electric fencing buying - advice pls?

[Rosie J]

hullo
My mission for today is to sort out some electirc fencing for our new field. The field is about 11 acres, and is allready fenced around the preimeter, with a mixture of every sort of fencing imaginable. but I wouldnt trust any of the fence at all, its pretty dead! So Im not aiming to fence it all the way around, but to make a couple of 1 acre paddocks for now so I can move some of the ponies out of the mud.
SOooo, anyone know of a good website to buy fencing?> Or is it cheaper do you think to get it from local tack shop - I know they sell it but not sure how much they have.
Do you think the long fence posts are better even if they are more likely to bend? Have you found any electric posts that dont bend and snap so easily?
Do you think buying a battery etc that is made especially for it is the best way to do it or use an old car battery?
Hardest bit is figuring out how much to buy!!

Ive had elecy fencing for years here, but its hand-me-down jobs, so now that Im going out to buy some new I want to make sure I dont miss a bargain or get the wrong stuff!!
Hoping to replace with post and rail as and when the finances allow!!
cheers
Rosie

[scatcat]

i would use small wooden round posts or half posts , insulators & tape, all plastic posts bend, become brittle, break or can get pushed over.

[Rosie J]

only thing is landlord doesnt want wooden posts put in (field is on alongterm lease)
which is a big pain.
Well he doesnt mind them put in around the perimeter but not in the middle of the field, and I cant afford to do the whole perimeter at once.

[jill]

I wouldn't use tape - it vibrates in the wind and the metal filaments inside it break. I find the "string" better - thicker than the wire farmers use for sheep and cattle and thinner than the rope. If you are concerned that they won't see it, add tape as a marker.
Also I have no problem with plastic posts so long as there is a good current through the fence - get a fence tester to check it from time to time. And if it is an option, a mains fencer is way better than a battery one - some horses are pretty hot on noticing when it isn't live for whatever reason.
But I still think it is one of the best inventions ever!!!

MTA get a leisure battery if you can, from a camping and caravanning supplier (cheaper than one from a car battery outlet). They last far far longer - they also take longer to charge (several days) so you could do with a backup.

Where are you RosieJ - Eddie Palin (Fenceman) is in Market Drayton. They have a shop and are pretty good on advice such as how far a fencer will energise, how to set up etc. Otherwise I'd go to an agricultural suppliers.

[Hannah]

Could you get away with wooden posts for the corners? That would help stop bending. I have green posts (no idea what make, got them from SCATS) and they seem less bendy than the white posts. But you can't put the extenders on the green posts. I have electric string rather than tape dividing the paddocks and nothing has run into it yet *crosses fingers and toes*

I also have mains electric, they don't go near it! If you have a battery, as jill says, test it and charge it regularly and you shouldn't have too much trouble.

[janetgeorge]

First, can highly recommend www.paddockperfection.com/ for electric fencing. Very helpful, and VERY quick delivery (usually within 48 hours.)

Mains is best if you can - but you DO have to make sure it's thoroughly earthed - one earth rod is not enough. I find the electro-rope best for horses - it's reasonably strong and visible but doesn't catch the wind like tape.

I use both 3 and 4 foot posts and unless you NEED the extra height, I'd steer clear of the taller ones - they do bend very quickly.

[SarahW]

Rosie - please don't get the rope fencing. One of my clients lost her pony last year because it got it's foot caught and the wire basically cheese wired through it's tendon. I use tape (the wide stuff for the middle fences and the narrower stuff for the outside fences where there is hedging behind - but it is a nuisance as it chaffes on the insulators in the wind. I have had to have posts put in as my horse used to pick the plastic posts up with her teeth.

[janetgeorge]

sarahw said:

Rosie - please don't get the rope fencing. One of my clients lost her pony last year because it got it's foot caught and the wire basically cheese wired through it's tendon.

Mmm - I know someone whose horse suffered a horrendous leg injury from tape; and I've cared for a horse after it staked itself on a wooden post (in post and rail) etc. etc. etc. ANY fencing can cause injury if things do wrong - but decent poly ROPE will not 'cheese wire' into a leg UNLESS the posts/insulators are a HELL of a lot stronger than any of mine!

One of my big boys failed to stop and skidded through a rope fence; the insulator pulled out of the wooden post - no harm done. Another horse wrapped the wide tape around his hock, pulled 3 insulators out of wooden posts and showed hardly a mark - but several days later had a nasty necrotic ulcer on the front of his hock.

[☼ WIZARD ☼]

i also went to paddock perfection the man told me that the tape is for dividing into paddocks and the rope is to use on boundries ie where other fencing is in place. what i do with mine is to cut the tape or rope only maybe in 2 places on a 1 acre paddock and use a connector so if the horse runs into it or gets stuck in any way it comes out of the connector.

[jill]

I agree with janetgeorge - in 8 years our horses have run through or tried and failed to step over tape and rope (when batteries have run down mainly) and never had an injury. The rope (well, it isn't the thick rope, more like string) has broken several times as a result and posts have pinged out of the ground, but we have never had so much as a rope burn.
I'm astonished that someone has, but I do know there is thicker and stronger rope on the market - maybe that was the culprit?