With all of that being said though I'm not 100% convinced that single strand electric hi-tensile fence is the perfect solution for everyone. While I don't think I would ever put up barbed-wire only for fencing I can think of plenty of situations where a woven wire fence would be a great solution ... especially if you pair it up with one or two strands of electric fencing on the interior.
Links Mentioned in This Episode
- Dalla Terra Ranch
- Ebersole Cattle Company
- PowerFlex Fence
- And, here is a link to the new PowerFlex Fence Posts
As always, I want to thank you so much for listening and supporting the show with your encouragement and reviews on iTunes! I am continually working to produce a better show, and I'm thankful for all of the listeners sticking with me as I learn. If you do enjoy the show, don't forget that you can subscribe on iTunes and leave a five start rating and review (by clicking the link or the image on the right). If you are an Android phone user you can also subscribe on the free Stitcher App. It is so very encouraging to know that people are listening and enjoying the show!
I would love to hear your questions, show ideas, or comments about the show. Feel free to shoot me an e-mail! As always you can follow along with The Beginning Farmer and Crooked Gap Farm by checking out these links ...
TBF Show 026 :: Play in a New Window | Right Click to Download
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(if you are interested in the music in this episode check out my brother's record label, Historic Records)
2 comments:
The "old style" Powerflex posts are still being sold by the original manufacturer PasturePro - http://www.pasturepro.com/
I ordered a sample from them (I still use it to sort cattle) and then found out that you can buy the PasturePro posts at one of my local feed stores.
I've got cattle and have barbwire fences on the farm with a high-tensile wire running around the perimeter. I bought some high-quality offset insulators (get the ones with pinlocks and don't use the cheap yellow ones), and buried a double-insulated wire under each gate (so it's always hot even when going through a gate.
In my case, the interior fencelines are shared by the neighboring landowners, each landowner is responsible for the right-hand half of the fence on each quarter section, so completely replacing the fence isn't an option.
I've seen a sheep operation locally that deals with barbwire perimeter fences by adding a couple of wires near the ground (a 5-wire fence would then be a 7-wire fence with the bottom wires about 4-5 inches apart) and then they added two electric fence wires at about 12" and 20". That way the neighbor is still just responsible for his 5 wires, and the sheep owner just had to add a couple of barb wires.
You need to be creative and try to spend as little as possible on your fences, I've got a interior electric-fenced lane built out of some solid half-round wooden posts that I salvaged when I replaced a fence. I just had to dig a bunch of postholes, screw some insulators to the posts, string my high-tensile, and I had a 2000' fence built for about $60 and some sweat.
And, I got to re-use a bunch of posts that about 30 years ago my grandfather had originally built a fence with. Don't know how to exactly explain it, but there's a certain value with being able to do that.
I've got to say you're a brave man for jumping in and choosing to raise livestock. I raised pigs for 4-H for 10 years, and my parents raised Angus cattle for years. Raising animals is a huge financial investment, and much more risky than sticking some seeds in the ground! I've been reading through your past posts, and you take a very careful, slow approach to it all. Just wanted to say "Great Job!" and "Keep it up!"
-TheFarmGirl @ kissmytractor.wordpress.com
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