# High Tensile Electric Fence



## jenjscott (Jun 15, 2010)

High Tensile Electric Fence- does anyone use it?  

It looks like that's the way we're going to go.  I have been researching on line and found a really good link here in the third topic:   http://www2.uwrf.edu/grazing/  among other links I found on this forum.  We can get the supplies locally without special ordering because they keep it for the cattle farmers.    

So if anyone uses it, how many strands and at what spacing?  I have found some general recommendations, but nothing specific.

What type of pole do you prefer for you line pole?

What kind of insulator do you like?

Any other tidbits of knowledge?

Thanks


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## mully (Jun 15, 2010)

I have used it for years ...the best way to go.  
For goats 6 strands at 6", 12", 18", 26", 36" 48" You can have all wires hot or use the 18" got a ground and keep all others hot.  Strong corner posts are a must... used telephone poles make great corner posts and yes cement them.  The biggest problem that people make is the fence is not "hot" enough.  Use a larger fencer so that it puts out 5000 volts min. You will need 3 ground rods 6ft long and spaced 10 to 15 ft apart. Now get busy you have a lot of work to do


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## goodhors (Jun 15, 2010)

We have had the high tensile for years, love it.  I would get tensile again, if we were to move to another farm.

We had ours professionally installed.  Even so, it came out cheaper than just buying materials and having to put in woven wire ourselves!!  We were surprised, decided to go with the professionals.  We cleared the fencerows, had everything drawn out the way we wanted fences run, gate locations.

This fence guy used a post pounder, drove the posts into the ground so NO BACKFILLING of posts.  It was pretty incredible to watch them put in a solid post in a couple minutes, move to the next location!!  

I believe they had everything done in about 4 days.  We could NEVER have gotten things done as well or as fast by ourselves.  And we might have killed each other in the process working on fence, which we both HATE doing!

We have 8 strands, the designated number for horses.  Cattle fence we first saw was 14 strands and would hold ANY cow, no matter how angry!!  We first saw the high tensile in action at a farm seperating cows and calves.  Some cows charged the fence, got bounced back, NO INJURIES, NO MARKS!!  We were amazed, at how well tensile worked.  We have stayed satisfied over the years of horse keeping with the tensile.

Our fencer is on all the time, with 4 strands hot.  We have the two bottom wires, skip two, then hot, skip two, with top wire hot.  I do a lot of weed whacking to keep the bottom wires clean and hot.  You lose power with brush on the wires.  Hot lower 2 wires discourages dogs coming in.  Single hot on the bottom is not enough, go with both bottom wires hot.

All corners are double braced, with corner posts heavier than the line posts.  Fence sings in the wind, especially in winter, so the double bracing is needed.  Not sure how far apart posts are, but not a huge distance, so wire weight would drag them down.  With driven posts, we did not use cement and they are in good shape.  Cement actually holds too much moisture in posts, they rot quicker.  We have clay dirt, so they sure don't need more moisture.

Doing tensile yourself, you might consider hiring the posts done, do the rest yourselves.  Driven posts are stonger in the ground, do NOT work loose.  The only ones we have replaced were hit by vehicles and broke off.   BUY the Spinning Jenny's for each coil of wire, then stack the Jenny's on a bar to roll off the wire as you string it.  The Jennys keep control of the tensile wire coils so they don't spring loose.  Tensile is hard, very powerful to work with.   TSC sells the Spinning Jenny, well worth the cost to easy your work.  You can probably resell after fencing is done, get most of your money back.

We made all our gates the same size, except for two 5ft wide gates from the yard to barnyard.  We went with 14' so machinery would fit into the fields easily.  14' will swing easily, not drag the gate out of shape with weight.  We bought pipe gates, safer for the horses.  The wire and pipe gates were not available then.  We later covered the barnyard gate pipes with chainlink fabric so our little dog could not get out, and that works well for sheep too.

You may want to lay out some lines on the dirt, try driving around and thru the gate areas, see how the tractor or truck fits.  Allow more room if you have plowed snow to work around in winter, ground is slippery.  Don't skimp on gates, they save you work, steps, as you get thru the day.  Have them in handy locations, maybe swing so they could be used in two gate ways directing herd flow.

Make a paper plan, see how it looks, discuss plus or minus on each choice, look at alternative locations for advantages.

Hope installation goes smoothly.  You may hear negatives about high tensile when talking to other folks.  When we hear negatives, we ask questions, LOTS of questions to get details.  We have found MOST problems from bad installation.  People only using a couple wires, fencers only on now and then.  Tiny corrals with MANY animals inside.  Crowded conditions will put animals into ANY kind of fence trying to get away from boss animal.  We have had 4 accidents in over 25 years of tensile use.  Two were when the fencer got struck by lightning and we didn't know it was off but the HORSES did.  We no longer have horses so they can reach each other across the wire.  Two really STUPID horses we purchased, knew the fence was electric, who backed up to fence posts to itch, started kicking when the wire bit them!  We saw it happen on both of them!  Wounds were all clean cuts, healed well though they looked bad to start.  No lacerated flesh like woven wire, barbed, that I have seen.  They all healed well, horses went back to work, were sound.  We SOLD the two dummies on, not bright enough to stay here!!  I think the injury rate is pretty amazing for the time span, but we built this for horses.  No crowding, big gate openings,  roomy barnyards, paddocks, hot fence ALL the time.  We check the fencer daily NOW, so we know it works.

So I believe high tensile is a good horse fence, if you use it correctly, build fence as the original company suggests with multiple strands, not just a couple.


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## patandchickens (Jun 16, 2010)

I "third" the suggestion for professional installation at least of the posts. Nearly all of the DIY jobs I've seen have not lasted long, owing to insufficiently well-set and well-braced posts. Despite some of the folks putting a *lot* of attention and sweat and time into trying to get it right.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat


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## mully (Jun 16, 2010)

If you use telephone posts and bury 4ft using about 4-80lb sacks of cement the post will not need bracing. I have used this method for 40 years and never a problem.  Maybe you could have someone agar the holes and drop the poles in. Having someone who knows what they are doing do the job for you is a good option if the price is right HT wire right now runs about 90-100$ for 4000 feet and you need a spinning jenny to unwind it ...don't do the wire without one. Southern States used to loan one if you bought the wire from them.


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## aggieterpkatie (Jun 16, 2010)

You can go to your local NRCS or Soil Conservation District office and ask them for a copy of their fencing standard for hi-tensile.  It details everything you need for fencing every different animal.


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## jenjscott (Jun 23, 2010)

My husband did a few post holes he was sure wouldn't be a problem before we called one-call to have the utilities marked.   The gate post came within inches of the phone line, and a corner post came within less than a foot of the  water line.  The only problem with their marking is  that they marked where the water line crosses the drive, but we have no idea where it crosses at the far ends of the pastures, as the road is curved there.


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