Fencing thru wooded area

[freemotion]

I just saw a couple of videos on youtube last night (sorry, no link, you'll have to search....I think it was called PolyFace pigs part 1 and PolyFace pigs part 2....) where Joel Salatin was describing how he fences through the woods for his pigs...he loops nylon cord around the trees and adds another loop to hold the aluminum wire (lighter wire and no rusting) and only uses a rebar post when there are no trees available. The nylon loops won't damage the trees and are somewhat elastic. Tension on the wire holds the wire away from the trees, and the nylon loop acts as an insulator/installator. Sounded pretty cool. Might have to try it myself.

 

[cmjust0]

I'm constintly have to pull the limbs and vines off of the electic wire. If anything touches the wire it shorts out. Is there a type that doesn't do this??

What kind of charger do you have? Is it a 'solid state' or 'low impedience' type? How many joules does it put out? How much hot wire are you running? How is your grounding system set up?

There are a lot of variables in electric fences, but a low impedence charger with a fairly high joule-output rating that's connected to a robust grounding system can tolerate quite a bit of trash on the line. My bottom hot wire is literally covered with grass and weeds for hundreds of feet at a stretch and my fence is still effective.. It might drop to 3kV when the weather's really wet, but a day or two of dry weather puts me back up to 5.5kV+.

I'd be in better shape if I had the gumption to weedeat, of course, but..........

 

[cmjust0]

I just saw a couple of videos on youtube last night (sorry, no link, you'll have to search....I think it was called PolyFace pigs part 1 and PolyFace pigs part 2....) where Joel Salatin was describing how he fences through the woods for his pigs...he loops nylon cord around the trees and adds another loop to hold the aluminum wire (lighter wire and no rusting) and only uses a rebar post when there are no trees available. The nylon loops won't damage the trees and are somewhat elastic. Tension on the wire holds the wire away from the trees, and the nylon loop acts as an insulator/installator. Sounded pretty cool. Might have to try it myself.

Aluminum wire sucks, IMNSHO. Yeah, it's light and it won't rust, but it also won't hold tension for literally more than a few days before it stretches. Before ya know it...it's totally slack. And if you've had to bend it much at all (around a corner, for instance), there's no good way to take up the slack because it'll sorta hang where it's bent. Plus, if ever you take it down, there's just no re-using it. It's pretty much a one-and-done deal. And, it's flimsy...very easy to break.

The nylon polywire stuff is much, much better if you ask me. It holds tension much longer, doesn't have as much 'memory' on corners so you can retension it if necessary. It's actually possible to take it down, spool it up, and re-use it later. And if you need to make a splice, you can just tie it together. To hook it up to an existing hot wire, just tie it on.

Polywire is more expensive, but one of the real beauties of electric fence is the ability to scale it up and down, move it, re-arrange it, and generally use it as a dynamic containment system.. If you're gonna be doing much of that, cheap aluminum wire is a false economy.

Took me several $20 spools of the stuff to figure that out. :/

 

[landis1659]

Thank you I will look into that, we are just using a small solar charger with the wire. It is grounded but I don't know how far down my husband went with the grounding rods he kept hitting rocks. We used 3 grounding rods a few feet apart. The guy at TS said this would be plenty for keeping the dog from jumping. It works until some vine grows up the fence. We have one along the top and one 6 inches from the bottom to keep them from digging under the fence. I'm gonna check this other stuff out if you say it should go through the woods. I think it would be much easier. How far apart would you need to put the posts? And I think you said 5 strings of it would be enough?? Thanks for your help again.

Pepper

 

[SDGsoap&dairy]

I have some of the same challenges here: 14 acres of woods and not a bit of it is flat! Not that the goats mind about that, but it has made installing fencing a little difficult. Right now we have only one paddock (made from cattle panels) but want to expand and haven't made a decision about what type of fencing to use. We've been considering electric as well, but have heard mixed reviews.

Do you have any recommended reading on how to install electric fencing?

 

[Gansereit Farms]

Thanks for the information in this post on electric fencing through the woods. We will be installing 6 strand 12 gauge wire with a speedrite 3000 charge (3 joules). Hoping that the nail in insulators are ok to use as the trees will be our fence posts.

 

[lacasse farms]

I also do not recommend going cheap on fencing. Instead check the farm & garden section of your local craigslist ads. I prefer woven wire or making my own pine boards with a chainsaw mill is always pleasing.

 

[Gansereit Farms]

I would not say we are going "cheap" but rather that we are being wise and frugal. The charger is a 3 Joule charger more than enough to make a goat respect it. I work with the Boer goats I am buying at a farm down the road and I can tell you they have panel fencing which seems to me to be an absolute nightmare. I will be using portable Premeire One electric netting fence with the goats come spring but the high tensil is for permanent paddocks here on my land.

 

[bcnewe2]

CMjustO
Could you please post a picture of your high tensile wire fence? I've tried electric. I'm not stringing it right. Plus I must be using aluminum wire that is easily broken. My sheep will dive right through it pulling it apart. I do have some poly wire and even some tape.
I would greatly benefit from a picture of your posts and corners. I am a watch and learn but reading your post sorta confused me. I do understand the part about the tensioners but pretty please on the pictures???

Thanks

 

[treeclimber233]

I would think sheep would be difficult to keep in with electric fence because the wool will insulate the charge. The current must touch skin to feel the shock. Also the poly wire (plastic and wire intertwined) does not work as well as plain ole wire. Poly wire does not hold my horse when she has a winter coat. Her hair insulates her skin from the electric shock. I use a combo of poly rope and bare wire. Bare wire to carry the charge and poly rope for visibility even at night. Even my escape artist will not go near the electric fence even if it is off.

Also some electric fence chargers have a weed whacker feature to kill any weeds that touch it. Mine does not have that feature but still kills weeds that touch it as long as not too many touch at the same time.