Mains electric fencing

[samlf]

At the moment we just have battery powered energisers, but one has broken and will be replaced with a mains one. I want to make sure it is as efficient as possible, as at the moment the charge isn't being carried very well (flimsy white tape).

What is best? Insulator wise, tape wise etc? can you get connectors so that you don't just have to tie bits together?

Also on one side of the field we have trees which are just the other side of the fence, how can I make sure the charge is still carried down that bit?

Thanks

 

[Fides]

My advice is to forget the 20mm and go for the 40mm but make sure you get the thickest type with most filaments as the thin ones tend to snap over time.

I don't think I would use tape again as it is a pain to roll up and tends to get all screwed up. I have used rope in the past and it is much more durable. You can also do cheap insulators like this so you can go past trees or attach to fence posts

 

[samlf]

Thanks fides, thinking either rope or the thick green tape, maybe rope would be better as wouldn't catch the wind so much (on a hill).
Actually you've given me an idea - hosepipe works really well as an insulator so I could just use a length of hose to protect the fence from the trees to keep it continuous around the perimeter.

Does anyone know anything about aluminium wire? the energiser states that is the most efficient fencing to use, but is it suitable for horses/where do you get it from?

 

[Dancing_Diva]

The wire fencing is awful, it does rust which then will effect the current that goes through it. We use rope at work round the inside of the post and rail attached to the post with the long fence clips that stick out about a foot from the fence.
It's all run from the mains and covers a very large area and works well.

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

Many of us use electric fencing but do we really give much thought to what we use, tape, wire or rope & why we use it?

I have always been an advocate of rope, it is sturdy, it looks neat & tidy, easy to work with, carries a charge well & doesn’t flap about in windswept paddocks. All this is true but I have now done a complete ‘U’ Turn due to a horrific accident!

We turned out one of our horses in a paddock surrounded by electric rope fence, the power was off at the time. He pawed the ground & decided to role but he was too close to the fence. He rolled over, caught the rope fencing, spooked himself, & charged off across the paddock. He caught the rope around his hind leg & ripped out the fencing, plastic posts & a couple of wooden posts as he went. Fortunately he didn’t receive much of an injury, a couple of grazes was about all.

Biggest problem was my wife was in the paddock, the fencing rope got yanked around the back of her legs, dragging her to the ground. The injuries to her legs are horrendous. She has cuts, bruising & a large amount of skin removed behind her knees. She can hardly walk & is on pain killers & a nurse is dressing her wounds daily. The nurses are treating the injuries as burns.

I made enquiries about the breaking strain of the rope….it’s 383kg!…. bloody hell! I have now replaced the rope with tape, still with 6 conductor wires but this has a breaking strain of around 75kg.

I appreciate this is a long post but I thought it would warn people of the dangers that may not have been considered.

This is a repeat post, I posted this in 2011, my wife is recovered now but still has the scars on the backs of her legs!

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

OMG, how awful Thanks for posting and warning about this, something we all need to think about.

 

[Fides]

Many of us use electric fencing but do we really give much thought to what we use, tape, wire or rope & why we use it?

I have always been an advocate of rope, it is sturdy, it looks neat & tidy, easy to work with, carries a charge well & doesn’t flap about in windswept paddocks. All this is true but I have now done a complete ‘U’ Turn due to a horrific accident!

We turned out one of our horses in a paddock surrounded by electric rope fence, the power was off at the time. He pawed the ground & decided to role but he was too close to the fence. He rolled over, caught the rope fencing, spooked himself, & charged off across the paddock. He caught the rope around his hind leg & ripped out the fencing, plastic posts & a couple of wooden posts as he went. Fortunately he didn’t receive much of an injury, a couple of grazes was about all.

Biggest problem was my wife was in the paddock, the fencing rope got yanked around the back of her legs, dragging her to the ground. The injuries to her legs are horrendous. She has cuts, bruising & a large amount of skin removed behind her knees. She can hardly walk & is on pain killers & a nurse is dressing her wounds daily. The nurses are treating the injuries as burns.

I made enquiries about the breaking strain of the rope….it’s 383kg!…. bloody hell! I have now replaced the rope with tape, still with 6 conductor wires but this has a breaking strain of around 75kg.

I appreciate this is a long post but I thought it would warn people of the dangers that may not have been considered.

This is a repeat post, I posted this in 2011, my wife is recovered now but still has the scars on the backs of her legs!

Grief that is awful I've had this happen too actually - my mare ran straight through it as a yearling and got terrible bruns across her chest and still has two white stripes I always make sure I have breaker points at each end of a side.

 

[Moomin1]

I had an incident a couple of years ago with tape fencing (thank goodness it was) - my mare charged through it whilst I was rearranging the posts, and it wrapped around my lower leg and dragged me a couple of metres along the floor before snapping. Had it have been rope I dread to think........

 

[Tiddlypom]

I use a mix of 20mm tape and polywire. They both will break fairly easily if a horse gets caught up in them, and have never even marked a horse of mine.

I had fancied upgrading to electro rope, which looks so smart, but changed my mind after reading of the horrific injuries that it can cause.