The covers are like you described but only 5 foot long. The part that goes on the ground doesn't get covered. They cost about $5 each and you only need them on the corner posts. The ones that cover the t posts are also about $5 each so it does add quite a bit to the cost but the end result looks pretty good. The tape can be spliced easily, they sell a little wire buckle that you can use to connect two pieces. Personally I'd really like the coated high tensile wire but those decisions get left to my wife since I just hep with the horses. The nice thing with the high tensile is you can get away with pretty wide post spacings (25-30 foot). The link provided with the carbon impregnated coated wire looked pretty interesting, haven't seen that yet!