Barbed or electric fence

Dunedin · 27-02-2019 10:04pm #1

Cut/strimmed down a number of ditches recently and they all need fencing now. My mains electric fence gives a lot of bother up and down and not realible

Would folk go for electric or barbed given I have a clean slate. About a third of it is a mearing (bordering with neighbor) and thinking that three row of baarbed might be the safest there.

visatorro · 27-02-2019 10:13pm

Its dear but four strands is a job for life. Peace of mind

emaherx · 27-02-2019 10:15pm

Dunedin wrote: »

Cut/strimmed down a number of ditches recently and they all need fencing now. My mains electric fence gives a lot of bother up and down and not realible

Would folk go for electric or barbed given I have a clean slate. About a third of it is a mearing (bordering with neighbor) and thinking that three row of baarbed might be the safest there.

I'm going to be putting up a good bit of fencing this year myself, I'm going to put 3 strands barbed wire and one electric, or possibly 2 barbed wire 2 electric.

If your mains fencer is not reliable maybe it's time to replace it or at least check connections / earth rod.

Nobbies · 28-02-2019 12:00am

Dunedin wrote: »

Cut/strimmed down a number of ditches recently and they all need fencing now. My mains electric fence gives a lot of bother up and down and not realible

Would folk go for electric or barbed given I have a clean slate. About a third of it is a mearing (bordering with neighbor) and thinking that three row of baarbed might be the safest there.

hard to beat abarbie and posts well done.you can then forget about it for along time

bogman_bass · 28-02-2019 1:32am

Don’t go with3 strand go with 4. With 3 they can put their head through while scratching and it’ll go slack

bogman_bass · 28-02-2019 1:32am

Don’t go with3 strand go with 4. With 3 they can put their head through while scratching and it’ll go slack

Good loser · 28-02-2019 2:41am

bogman_bass wrote: »

Don’t go with3 strand go with 4. With 3 they can put their head through while scratching and it’ll go slack

Would prefer 3 strand myself or even two against a ditch.

If ditches are straight consider concrete strainer posts with struts.

My electric fencer wires are generally strained to concrete posts - very easy to tighten over time.

_Brian · 28-02-2019 7:27am

Electric fence is such a simple system there’s no reason for it to be unreliable.
Good energiser
Well placed earth
Good wire, no copper wire
Good insulators.
Keep growth off fence.

Dunedin · 28-02-2019 9:26am

_Brian wrote: »

Electric fence is such a simple system there’s no reason for it to be unreliable.
Good energiser
Well placed earth
Good wire, no copper wire
Good insulators.
Keep growth off fence.

Sur maybe around 9 Saturday morning. If I’m not around, just belt ahead and let me know when it’s sorted.......!!!

memorystick · 28-02-2019 9:31am

2 or 3 strands of barbed in the ditch and let the whitethorn grow through it.

_Brian · 28-02-2019 11:26am

Dunedin wrote: »

Sur maybe around 9 Saturday morning. If I’m not around, just belt ahead and let me know when it’s sorted.......!!!

Right.
Sure, you keep holding your breath there lad.

Bass Reeves · 28-02-2019 2:26pm

Electric fence all the way. Barbed wire fence is 4-5 times the price. Biggest issue with electric fence is lads will not do a deecnt earth system. 3-4 bars and linked right with proper galvanized eklectric fence wire. keep wire and posts out from ditch so hedge cutter can work inside it. Barbed wire is a nuisance and gaps will always be created

memorystick · 28-02-2019 4:02pm

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Electric fence all the way. Barbed wire fence is 4-5 times the price. Biggest issue with electric fence is lads will not do a deecnt earth system. 3-4 bars and linked right with proper galvanized eklectric fence wire. keep wire and posts out from ditch so hedge cutter can work inside it. Barbed wire is a nuisance and gaps will always be created

My grandfather fenced a field with thorny wire and it's as good as Fort Knox. Right in the middle of the ditch. I don't know what year he put it up it but he died in 1968.

riemann · 28-02-2019 4:02pm

The only advantage of electric over barbed is cost.

Depending on your stock, 3 or 4 rows of barb on Octos or PDM posts is a serious long term fence. If you're putting up 1 row it only takes a few minutes to put up another few when all the tools are on the ground including a hayes wire strainer. I often stick a row of electric on top to ensure stock don't bother trying to get near the fence.

Electric might be quicker to install and cheaper, but all the time over the years clearing back overgrowth and finding faults has a cost too.

Great peace of mind with the barb. If I had the money every bit of electric would be replaced in the morning. It's great as a temporary fence, not a permanent one.

riemann · 28-02-2019 4:04pm

memorystick wrote: »

My grandfather fenced a field with thorny wire and it's as good as Fort Knox. Right in the middle of the ditch. I don't know what year he put it up it but he died in 1968.

Exactly, like a lot of things fencing is a skill that requires patience and practice. Some people would leave a hole installing a gate.

MfMan · 28-02-2019 4:59pm

Problem with barbed wire is that stock can loosen the stakes by scratching off them. A belt from a mains fencer would keep them back much more.

Bass Reeves · 28-02-2019 9:19pm

I have to disagree with anyone who thinks that barbed wire is better than electric fences. The sheer cost alone is prohibitive. As I stated in an earlier post get your earth system right. I did not realize the benefit until I replaced mine a few years ago. Previous it was a single bar I replaced it with a earth plate and three bars now it drives the 5 leds on the tester all the time.

You will fence and paddock a farm cheaper than you will do bounds only with Barbed wire. It is immaterial which you are using posts are critical. However PDM and octo post are no longer what they were 10+ years ago. They have changed from the original cresote to a newer weaker version. Keep the posts out from the ditch so that a hedge cutter can clean behind every few years. The real advantage of electric fences is moving stock you can move cattle right across a farm using pigtails and a few reels

With electric fence not only will the cattle be on your farm they will also be in the field where you left them not in the ajoining field. But the real benefit is paddocking and running cattle in the biggest bunches possible so as to maximize grass output

Dinzee Conlee · 28-02-2019 9:29pm

memorystick wrote: »

My grandfather fenced a field with thorny wire and it's as good as Fort Knox. Right in the middle of the ditch. I don't know what year he put it up it but he died in 1968.

What kinda posts did he use?

The bounds was fenced here with railway sleepers, prob sometime in the 1960s i’d imagine but not really sure...
But they are almost gone by now, still, 50+ years isn’t too bad I suppose

Dunedin · 28-02-2019 10:36pm

riemann wrote: »

Electric might be quicker to install and cheaper, but all the time over the years clearing back overgrowth and finding faults has a cost too.

Great peace of mind with the barb. If I had the money every bit of electric would be replaced in the morning. It's great as a temporary fence, not a permanent one.

Starting to lean this way too. I seem to spend more and more time ensuring the mains is working. I have 4 earth rods probably connected by an electrician, no leakage anywhere and yet the power seems to be up and down.

No doubt electric is fierce handy for paddocks but working towards baarbed for perm and boundary fences

memorystick · 28-02-2019 10:40pm

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

What kinda posts did he use?

The bounds was fenced here with railway sleepers, prob sometime in the 1960s i’d imagine but not really sure...
But they are almost gone by now, still, 50+ years isn’t too bad I suppose

Posts!!!!! Penty of good trees and white thorn. There's a healthy ditch up through it.

Say my name · 28-02-2019 11:01pm

Dunedin wrote: »

Starting to lean this way too. I seem to spend more and more time ensuring the mains is working. I have 4 earth rods probably connected by an electrician, no leakage anywhere and yet the power seems to be up and down.

No doubt electric is fierce handy for paddocks but working towards baarbed for perm and boundary fences

The very same as myself.

That's what I eventually am working to do here. Sheep and barb for the boundaries and electric for the paddocks. I don't have sheep. Just don't like work and spraying ditches. And piece of mind if the electric does go that there's not a 4 a.m. call that there's stock on the road.

With strainers and tractor driven post drivers and wire tensioners now there's no excuse now for bad sheep and barb wire fencing.

patsy_mccabe · 28-02-2019 11:44pm

The downside to external electric fencing is, stock from your neighbours can break in from the other side. Say you stop a field for silage, you will need to keep that part of the fence on all the time and so have to keep grass cut back from it.

_Brian · 01-03-2019 12:00am

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

The downside to external electric fencing is, stock from your neighbours can break in from the other side. Say you stop a field for silage, you will need to keep that part of the fence on all the time and so have to keep grass cut back from it.

Fairness we’ve had this where neighbors stock push threw hedge inside electric fence.

Still, it kept them back until home was patched up.

Bass Reeves · 01-03-2019 12:21am

memorystick wrote: »

Posts!!!!! Penty of good trees and white thorn. There's a healthy ditch up through it.

It is a crime to put barb wire on to trees and Whitethorn.

Mooooo · 01-03-2019 1:12am

Had cattle chased here on rented ground one year, however bad it was taking regular wire off of cow's barbed would have been desperate. Can't stand the stuff, regular wire and a good electric fencer all the way

memorystick · 01-03-2019 12:09pm

Bass Reeves wrote: »

It is a crime to put barb wire on to trees and Whitethorn.

What's the penalty?

gozunda · 01-03-2019 12:19pm

memorystick wrote: »

What's the penalty?

Dead trees unfortunately

. The wire will eventually cut through them heart wood and weaken the tree to wind etc . If you have good trees I wouldn't do it that way tbh. Electric fence is what I would suggest - keeps stock away from fence. If it's a bound ditch then certainly used barbed wire to stop stock from elsewhere which might gain access if the fence was off for whatever reason.

memorystick · 01-03-2019 12:22pm

gozunda wrote: »

Dead trees unfortunately . The wire will eventually cut through them heart wood and weaken the tree to wind etc . If you have good trees I wouldn't do it that way tbh. Electric fence is what I would suggest - keeps stock away from fence. If it's a bound ditch then certainly used barbed wire to stop stock from elsewhere which might gain access if the fence was off for whatever reason.

Never had it here.

gozunda · 01-03-2019 12:26pm

memorystick wrote: »

Never had it here.

Maybe you dont get the winds we do I dunno?

In the last storm but one - bounds ditch had a number of bigger trees came down to my side. Cutting them up several we found had wire embedded in the wood close to where the trunk broke. It must have been put there before my time anyway.

Bass Reeves · 01-03-2019 12:35pm

memorystick wrote: »

What's the penalty?

Number of them as Gozunda it will kill trees and Whitethorn over time. It also devalues the wood, it is areason why Hurley makers will not take Ash trees from farms to make hurleys. However as well it means that hedge/ditch can never be cut back hard with a blade saw or a hedge cutter. Another problem is if a bounds is fenced like that other farms cattle can come in contact with yous this can spread TB, BVD etc.

patsy_mccabe · 01-03-2019 12:36pm

Barbed wire is the bane of hurley makers all over the country. Destroys chainsaws, cutting blades in timber mills etc.

Keepgrowing · 01-03-2019 10:08pm

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

The downside to external electric fencing is, stock from your neighbours can break in from the other side. Say you stop a field for silage, you will need to keep that part of the fence on all the time and so have to keep grass cut back from it.

Electric fence should NEVER be switched office

cacs · 02-03-2019 8:06am

I would only go electric no question. Cattle scratching on barb. Bulls cost electric all the way

MTBD · 05-03-2019 1:18pm

riemann wrote: »

The only advantage of electric over barbed is cost.

Depending on your stock, 3 or 4 rows of barb on Octos or PDM posts is a serious long term fence. If you're putting up 1 row it only takes a few minutes to put up another few when all the tools are on the ground including a hayes wire strainer. I often stick a row of electric on top to ensure stock don't bother trying to get near the fence.

Electric might be quicker to install and cheaper, but all the time over the years clearing back overgrowth and finding faults has a cost too.

Great peace of mind with the barb. If I had the money every bit of electric would be replaced in the morning. It's great as a temporary fence, not a permanent one.

Why do people keep recommending PDM posts on this forum as if they are something special? They are native Spruce timber that half the time arrive on dripping in creosote. They are responsible for putting more contractors off of creosote timber than anyone I'd say. You'd be burned alive from it and 15 years is about the max life span of spruce no matter how its treated. There are a number of better timber options out there.

Its mainly electric fence we have and I would be very slow to change it. We very rarely have to clear back overgrowth and once you have a good fault finder its very easy to find the source of the problems.

There are 4 strands of good barbed wire on other parts of the farm and animals have come in and out at times. It's not as fool proof as people are saying here. A good electric fence properly earthed frightens them more.

I says · 05-03-2019 2:35pm

I’ve electric all the way around the farm it’s the only job as neighbours farms are two rented (maintenance of fences,what?) another works for the Dept and wouldn’t be too fond of following their own guidelines. So for my own sake electric.
And very handy for dividing fields with temp electric.

badtoro · 05-03-2019 2:38pm

MTBD wrote: »

Why do people keep recommending PDM posts on this forum

I'll bite. What are the better options specifically?

lakill Farm · 05-03-2019 2:39pm

From doing a bit of fencing here your looking at approx the same price per strand run for the wire apart from sundries like the inline tensions (buy yourself the tensioning handle ) and buy the eggs and the good insulated core wire.

Barb wire you will need to put H frames at each 90 degree angle and need a post every 4 yards. So twice the posts and twice the wire .

Electric fence a post every 8 yards. Length of a hammer off the ground for bottom strand and the same again between that strand and top post

Bass Reeves · 05-03-2019 3:49pm

lakill Farm wrote: »

From doing a bit of fencing here your looking at approx the same price per strand run for the wire apart from sundries like the inline tensions (buy yourself the tensioning handle ) and buy the eggs and the good insulated core wire.

Barb wire you will need to put H frames at each 90 degree angle and need a post every 4 yards. So twice the posts and twice the wire .

Electric fence a post every 8 yards. Length of a hammer off the ground for bottom strand and the same again between that strand and top post

If you buy decent size posts 5'' or better you will push distances to 12+ metres. Barb wire is more expensive than same high tensile wire/metre. You are at least 3 times the cost if not more than 4 times the cost if you put up 4 strands. As well an electric post only needs about a metre above ground above ground for a single strand so 5' 6'' posts are usually adequate. Four strands of barb wire will need 1.2-1.5 metres above ground. Cost gets really horrific to do it right.

Muckit · 05-03-2019 3:52pm

badtoro wrote: »

I'll bite. What are the better options specifically?

If electric fence, then concrete strainers or l see a few lads using crash barrier as strainer. Then any post will hold the weight of wire, even pigtails or rebar and insulator.

MTBD · 05-03-2019 4:53pm

badtoro wrote: »

I'll bite. What are the better options specifically?

Anyone who uses better varieties of imported timber, treated with good quality creosote. In particular Scots Pine, European Larch (Not hybrid/Japanese) or Douglas Fir. Spruce is very difficult to treat and has no lasting qualities without treatment, hence they never use it for telephone poles unlike the other 3. Douglas Fir without treatment can last 10-15 years, whereas spruce will be rotten within 3. All PDM round posts are Spruce. They are undoubtedly much better than the green tanalised posts you will get in most Co-Ops but as proper creosote posts go they would be pretty average to poor. It's not like they are cheap.

White Clover · 05-03-2019 8:03pm

MTBD wrote: »

Anyone who uses better varieties of imported timber, treated with good quality creosote. In particular Scots Pine, European Larch (Not hybrid/Japanese) or Douglas Fir. Spruce is very difficult to treat and has no lasting qualities without treatment, hence they never use it for telephone poles unlike the other 3. Douglas Fir without treatment can last 10-15 years, whereas spruce will be rotten within 3. All PDM round posts are Spruce. They are undoubtedly much better than the green tanalised posts you will get in most Co-Ops but as proper creosote posts go they would be pretty average to poor. It's not like they are cheap.

How much are your posts and do you deliver ?

MTBD · 05-03-2019 8:19pm

White Clover wrote: »

How much are your posts and do you deliver ?

What part of my post has irked you?

Your welcome to post your opinion/experiences on the treatability and longevity of timber if you feel like it. There is a wealth of research/experiences out there on treatability and longevity of timber. Spruce is a difficult to treat timber. It's not used in ESB poles. All the other three varieties are. Please feel free to point out which of these statments you have a problem with.

Edit: never mind. I just read back my post and it was a bit of a narky response. I suppose it does sound like a sales pitch but I'm not selling for anyone. I just don't understand why people continually recommend pdm posts when they are more expensive for lower quality timber. I went a different route for my own.

White Clover · 05-03-2019 10:50pm

MTBD wrote: »

What part of my post has irked you?

Your welcome to post your opinion/experiences on the treatability and longevity of timber if you feel like it. There is a wealth of research/experiences out there on treatability and longevity of timber. Spruce is a difficult to treat timber. It's not used in ESB poles. All the other three varieties are. Please feel free to point out which of these statments you have a problem with.

Edit: never mind. I just read back my post and it was a bit of a narky response. I suppose it does sound like a sales pitch but I'm not selling for anyone. I just don't understand why people continually recommend pdm posts when they are more expensive for lower quality timber. I went a different route for my own.

I'm just in the market for good posts at present, pdm posts available locally. I have used them previously and from what I see, the bales of posts are made up of a mix of timbers.
First of them down 10 years and no issues yet. I'd be hoping to get 20 years minimum from them.

lakill Farm · 06-03-2019 10:13am

I only use 6ft PDM here For either the barb or electric . Only time I use others is for staking a new tree. And they get creo/burnt oil treatment before they see outside.

Must see will I get 12m. I need to edit above post. It’s 4 & 8 good paced yards not meters.

Bass Reeves wrote: »

If you buy decent size posts 5'' or better you will push distances to 12+ metres. Barb wire is more expensive than same high tensile wire/metre. You are at least 3 times the cost if not more than 4 times the cost if you put up 4 strands. As well an electric post only needs about a metre above ground above ground for a single strand so 5' 6'' posts are usually adequate. Four strands of barb wire will need 1.2-1.5 metres above ground. Cost gets really horrific to do it right.

Joebobs · 25-07-2021 12:27am

Can you tie two strands of electric fence wire together? I did as I didn't have any gripples at the time... Does it effect current?

Also I pulled a wire to a strainer and want to start the fence again. But now pulling the other way(to the next strainer post) , I've the wire insulated in plastic pipe wrapped around the post but if I do the same the other way what best approach to have the current flowing through both? Have a bit of the 1st wire looped around the next one so current goes through both...I'm new to this and spending allot of time trying to untangle the high tensile electric fence wire :-/

Bass Reeves · 25-07-2021 12:41am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117657861#Comment_117657861

Yes you can done it many time. Gripple are more for repairs. I do not have a gripple set so any repairs are just joining. You just join one wire to the other to carry current on as you did. You can ring loop it all the way back if you like. However points like that should be left in such a way as you can break them out if testing for a fault.

Running out high tensile is tricky. The trick is to 3-4 could off the left hand side of the roll and then 3-4 off the right hand sid. This way the coil effects balance each other out. You need a slight strain on it to whip them straight

C0N0R · 25-07-2021 3:28am

If you want a real nice knot for joining wire google figure 8 fencing knot and follow the picture.

Joebobs · 25-07-2021 9:37am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117657888#Comment_117657888

Thank you

Joebobs · 25-07-2021 9:38am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117658041#Comment_117658041

Thank you too

alan10 · 25-07-2021 4:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/109555343#Comment_109555343

Fully agree on the neighbours side breaking in. Got man in with saw over winter to dress ~ 500m of ditch that had gone wild, then cleaned few bits with chainsaw myself and gathered all up. Was contemplating barb or electric... in end when for 4 barb on nearly it all and 1 strand electric on last part (not joined to neighbour). Huge addition on cost and I would be 99% sure my cattle would not go thru electric (very strong and they haven't for 20 years) but would be fairly sick seeing his in at the electric wire after all the effort that went in.

wrangler · 25-07-2021 7:22pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117659673#Comment_117659673

Barbed wire will be stockproof for a long time, electric fence in a ditch is a waste of time,

It's alright for someone witha small amount of land and plenty tme to keep the wire clear but it's only leaving a runway for briars and weeds

Barbed or electric fence

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