - - - I have about 5 miles counting all the cross fences all within 3/4 of a mile of the charger - - - it is supposed to have 12 1/2 jules of power.
I was having a problem as my tester woulf not read above 3,000 volts at the back of the farm so as in the directions I added another ground rod about 10 feet from the first - - - 5,000 volts at the back - - - added a third ground rod 10 feet the other direction and get 8,000 volts to the back.
A good charger and good grounds will make cows, horses, pigs very respective!
5 strands HT smooth hot wire is what Im talking about , You only need post every 50ft . while it does require some checking if your in wooded areas it is so much easier to work with. I use 1 strand elec tape or rope for pasture divisions or to create temp lanes they respect it very well
George said:
I like a ground rod on every straight run. I use old power poles at gates and terminations and they all come with old ground wire on them . I always make a little coil of it and staple to the bottom of the post and connect to bottom ground wire , even with 5 wires mashed in the ground the other day I still had 1500 volts
We use a lot of electric fence here. I prefer it to barb wire as we find the maintenance less and the installation cost much lower. single wire paddock seperations and hot/ground/hot three wire for perimeter fence. With modern fencers, lots of ground rods, remote control fault finders, etc. it is pretty nice to work with. The new wire seems easier to work with than the stuff from 30 years ago too. Even the new in-line tighteners are improved over the old ratchet style.
We use a, 18J solar setup at Meadow Lake, a 36J 110V around home, a 6J, a 9J and a 2J in various other applications. We even use electric fence (4 or 5 strand) for holding corrals outside of our working system.
For us it has come about because land prices dictate that we need to create better production. With electric fence and rotation we are improving things, leaving more grass behind and have upped our stocking rate significantly. We use it for winter grazing, backgrounding calves on bale grazing and pretty much everything else. The best part is that if you leave your fencer on the hunters and quadders don't cut your fence.
We use a, 18J solar setup at Meadow Lake, a 36J 110V around home, a 6J, a 9J and a 2J in various other applications. We even use electric fence (4 or 5 strand) for holding corrals outside of our working system.
For us it has come about because land prices dictate that we need to create better production. With electric fence and rotation we are improving things, leaving more grass behind and have upped our stocking rate significantly. We use it for winter grazing, backgrounding calves on bale grazing and pretty much everything else. The best part is that if you leave your fencer on the hunters and quadders don't cut your fence.
I've had pretty good luck using an electric fencer on one of the barbed wires in areas where cattle tend to get pushy. Seems to work great over a relatively short distance even without insulators. Gives me a nice warm fuzzy feeling of having a sturdy barbed wire fence with the extra layer of security provided by the electricity.
Big Muddy rancher
Well-known member
Moose and elk can still do a pretty good job on a 5 wire HT fence.
Big Muddy rancher
Well-known member
m5farm said:
We do.
:cowboy:Haytrucker
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Elk aren't very compatible with 4 barbed wires either, but if you keep the top one fresh, they know they hit it. I have used several different fence systems and have no distinct preference. The right tool for the right job. If using electric fence, shock power is key. I have corralled cows with a single wire wing, but I'm not sure a fire would have driven them over it. A blizzard sure didn't. They were easy to get through a gate in the same wire, handled daily. If I turn pairs out for the summer I'll take a decent 4 wire barbed fence and enough feed.
gcreekrch
Well-known member
Rebuilding the wire fences here. New posts, 35 year old barb wire. Proper splices where it had been "fixed" before and a hot high tensile in the middle of four barbed. Haven't touched any we've done this way yet. Hoping the bears and wolves get a snoot full of electricity and go elsewhere too.
cracker hand
Well-known member
Well I am sorry that your fence is down. Ours too. We were ground zero for Irma and it went right over the top of us. While it wasn't the most powerful storm to hit us, it was a long one. The hurricane and tropical storm force winds lasted for over 6 hours. Trees are down all over the place. Some on fences and some not. We have enough firewood for several generations to come. It gets cold here about 3 days a year so maybe it will last till the next century. You get enough fence down and you don't care if its electric, barbed or chain link, you're tired of putting it back up. Luckily, the cows stayed put. Maybe they were tired too.
What are you guys using for splices. I have been tying the broken spots but have to ty twice because cant get enough slack. Was at ufa and they have one that pushes the wire in and locks, and a crimp splice. Is one better then the other. I have no issue with tying other then its time consuming
