We have 80 acres,mostly in crops right now.I want to fence off the perimeter to hold cattle. We live in a very rural area and most of the neighbors have bad fence (things running around),so I am not really worried about having an air tight fence. I have been considering putting 3 strands of barbed wire with 2 strands of heavy 10 gauge electric between the barbed wires. I have some 2 heavy electric/2 barbed wire fences for cross fences and have never had anything get through. Do you think the 3 and 2 wire fence would be OK for a perimeter fence or should I just put 5 barbed wires and forget the electric all together.
Chris,
Most of the big ranches in area run a good 6 strand but many are in the 300-10,000 acre range so electric can be a challenge. Even with a good 6 strand I cant tell you how many times I end up pushing cattle up to a gate and back in.
I agree with Al. If you can run a hot wire at the bottom its just enough to keep them from trying to get under that bottom strand....and if you can swing one on the top it helps to keep them from scratching.
'Course anything would be better than one guy I know who fenced and cross fenced a 300 acre pasture with 4 rail vinyl. He finally got so tired of getting calls to round them up and then having to fix the fence he got rid of the herd. I do, however, have to admit it looks good when the grass is green and the wind is blowing......
We have a neighbor who keeps 50+ head of cattle in with one strand of electrified rusted barbed wire.I have never seen a cow out there.I asked him what it is ran with and he said it is a solar powered parmak from the farm and home $100-$125. I had one of those a long time ago and it was pretty weak in my opinion. I found a gallagher(Austrailian) supposed to be the most powerful thing on the market,it cost $295 so it'd better be. It is the one they use to hold in buffalo. All but about 300 feet of line fencea is clear with no trees , so I think the electric would work,but $300+ insulators would buy alot of rolls of barbed wire. at $29 a roll.
I don't plan on building fence till the wheat is harvested,so I still have time to make up my mind. Thanks for the input
That would work just fine. But you could just do all smooth wire or all barb wire. Either one can easily be electrified. Not sure why you would want to go to barb wire on three and smooth on two? Personally I like high tensile wire the best. It's easy to install, easy to fix, easy to keep tight, and cheap to build.
I had always been under the impression that you would never electrify barbed wire, only because if something small like a child got snagged and couldn't get off that prolonged pulses would eventually kill them [possibly]. Older folks could equally be at risk.
if something small like a child got snagged and couldn't get off that prolonged pulses would eventually kill them [possibly].
Actually not possible. This came up some time ago here. I contacted most of the major mfg. and they all said even if you were caught on the wire it would not kill a child or an animal. The electricity is pulsed not continuous. Yes you would get a zap every couple seconds but it would not kill you.
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