I absolutely love working with step-in posts and electric tape. My pastures are perimeter fenced with 2x4 no-climb woven wire fence. They are "permanently" cross-fenced into ~1 acre sections using T-posts and electric tape. I cross-fence them even further when the grass is prime into 1/4 acre sections, which forces the horses to graze ALL of the grass, instead of just scalping the clover.
This picture shows an acre I cross-fenced into 4 lots - one at the head, and 3 strips off of it. That way, I can access all the lots from the horses dry-lot. At the far end, the tape is anchored to half-round wooden posts. At the gate end, I used H-braces made of T-posts. You can find the H-brace hardware at TSC - it is super simple to work with. It does need to be cross-braced with something for maximum strength. I used coated cable in an X-pattern. Doing so allowed me to have the T-posts facing opposite directions so they could be used to attach the tape hardware.
ALL of this took me about 2 hours. Not days.
I am posting this because I drive by so many facilities that try to use tape/wire/step-in posts to cross fence, and it is an EPIC FAIL. I wish everyone knew how simple it is to make it look GOOD and have it last all season, or longer. The only maintenance I have to do to this set-up is occasionally hand tighten the tape, and maybe reset a post every now and then if a deer knocks it down. When installed right, there is no reason it needs to sag or fall down.
This picture shows an acre I cross-fenced into 4 lots - one at the head, and 3 strips off of it. That way, I can access all the lots from the horses dry-lot. At the far end, the tape is anchored to half-round wooden posts. At the gate end, I used H-braces made of T-posts. You can find the H-brace hardware at TSC - it is super simple to work with. It does need to be cross-braced with something for maximum strength. I used coated cable in an X-pattern. Doing so allowed me to have the T-posts facing opposite directions so they could be used to attach the tape hardware.
ALL of this took me about 2 hours. Not days.
I am posting this because I drive by so many facilities that try to use tape/wire/step-in posts to cross fence, and it is an EPIC FAIL. I wish everyone knew how simple it is to make it look GOOD and have it last all season, or longer. The only maintenance I have to do to this set-up is occasionally hand tighten the tape, and maybe reset a post every now and then if a deer knocks it down. When installed right, there is no reason it needs to sag or fall down.
nice!
