Electric fence... ?

[Wildsky]

Quick question, how can I tighten up the wire on an electric fence?


We finally got ours up today, we had to remove half a regular fence, move the other half, then put in t-posts for corners and those cheapo plastic step in posts for the straight stretches of fence.

Trouble is, the wire is hanging to the ground in spots, it probably runs about 500 ft, give or take a bit (around 3 sides of a square shaped pasture) ... and the wire is zigzaged back and forth again so there are three strands of the wire, we topped with 1/2 inch polytape.

 

[patandchickens]

Assuming the wire is still in good shape, just take the slack out of it and splice it back together taut (removing any excess).

Is this meant to be high-tensile, or is it just plain ol' normal wire? (High tensile requires a comealong or tensioning tool, and requires you to inspect all the connection points for deterioration before retensioning, and you have to splice it using one of those metal thingies; if it is regular ol' fencewire, just pull it hand-tight and you can either use the metal splice thingies or just hand-tie an underwriters knot.)

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Wildsky]

Thanks Pat, some friends of ours are gonna stop by in a bit and help us out - we might need to not have the wire going back and forth like that in a zig zag way - perhaps tied off on each end somehow will be better at keeping the slack up.

Its just normal wire, 17 gauge. (cheap and we could buy LOTS with little $$)

We'll upgrade it to tape when finances allow. I think the tape is easier for the animals to see.

 

[Wildsky]

The fence is now live... I touched it to make sure. Screamed like a girl, but it works!

We have wires at 9, 18 and 27 inches for the goat, and tape up at 4ft for the horse, I hope thats good enough.

I also hope it doesn't fry any chickens.!!!

 

[Wildsky]

Anyone have any ideas on how to get the fence to cross the driveway? I don't need it "working" across the driveway part, but I'd like it live on the other side, at least one strand to give those damn neighborhood dogs a shock. It wouldn't be used to keep my animals in, but just on the otherside of the driveway to keep dogs OUT.

Our drive way runs along the south side of our property, almost the entire way and then turns toward our garage. We have dogs coming in every now and then, so I'd love to put just one strand of electric wire on that far side of the driveway.

The drive is dirt, but hard packed with rocks, I don't think I'd be able to dig under it without messing it up.

 

[patandchickens]

Anyone have any ideas on how to get the fence to cross the driveway? <snip> The drive is dirt, but hard packed with rocks, I don't think I'd be able to dig under it without messing it up.

Only choices are to go overhead, or trench something across, or have a strand that you have to get out of the vehicle to manually disconnect before going thru and then reconnect after going thru (which is a pain in the patooty for a frequently used drive).

If trenching is not an appealing option, really your only good alternative is to make an overhead 'gateway' kind of thing and run the wire (preferably a section of double-insulated wire, rather than nekkid fencewire) over that. Don't just suspend a loose wire between two tall posts either, you want it connected to something vaguely rigid like 2x6 or some such. For a narrow gateway this is pretty easy; for a 14' wide serious driveway it can involve some engineering challenges. Make sure it is WELL high enough not to come anywhere close to anything that will drive through. (i.e., if you sometimes have high-stacked haywagons coming thru, a trencher starts looking like a much better option )

Another option would be to terminate the fence at the driveway, and buy a small cheap (maybe secondhand, if it's not crucial to your protection plan) solar or battery-op charger to energize your desired wire on the other side of the driveway.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Wildsky]

Thank you Pat (I knew you'd answer )

I'll talk to hubby, perhaps it would be better to go underground, we do have a huge trash truck that comes up every monday, and the UPS guy can show up anytime..

 

[~gd]

Thank you Pat (I knew you'd answer )

I'll talk to hubby, perhaps it would be better to go underground, we do have a huge trash truck that comes up every monday, and the UPS guy can show up anytime..

How does water cross your driveway (does it cross your driveway?) if there is a pipe just use insulated wire strung through the water tile or pipe. Where I live the roads are always ditched and usually tile or pipe is put down to allow drainage under the driveway. I have seen some neat knock-en-down-drive over them fence gates to put wire across driveways. They usually have a counter weight that brings the fence slowly upright again after the vehicle has passed. Some are built from old garage door openers with convient buttons on either side of the gate.

 

[Wildsky]

Thank you Pat (I knew you'd answer )

I'll talk to hubby, perhaps it would be better to go underground, we do have a huge trash truck that comes up every monday, and the UPS guy can show up anytime..

How does water cross your driveway (does it cross your driveway?) if there is a pipe just use insulated wire strung through the water tile or pipe. Where I live the roads are always ditched and usually tile or pipe is put down to allow drainage under the driveway. I have seen some neat knock-en-down-drive over them fence gates to put wire across driveways. They usually have a counter weight that brings the fence slowly upright again after the vehicle has passed. Some are built from old garage door openers with convient buttons on either side of the gate.

Oh that sounds interesting, the knock-em-down gate..

There is no drainage pipes or anything for water, it either puddles or runs over the sides, the driveway is slightly raised on the front side of the property. it also gets graded every couple of years, so that would be an issue. I just need to stop those damn dogs, I think they might be running straight up the road and up our driveway - so it might not even help.

I've looked at those alarms before, that might be the way to go - have an alarm set up so anything crosses the driveway it chimes in the house.