Any fencing tips

JohnBoy · 31-01-2011 05:18PM #1

Did a three hundred metres of replacement and repairs to electric fencing over the weekend.

While you can clearly see the progression in my wire tying skills from one end of the job to the other I still have a lot to learn.

My thoughts:

Do professionals use different wire for tying insulators/tensioners to posts or do they just use the same high tensile stuff the fence is made from?

Is one brand of fencing pliers better than others? I've already damaged the jaws on one side of the pliers I have so much that they wont cut light wire anymore.

Or should I get a mini bolt cutters?

Does anyone know where I might buy a spinning jenny, wire unroller in cork or tipp? The co-ops dont seem to stock them. or does anyone have any tips for unrolling wire without it all bunching and twisting into an absolute mess?

My tip from the weekend is be very careful if you're buying a post knocker (pipe with two handles on the side) Mighty piece of kit, but the one I got in the co-op was made from cheese and the welds seemed purely ornamental. It was fine after half an hour of plating and weld and ideal for those that cant drive a nail straight never mind a stake.

So, post your tips and tricks.

irishh_bob · 31-01-2011 05:46PM

when putting up a fence along a hedge , ignore those who tell you to have it hugging the ditch , two things , having a fence too close to the hedge might seem like a good idea with regard less wasted grass etc but the reality is that a cow can reach in three foot under a strand of wire to reach grass , if the fence is too tight to the hedge , a tractor with a hedge cutter wont be able to get in behind the fence and the result will be an overgrown hedge which earths your fence

corco2000 · 31-01-2011 06:05PM

sorry for robbing thread, but can I ask qeuation?
My shed(where pluged in fencer) is 40mts from fence in feild I want to attach electric to. WHat type of wire do I use for that 40mts? And where do i buy it? Thank you.

5live · 31-01-2011 07:28PM

JohnBoy wrote: »

Did a three hundred metres of replacement and repairs to electric fencing over the weekend.

While you can clearly see the progression in my wire tying skills from one end of the job to the other I still have a lot to learn.

My thoughts:

Do professionals use different wire for tying insulators/tensioners to posts or do they just use the same high tensile stuff the fence is made from?

Is one brand of fencing pliers better than others? I've already damaged the jaws on one side of the pliers I have so much that they wont cut light wire anymore.

Or should I get a mini bolt cutters?

Does anyone know where I might buy a spinning jenny, wire unroller in cork or tipp? The co-ops dont seem to stock them. or does anyone have any tips for unrolling wire without it all bunching and twisting into an absolute mess?

My tip from the weekend is be very careful if you're buying a post knocker (pipe with two handles on the side) Mighty piece of kit, but the one I got in the co-op was made from cheese and the welds seemed purely ornamental. It was fine after half an hour of plating and weld and ideal for those that cant drive a nail straight never mind a stake.

So, post your tips and tricks.

you can get a spinning jenny for unrolling wire from buyrite by phone. About E80 iirc. Brilliant yoke. Put up loads of single strand last year with one. EDIT Also magenta direct. Same crowd but for those not joined in the actual purchasing group i think

Muckit · 31-01-2011 08:40PM

JohnBoy wrote: »

Do professionals use different wire for tying insulators/tensioners to posts or do they just use the same high tensile stuff the fence is made from?

I assume your talking about tying insulators to cement stakes? Mild steel tying wire should be used for this. God your hands must be wrecked trying to use HT stuff:D

Is one brand of fencing pliers better than others? I've already damaged the jaws on one side of the pliers I have so much that they wont cut light wire anymore.

I use a draper. Saying that any good fencing pliers will do the trick. Are you cutting with the side shears? (indicated by arrows on photo). I've never had any problem with cutting HT wire with these.

I use a hayes wire puller aswell. Money well spent.

Never drive staples fully home.

Your fence is only as good as your strainers.

When erecting permanent elec fencing, make sure to use 'egg' insulator correctly at strainer.

Improve your elec fence earths. Use at least 3 earth bars and space 3m apart. A wet area is best. I have them drove around a soakaway from house. Will 'burn' any briars/grass hitting your elec fence around hedge if done right;)

If you really want to give cattle a right 'dart', run a wire about 4" under the 'live' wire on your fence. You can attach this with staples only, no need for insulators. Attach this to the earth pole of your fencer. When an animal trys to go through it and hits both, God help them!

aidanki · 31-01-2011 09:39PM

JohnBoy wrote: »

Did a three hundred metres of replacement and repairs to electric fencing over the weekend.

While you can clearly see the progression in my wire tying skills from one end of the job to the other I still have a lot to learn.

My thoughts:

Do professionals use different wire for tying insulators/tensioners to posts or do they just use the same high tensile stuff the fence is made from?

Is one brand of fencing pliers better than others? I've already damaged the jaws on one side of the pliers I have so much that they wont cut light wire anymore.

Or should I get a mini bolt cutters?

Does anyone know where I might buy a spinning jenny, wire unroller in cork or tipp? The co-ops dont seem to stock them. or does anyone have any tips for unrolling wire without it all bunching and twisting into an absolute mess?

My tip from the weekend is be very careful if you're buying a post knocker (pipe with two handles on the side) Mighty piece of kit, but the one I got in the co-op was made from cheese and the welds seemed purely ornamental. It was fine after half an hour of plating and weld and ideal for those that cant drive a nail straight never mind a stake.

So, post your tips and tricks.

use pinlock insulators you will never again need to buy an insulator for that location
http://www.gallagherusa.com/electric-fencing/permanent.component.aspx?mktprodid=701

don't mind those cheap ones for 10 cent

JohnBoy · 31-01-2011 10:00PM

corco2000 wrote: »

sorry for robbing thread, but can I ask qeuation?
My shed(where pluged in fencer) is 40mts from fence in feild I want to attach electric to. WHat type of wire do I use for that 40mts? And where do i buy it? Thank you.

I think the correct term is lead wire, basically an insulated wire, any co-op will sell it on reels.

5live wrote: »

you can get a spinning jenny for unrolling wire from buyrite by phone. About E80 iirc. Brilliant yoke. Put up loads of single strand last year with one

Is buyrite not some sort of club/co-op? can anyone just ring up and buy from them?

Muckit wrote: »

I assume your talking about tying insulators to cement stakes? Mild steel tying wire should be used for this. God your hands must be wrecked trying to use HT stuff:D

eh yeah, touch typing was a bit of a disaster this morning alright. I was tying egg insulators to the straining posts, and also using hayes ratchet strainer insulators.

I use a draper. Saying that any good fencing pliers will do the trick. Are you cutting with the side shears? (indicated by arrows on photo). I've never had any problem with cutting HT wire with these.

Yeah, side shears alright but I've the jaws chewed on em, some cheap yoke from the co-op, only like my post knocker it wasnt cheap to buy. Has only done around half a roll of wire worth of work yet.

I use a hayes wire puller aswell. Money well spent.

along with a twin axle trailer and a spinning jenny I have a hayes strainer on my birthday list

Never drive staples fully home.

Your fence is only as good as your strainers.

When erecting permanent elec fencing, make sure to use 'egg' insulator correctly at strainer.

Improve your elec fence earths. Use at least 3 earth bars and space 3m apart. A wet area is best. I have them drove around a soakaway from house. Will 'burn' any briars/grass hitting your elec fence around hedge if done right;)

If you really want to give cattle a right 'dart', run a wire about 4" under the 'live' wire on your fence. You can attach this with staples only, no need for insulators. Attach this to the earth pole of your fencer. When an animal trys to go through it and hits both, God help them!

useful tips, but hoping I dont end up with stock that need that second line!!

Bizzum · 31-01-2011 11:44PM

If you have a good bit of fencing to do it could be a good idea to get the king posts driven with a post driver. It makes a great job of it.

Do it once and do it right.

5live · 01-02-2011 11:08AM

Hi johnboy. Yeah buyrite is a purchasing group. Magenta direct is same crowd but for non group members i think

Tipp Man · 01-02-2011 11:48AM

John

do you really need to use the high tensil wire? We gave up on that years ago as it is a proper pain in the ass. If it breaks its nearly impossible to join it and we found that if an animal runs into it, if it doesn't break then the strainer will and more problems

You can get strong light wire which we find just as good and a lot more flexible if we want to change paddocks etc

Agree with IrishBob above, keep it far enough out from ditch to allow the hedgecutter inside it without breaking all your stakes

JohnBoy · 01-02-2011 12:32PM

aidanki wrote: »

use pinlock insulators you will never again need to buy an insulator for that location
http://www.gallagherusa.com/electric-fencing/permanent.component.aspx?mktprodid=701

don't mind those cheap ones for 10 cent

What's the advantage of those over something like this?

Bizzum wrote: »

If you have a good bit of fencing to do it could be a good idea to get the king posts driven with a post driver. It makes a great job of it.

Do it once and do it right.

Had to get this done now, but for the rest of the place I'll be getting some nice fat creosoted posts and a man in to drive em.

5live wrote: »

Hi johnboy. Yeah buyrite is a purchasing group. Magenta direct is same crowd but for non group members i think

Magenta direct dont have the reel on their website, but yeah I'll bell them and see what the story is.

Tipp Man wrote: »

John

do you really need to use the high tensil wire? We gave up on that years ago as it is a proper pain in the ass. If it breaks its nearly impossible to join it and we found that if an animal runs into it, if it doesn't break then the strainer will and more problems

You can get strong light wire which we find just as good and a lot more flexible if we want to change paddocks etc

Agree with IrishBob above, keep it far enough out from ditch to allow the hedgecutter inside it without breaking all your stakes

I thought high tensile was the best job? what are the advantages of it over regular wires?

Muckit · 01-02-2011 12:49PM

I've used HT wire on main runs and use the mild steel stuff to take off this if I want to break up fields. I've never had an animal to go through it, but then again if you'd bulls running beside heifers they might chance it, but I don't. I've used two rows though, they're not running along by hedges.

The trick is to never leave the fencer off for any period (they seem to know even without touching it, how I don't know!:rolleyes:) And always make sure there's plenty of juice going through it.

What do lads think of poly tape and poly wire for beef cattle?

I bought loads of it a few years ago thinking it was great for visibility, but rolled it all up and burnt it:mad: It's always seem to short out and you could hear it clicking and earthing at every stake when it rained!! Perhaps I wasn't using it right

aidanki · 01-02-2011 01:15PM

JohnBoy wrote: »

What's the advantage of those over something like this?

v simple if wire is mildly out of line then those will begin to move in the timber due to the load, they seem to crack the timber on the way in or something

more importantly the thread will rust on those after 4-5yrs so when you come to renew the pole you need a new insulator been there done that

I can guarantee you won't have that problem with the pinlock

reilig · 01-02-2011 01:42PM

aidanki wrote: »

v simple if wire is mildly out of line then those will begin to move in the timber due to the load, they seem to crack the timber on the way in or something

more importantly the thread will rust on those after 4-5yrs so when you come to renew the pole you need a new insulator been there done that

I can guarantee you won't have that problem with the pinlock

I used the pinlock in the past and found that if the wire became strained by an animal jumping through it or anything, it would snap the pvc pin. The pins seemed to get brittle with weathering and would snap very easily. Always use the screw in ones as above now. If you get the drill adaptor for screwing them in, they are a great job. Because you screw them in they take a lot more strain than the ones that you nail in. If you buy proper galvanised ones rather than the cheaper chinese imitations that some places are selling, they will last a lifetime. They hold the wire in place very well but also make it very easy for you to remove wire off them if you need to.

aidanki · 01-02-2011 01:46PM

reilig wrote: »

I used the pinlock in the past and found that if the wire became strained by an animal jumping through it or anything, it would snap the pvc pin. The pins seemed to get brittle with weathering and would snap very easily. Always use the screw in ones as above now. If you get the drill adaptor for screwing them in, they are a great job. Because you screw them in they take a lot more strain than the ones that you nail in. If you buy proper galvanised ones rather than the cheaper chinese imitations that some places are selling, they will last a lifetime. They hold the wire in place very well but also make it very easy for you to remove wire off them if you need to.

I've yet to see a pin break and we have been using them for 20yrs, have seen the 2staples holding insulator to the post pulled from the post due to wire getting harrassed by bushes falling on it etc. and pin still intact

we won't be going back to the screw in ones any time soon

Nutcase · 01-02-2011 05:51PM

aidanki wrote: »

I've yet to see a pin break and we have been using them for 20yrs, have seen the 2staples holding insulator to the post pulled from the post due to wire getting harrassed by bushes falling on it etc. and pin still intact

we won't be going back to the screw in ones any time soon

We use those pin lock ones two only we use srews for putting them to the post found it was a better/tidier job than staples. Found the screw in ones got bent and rusted after a while.

Any fencing tips

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