Electric Fence Reconmendations

The tape can stretch and you need to make sure you keep it tight or it looks like poo.
 
I have the poly braind rope and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it.  It adjusts easier and the horses, turkeys and deer (yeah I have to factor in for the wild populations)  seem to like it.

I use the Hotcote electric fencing and really love it.  You can check it out at www.rammfence.com
 

I'd recommend the horseguard fence! I just did a post about it the other day. I think it looks great, was super easy to set up too. all the parts are QUALITY!! very nice insulators & tensioners.  The tape itself looks fantastic, the way its all set up the tape stays nice & tight ( VERY easy to adjust if you need to), and I liked that white wasn't the only color. 

Check out the pics on my other post!

posts can be up to 16' apart. the tape is designed so wind passes THROUGH it, so it doesn't flap.


heres'a pic with 40mph winds, the top is horseguard the bottom is a lesser quality tape



a good comparison of the visibility of electric fencing..
the top is horseguard

I put up electric tape fencing a few years ago, the wide white stuff, can't remember the name. I don't like it. It's very high maintenance, especially out here where we have hurricane force winds (well, it seems like it). I'm slowly replacing it with wire.
 
I had a big roll of tape left over so I donated it to the horse rescue.

Appy- I used the tape before and it was a pain in the @$$.  The wind and snow just made it horrible to deal with and maintain.   I switched to the polybraid wire because it has the ease of wire, but you get the safety factor of the tape- no horrible cuts.

I am getting ready to put up a perimeter fence next spring, and cross fence later on. 
 
I looked at different electric fence materials from tape to braided to hotcote.  I like the braided because it takes less support posts, but I did not want the cost of running so many strands.  The tapes only had warrenties for 5 for less years and I didn't like the idea of redoing the fence so often. 
 
My mare is currently at a place with the hotcote, which is great for longevity, but high cost.  Add to the cost the fact that when the power is off she will walk right through the fence.  No respect what so ever!  lol 
 
Because of this behavior and the fact that I don't want to refence every few years, I have decided to go with the cattle/livestock rolls of wire fence and then, put a hot wire on top to discourage her from reaching over and collapsing the fence.  I already have hedge&nbsposts for the corners/cross supports, and at the gates.  I will be getting t-posts for the straight runs. 
 
I am not sure what I will use to top off the t-posts.  Some caps on the market do not look like they would provide much protection and others can be rather costly.  Currently I am considering,&nbspVC pipe end caps or maybe even tin cans, just something that I can wire to the posts that will protect against cuts and impalement!

At this point I am leaning towards safe-fence as they have a 20 year warranty which is better than others I have found.

As I am in South Carolina, not on the coast, I will not have much snow to worry about and if a hurricane is approaching the coast and headed our way they will probably be in the barn.

We have electrobraid and LOVE it!   We started out with a small pasture and have finally this year changed over to it completely.
We have had trees fall on it and it bounces right back-- no breaks.
Also-- you can put your poles further apart than 8 ft so that saves you on the cost of that.
 
Some Tractor Supply's carry it-- or you can go online and order

Just had a pretty big storm here - big for us anyways, gusts up to 65mph
here's a short vid of my horseguard fence, it was moving a bit, but not anywhere close to 'flapping'

tomorrow I'm gonna go out & re-tension it.
http://s20.photobucket.com/albums/b250/akyramoto/?action=view&current=horseguardin50wind.flv

We have electrobraid.  It gets a coat of ice on it almost every winter and seems to hold up.  We can put the horses out until the drifts are over the fenceline.
 
We only have 2 strands.  You do need to check the insulators as they do crack and break but the rope is indestructible.  Plus if a post goes bad you can jury rig the fence pretty easily by just moving the rope a bit or adding a new piece of rope.  Can't do that with the old fashioned cattle fencing.   We have had ours for 3 years now.

We use Horse Guard on wood posts for our pastures
 (with wood board perimeter fencing) and will never use a different brand of electric fence aain.  Contrary to what some say, HG does NOT stretch, sag or sway and requires very little maintenance.  We have gale force winds frequently here on the coast and this stuff stands up to all kinds of weather.  I can't speak for snow loads though as we don't get much of the white stuff here, thankfully!

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At this point I am leaning towards safe-fence as they have a 20 year warranty which is better than others I have found.

As I am in South Carolina, not on the coast, I will not have much snow to worry about and if a hurricane is approaching the coast and headed our way they will probably be in the barn.


Just an update. We did install the Safe-Fence brand and have been VERY happy with it. It sagged a little with the rare SC snow we had, but once it melted, all the sag disappeared!  The horses have managed to push into it a couple times, I suspect they push each other into it, and the neat thing is, they don't get hurt, it creates a little sag which is quickly fixed and they are still contained in the fence.

I have had the braided rope for 4 years.  You need rope if you have any type of snow cover.  The snow drifts over the bottom rope but you can pull the rope out when the snow melts.
 
I have only 2 strands of rope and that has worked fine.  Originally we had intended to add another strand and we never have.  It was not that expensive to do a 3 acre pasture and you can splice the rope a lot easier than with the tape.  NO tensioners whatsoever, you can tighten it by hand.  Deer will break bare wire, I am assuming they would also wreak havoc with tape.  My rope has a 1000 pound test.
 
People do say that the rope is dangerous also, but I have had no issues in the 4 years that we have had it.  If a horse is going to get into the fence, it doesn't matter what its made out of.  Ours respect it.

That Safe Fence is very attractive!  I'd like to replace my rope eventually in my front yard.  I love the Safe Coat stuff my neighbors have too.