# The dreaded fencing debate



## NBEventer (Sep 15, 2012)

Well my SO and I finally got our property. We move in the end of April. However the entire property needs fencing. The upside, it used to be a cattle farm years ago and all of the fields have draining tile, yippee!! So yay for that positive lol.

We are doing post and rail fencing around the entire property and 3 large paddocks, each roughly 3 acres in electric fencing. Hubby and I are in a debate over what to use. I really want Electrobraid, however it is really expensive. We may eventually be able to do it but to start off it is just not an option. Hubby wants to use just regular ol tape electric fencing. But in my experience it breaks really easy and rots in the sun. I just do not like it.

What is a affordable but durable electric fence? Doing over 9 acres of pasture on a budget... yippee lol


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

If you want most inexpensive, nothing comes close to high tensile wire.
Electrobraid is very expensive, but there are other brands of polyrope that are much more reasonable.


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## NBEventer (Sep 15, 2012)

I am not comfortable with high tinsle wire. I have seen some very nasty injuries resulting in horses being PTS from tinsle.

I am going to be running a boarding facility with horses on 24/7 turn out. So I don't want to cheap out. But I can't go as expensive as elctrobraid.

I am in Canada if that makes a difference.


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

We use Zareba polyrope from Tractor Supply, $50/656' (7 cents/foot) which is less than half the price of the Electrobraid brand ($200/1000') (20 cents/foot).


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## NBEventer (Sep 15, 2012)

I'll look into the zebra polyrope. Thanks! 

My biggest worry is its an area where I will have to worry about deer busting into my fields to steal hay. Little buggars are brutal for that around here lol.


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## prairiegirl59 (Apr 1, 2014)

I am looking at the Batten fence strapping from Farmteck. This product runs $52/300 ft. Anyone have any opinion on it? Also the rubber strapping. In my case, I want to make an outdoor riding arena. Located in the frozen prairies in Canada.


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

NBEventer said:


> My biggest worry is its an area where I will have to worry about deer busting into my fields to steal hay. Little buggars are brutal for that around here lol.


There are hundreds of deer around us, but they don't steal hay because we're in the middle of corn fields, but we do occasionally see a few in the pasture. We typically have to replace one or two broken insulators a year where they have run through the polyrope (the polyrope has never broken), but they typically just jump over it. I was surprised how high deer can jump..they easily clear even our 5' high corral panels.


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

Not all metal electric wire is high tensile wire. The cheap wire for sale stretches and breaks quite easily. Matter of fact it stretches so easily it's hard to keep a tight fence line. Not saying your horse can't get hurt from the stuff but honestly they have a better chance of being hurt from poly style fencing.

But that's not what keeps horses from getting hurt on electric fencing. What keeps them from getting hurt is a nice, hot electric fence. Horses get hurt when they are not afraid of the fence so push into it whatever the wiring is. If your fence sits them on their butt every time they get near it then they'll never get hurt on it.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

Love this stuff.

It's safer than the wire/braid. We have had ours up for roughly 12 years and it looks as good as new. We only have 2 strands though 3 is a common ption.

We felt electric was better for us/safer and were afraid of anything wire and know the braided rope can cause nasty injuries.

Obviously anything can cause injuries but this stuff stretches and has a lower breaking point than rope. It's easy to put up and can be portable if need be. Looks nice too.

Our ONLY issue with the fence is keeping the electricity on and not shorting out, which isn't relevant to the fencing itself. (We finally ended up getting a converter we plug directly into the electricity, works well - good zap, shuts off after several hard zaps and consistent! I would recommend this!)


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## NBEventer (Sep 15, 2012)

Yogiwick said:


> Love this stuff.
> 
> It's safer than the wire/braid. We have had ours up for roughly 12 years and it looks as good as new. We only have 2 strands though 3 is a common ption.
> 
> ...


What is the width of this? Where did you get it? I'm very interested lol. And I like the idea of shutting off after several hard zaps as well. What kind of fencer do you have?


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

It's a couple inches...3 maybe? Nice and visible for the horses (part of why we picked it)

Don't remember where we got it. It _might_ be this? HorseguardFence.com : the best electric fence for Horse

Looks like there are a couple similar versions out there. I don't remember it being too expensive.

There's more information on the bottom of the page. I feel I remember more of a focus on the safety thing in the brochures we have, so maybe it's a different brand of the same product..

I have no idea haha... I did try to look it up but couldn't find anything. I will check next time I go visit the ponies .

Many chargers have a continuous zap/zap, and many have a zap/ZAP/ZAP/ZAP/stop (for however long). We went through several versions. Solar, outside type...tried multiple versions.. no luck. This plug directly into an ordinary outlet and tempers the electricity into something controllable. Plug in- fence on, unplug-fence off. So nice.


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## stevenson (Sep 12, 2011)

I have used the very thin yellow electric tape, and the white tape.. broke. rots, if the wind blows any thing into it it splits. I have the green horse guard tape it holds up , if it gets creased or folds , just flatten it back out, if a few of the metal strands break the fence will still work.


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## JMaldaner (Mar 18, 2014)

Yogiwick, is that Horseguard brand electric fencing?

I have used Horseguard and found it to be incredibly durable. Two strands is usually enough. They have fiberglass poles, too, that work very well. You can, of course, use more permanent posts. 

HorseguardFence.com : the best electric fence for Horse

We put up a Horseguard fence in our back yard, about two acres, and figured it would be a temporary fix. 12 years later I decided it was going to last a long time!


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## ~*~anebel~*~ (Aug 21, 2008)

The place I'm at just replaced ALL of their electrobraid.
It doesn't work and is a PITA to fix constantly. Now they have an electric tape product similar to what was posted.

I've put up a mile worth of what was posted (the horseguard electric tape) and it works fabulously and was quite easy to put up. So that's what I'd recommend! Only thing is in winter it will ground out very easily so it is almost worth it to do one fence rail and then two strands to keep the horses in even in winter.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Koolio (Apr 7, 2010)

We used 4 strands of electric poly rope 3/8" and love it. Our fence has been through 4 harsh Canadian winters and 3 summers and has never given us a problem. The rope is inexpensive and easy to maintain. Just be sure to use quality insulators, ground the fence properly, use proper connectors and correctly adjust the tension. The only maintenance I have had to do is to adjust the tension twice a year, which is easily done by hand. The rope loosens when it is cold and tightens when it is warm.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Electric tape. Even the cheap stuff we bought in a pinch has lasted years. The wider heavy duty stuff is going on 15. It was rated for 5.Check to make sure it is UV rated. We used a Parmac that was rated for tape until it was put on a new fence with no interrupters - We had one really bad storm where lightning struck the post next to the charger. There were so many pieces we lost count. We use several different types but I think right now we have mostly Zareba as hubby likes cheap. The fencer repair man loves to see him walk in.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

I have this. 
Field Guardian 2In Polytape Classic 18 Wire - Horse.com

Heavier duty than the regular tape (normal 1 inch tape has a tensile strength of around 500, this is over 1000. comes in handy when you have fence busters like I do). I've had it up for several years and, other than having to re-tighten it a few times, I've had no problems at all. The reason you have to tighten it occasionally is because it will stretch over time, especially if it's exposed to high winds.


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## Darrin (Jul 11, 2011)

Someone mentioned fiberglass poles and I'll have to say never again. The older they get the more likely it will be to leave glass splinters in your hand. They quickly reach the point that if you look at them to long you get splinters.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

JMaldaner said:


> Yogiwick, is that Horseguard brand electric fencing?
> 
> I have used Horseguard and found it to be incredibly durable. Two strands is usually enough. They have fiberglass poles, too, that work very well. You can, of course, use more permanent posts.
> 
> ...


 I *think* so... I'll pull up the old brochures and check. If so it looks like their advertising/website has regressed in the past 12 years lol. If it is not the same thing it is very similar.

Really great fencing. I would assume even another brand, if designed the same, would be just as durable.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

^ Agree!!

We have some good fiberglass type but they're coated.. I definitely wear gloves when we do have to move them just in case! They are pretty durable if you leave them alone imo. We use those and metal (capped) t-posts in the corners and have had no issues.


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## deserthorsewoman (Sep 13, 2011)

I'm totally with Yogiwick on this one. I've seen really nasty injuries with rope, especially when it gets a little old and worn. The only downfalls of the wide tape are wind and snow. I have 1/2" tape now, it's a little better with the high winds here. I've had the 4cm tape and had to re tighten after Snowfall when living in Germany. I have seen 10cm wide "foal tape", with a checker board type hole pattern which withstands the wind without significant stretching.
As Darrin said, any fence is only as good as the amount of electricity in it. Key is that it" bites" and they learn to stay away from it. For the deer.... there are alarms you can put on which signal an interruption in current with a red blinking light or even a call to your cell phone.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

Just want to add- I have never had an issue with weather/wild animals, etc.

While our fences are a tad saggier than they used to be, they don't need retightening at all (well here and there but nothing "regular..) unless a tree falls on them they're good. And when a tree does fall its the posts that go lol.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

I have the same type of wide tape dividing my paddocks and its never shown signs of rotting - I prefer it because its more visible to the horses
It wont keep deer out though because those little darlings will easily jump it at standard horse fence height unless you put in a higher pole every so many poles and run a couple of strands of braid or wide tape around your perimeter they'll still get in
We have found that the occasional bears we get walk straight through electric tape ripping out the plastic tread in stakes, the metal ones stand up to them better or wooden posts which they can't budge at all are best.


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## Cruiser (Aug 28, 2011)

I have Horseguard bi-polar tape, seems to work good and hasn't been bothered by 120-150 km an hour winds we get. Always electric, no annoying grounding rods and looks good even though it's brown and green. They do have normal tape that's white I think but it's not bi-polar.


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## NBEventer (Sep 15, 2012)

So many fabulous tips and suggestions! Thank you everyone! I'm open to anymore as we won't be ordering our fencing until the end of the month. And of course there will be pictures through the progress 
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## fallen (Nov 29, 2008)

Koolio said:


> We used 4 strands of electric poly rope 3/8" and love it. Our fence has been through 4 harsh Canadian winters and 3 summers and has never given us a problem. The rope is inexpensive and easy to maintain. Just be sure to use quality insulators, ground the fence properly, use proper connectors and correctly adjust the tension. The only maintenance I have had to do is to adjust the tension twice a year, which is easily done by hand. The rope loosens when it is cold and tightens when it is warm.


can I ask what brand you used???


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## fallen (Nov 29, 2008)

NBEventer said:


> So many fabulous tips and suggestions! Thank you everyone! I'm open to anymore as we won't be ordering our fencing until the end of the month. And of course there will be pictures through the progress
> _Posted via Mobile Device_



I'm in New-Brunswick Canada and thinking of changing all my galvanized (moose go through my fence every year I guess they don't see it ) to electric poly rope so anxious to see what brand you used and results...


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