Fencing

[Tia]

Well some of you may know, I have been fencing for what seems like an absolute age

.

We have all sorts of fencing on our farm; stock fencing, post and rail and now we have decided to go for vinyl fencing. I do not like stock fencing much, hate post and rail and came to a bit of a stand-point as to where to go next - did some research and found the vinyl fencing. It is high tensile wire wrapped up in vinyl and boy is it a dream to work with.

The field we have just finished has 4 strands of round vinyl with the high tensile inside. Each strand has 2,000 lbs of break strength, so 8,000 lbs altogether.

The arenas are being fenced with the 5 inch vinyl fencing (you call it stud rail) and this has 3 strands of high tensile running through each strand.....this is our next project and then we have the larger field to fence, which will be the same as the one we have just finished.

What type of fencing do you have or what would you like to have? I am always open to new ideas because I know we will be fencing again next year and for the foreseeable future. So far I cannot but rave about the vinyl - by far the best fencing I have come across.

Anyway here's the photos taken tonight once I let some horses in there; the tops of the posts have not been chamfered yet so looks a bit untidy till this happens.

Oh and Clover is barking at the green, blue and purple things which are covering the horses! She is not used to seeing the horses in rugs and became all concerned about them!!

 

[Starbucks]

Firstly - I'm loving Clover!!!

Our fencing is a bag of shite - the naughty boy i.e. Caffrey manages to get back into the yard all the time!!

Badger just stands by the broken down fence i.e. the good boy!!

Personally - I'd go for P&R poss with some wire if needed. The fencing you've got looks fab now, but how long will it be like that? xx

 

[apkelly01]

Lovely horses

I must say it looks well - I take it, it's electrified as well. You don't have to give figures, but cost wise, is it better then post and rail.

My sis is looking into PVC fencing for her field but looking at yours it looks well.

Does it last longer than post and rail - is there more maintanence?

 

[Tia]

Clover is an absolute doll! I love her too.

Aren't they funny horses; I have ones here that just wouldn't know what to do if they escaped by mistake - they'd be frantic trying to get back in again I'm sure.

This fencing comes with a 30 year guarantee; so it should look great for the whole of my lifetime.

 

[Starbucks]

Oh Caff knows what to do - he searches for fooood!!

sounds good then!! go for it!

 

[Tia]

No I didn't want the electrified fencing, although they do make it with a hotwire running through it. I believe the electric version is marginally cheaper although this may be because you have to buy extra fittings for them, so possibly works out about the same. I don't like electric fencing with all the youngsters around here and needed something totally safe for them. The research I did was using vet journals reporting on injuries to foals; no-climb fencing, post and rail, stock fencing and electric all had injuries/fatalities but vinyl/pvc didn't have any. That was good enough for me - but time will tell.

Cost wise, probably a little more than post and rail, however no more replacing broken/worn out rails and much quicker to put up. You use barbed staples and tensioners to hold it in place rather than 5 or more screws per rail as with post and rail. We were given 30 years warranty on this fencing - much longer than any lifespan of post and rail.

Apparently there is no maintenance except for tensioning and loosening off during extreme temperatures. It is tough to fit through the strands as the tension is so tight and the vinyl is quite thick at three quarters of an inch thick. The only thing which might put people off installing it, is it is very heavy, however I found it incredibly manageable by laying the reel on the ground and me walking with it and hubby feeding the rounds out to me.

I was at a friends farm today and she has the stud rail which was installed 22 years ago and it still looks white and new as our stud rail still in it's wrappers. I think the stud rail will be much more of a handful to fit though as you use large brackets and the rail is very very heavy - will let you know how we get on - should be starting the stud rail this weekend.

I did look at the "no climb" fencing with the tiny holes but this worked out at an extortionate cost AND on the vet journals it also was mentioned for accidents.

 

[apkelly01]

Wow, you certainly did your homework Tia

I must look these up, I've never heard of 'no climb' before!

Gone to look up no climb!

 

[kerilli]

that looks like Bayco, which i had at my last-but-one place, very good, very strong. only had one horse manage to get on the other side of it in 10 years there, never did work out how. never had an injury from it.
like you, i can't stand post and rail. it is simply not strong enough for horses. they eat it, they scratch on it, they break it, they'll jump over/through it... it looks nice, but that's about all it's got going for it! i had a cob who used to stick his head through the gap between the top two rails and lever them off with his neck, then pop over the low bit he'd made... leaving the rail with nails sticking up, on the floor...
i have Fieldguard electric fencing everywhere now, and can't recommend it highly enough. chicken wire below it (or sheep wire - already here when i bought the place, can't stand the stuff), elec tape on long stand-offs so the wire is behind it. the tape is at about 3'7" high, and so far, so good...