PowerFlex Fence Project :: Day Two

Tuesday was a nice day. It was partly cloudy with a breeze that kept things cool for all of the work. Tuesday night into Wednesday it stormed and stormed, but when we woke up yesterday morning the sun was shining and except for all the mud it was another great day to work. So, with the weather in our favor we started early and got quite a bit of work done. If you were out on the farm working with us today you probably would have heard me say things like this:

• "Ahh, my boots are stuck in the clay/mud/goop!"
• "I am ready to be done with the wood posts and move on to the rest of the fence."
• "There is no way I could have every got this done without the help of you (talking to Gary Duncan of PowerFlex)."
• "I cannot believe how light weight these posts are."
• "There is no way I could pull one of these out of the ground."
• "I've put a few different kinds of posts up on this farm in the past year, but by far I like putting this one in the best (in reference to the PowerFlex posts)."
• "Check this out, I'm carrying the post driver and five posts with no problem. No way I could do that with steel posts."
• "You know, I think even I can figure out how to do this (in reference to putting up the fence myself)."
• "That is so cool, but I can't do it (me talking about how Mr. Duncan breaks off the wire with a clean break)."

That is just a small sampling of the positive things I had to say about our new Hi-Tensile fence and PowerFlex posts. I really can't believe how cool the process is of putting up this fence and strength (and looks) of the posts. One really cool thing about the PowerFlex posts is how easy it is drive them into the ground. Granted, the ground was soft after the rain, but we drove them in so quickly with just a regular post driver. If the ground is more solid you can just pound a pilot hole and then pound in your PowerFlex post. Let's just put it this way, in about thirty minutes time we put in about 70 posts!

Another thing that I found really exciting is how easy it is to attach the wire to the posts. We made a guide to place the holes at the correct spacing on the posts and then just used a cordless drill and a 7/32's bit to drill through in no time. Now we have one section of fence along the road completely done. I can't tell you how great that is and how amazing it looks!

Today we are back at it again and I think we will finish up the rest of the fence along the road. After that I will move onto the three-wire fence along the inside of the trees. I have set that up with a couple of gate openings so that I can get back there with a tractor to cut wood and also so we can flash graze the cattle in the woods and along the edges. Make sure you check back tomorrow to see what we get done!

Also, if you are in the area today, feel free to drop on by to see the process and talk to Mr. Duncan.

You're Invited . . .

We are opening our farm up today to anyone interested in PowerFlex fencing. Mr. Duncan is using a variety of products on our farm to show different options available with their products. He will also be here to answer any questions about their fencing system. So if you are wanting to learn more about this type of fence, drop us an e-mail and we'll send you directions to our farm.

PowerFlex Fence Project :: Day One

We have started! I can't tell you how great it is to actually say those words and see the progress as we get work done. Gary Duncan showed up yesterday morning with a truck load of materials and the know-how to get this fence going! Shortly after that my Uncle Loren pulled in with a tractor (my cousin Verne had also brought a tractor and post-hole digger Monday), a mower, and a bunch of tools. Before I knew it corner posts and wood transition posts were going in the ground and by the end of the evening we even had our first PowerFlex posts up on the perimeter.

In the picture above you can see Mr. Duncan teaching me how to tie a wire knot. Let me just tell you that it is one cool little trick. This is the process that he uses to tie the insulators to the wood posts and to tie the line wire to the insulator. In other places he used a crimp sleeve to make the loop. He is doing different things in different places so that I can get an idea of what is possible, but I have to say the wire knots seem the best because you don't really need any tools. Check out this link to go to a little article that explains the process.

This picture shows what much of my day involved. We had to put in the corner posts and line posts in order to start stringing the wire so there was a lot of digging to do. As you can see the John Deere 4020 and post hole digger came in handy. But, there was still some hand digging to do in order to get the posts deep enough. We are pretty much done with the perimeter posts, but there are a couple brace posts that need to go in yet. Today we are going to be focusing on putting in the posts along the woods. This will be a three wire fence so our bracing won't need to be as stout, but Mr. Duncan also pointed out that we could easily add a floating brace in the future if we needed to ... you can read about floating braces on the PowerFlex page at this link.

Finally, as I mentioned we even have the PowerFlex posts up on the first stretch of fence. In this picture you can see Mr. Duncan pounding in a post with a regular steel post driver. If you look really closely in the picture (you can click on it to enlarge it) you can see a blue thing sticking out of the ground just past the wood post in the picture. This is a tool that he used to make a pilot hole and then would pound in the post. He said we could just pound the posts in without the pilot hole, but he liked to do it this way because it helped get them in the ground straight.

Of course, chime in with any questions you have about the process and I'll make sure to take some time to answer (after asking Mr. Duncan of course!). Check back tomorrow for another update!

Q & A Interview With Gary Duncan of Powerflex :: Part Five

This is the big week that the fence goes up on our place. I can honestly say that I can hardly wait for this project to be done, but at the same time I feel a bit overwhelmed. Oh well, I guess we are just going to start regardless! One thing that I am confident of is that we will be in good hands with Gary Duncan of Powerflex helping us out. Check out the last two questions from my little Q & A interview with him and then check back all week long for the fence building progress.

7.) Lightening can be an issue with an electric fence. How can you handle that and are there other things that need to be considered.

Lightning is a powerful force. But, we can do things on the fence to try to get it to go ground prior to getting to your fence charger. Most larger energizers have two fuses in them - one for the fence side and another for the power supply side. A surge protector on the power side is also a device that will help. Some farms are more prone to lightning than are others. If your farm has historically had a lot of lightning hits, then multiple devices on the fence may be in order. There are different types of lightning protection devices, but most work somewhat in the same way. Either there are contact points or a spark gap that will activate when a surge of lightning attacks it. Some have coils. The coil is a device that aids in defusing and slowing down the flow of lightning thus encouraging it to make the spark gap in the device. It is generally recommended that you install one more ground rod at your lightning protection than you did at the energizer. Ie: you have 4 ground rods at the energizer, you should have 5 at your lightning protection. This device should be installed 65 feet away from your energizer grounds. No device is guaranteed to stop lightning entirely but it is worth the effort to try.

8.) So, how does this whole process go together in a nutshell? Is it a fairly difficult process or something that someone can get the hang of as they work?

If you are just starting out with electric fence I would recommend that you read up as much as you can. There is much information on the internet about electric fencing. I don’t think that electric fencing is difficult, but you do need to think it out as you build your fence. Hi-tensile wire is relatively easy to work with. Wire usually comes in 4000’ coils (with a weight of 100#’s) and you’ll need a wire dispenser, also called a spinning jenny to roll out your wire. Never try it without one! You can either crimp your joints and connections or you can hand knot them. If you crimp, you will need a good crimp tool. Even if you hand knot, there are still places that you will need to crimp. Hand knotting is not really all that hard to learn, however, only practice makes perfect. Once you learn how to tie hand knots, you will not need to carry many tools around with you as you build fence.

Q & A Interview With Gary Duncan of Powerflex :: Part Four

We are getting closer and closer to actually beginning to put up the hi-tensile on our farm, but it has been lots of thought and preparation put into this project. Most of the prep work that we have been doing is researching, studying, and planning. Thanks to the help of Gary Duncan of Powerflex Fence the research and planning have been made a lot easier. I hope you are enjoying these Q & A posts and that you are learning as much as I am!

5.) I know for our perimeter fencing we have been discussing a six wire fence. How many wires do you usually suggest for the various applications that people use hi-tensile fencing for?

This will depend mainly on the type of livestock that you wish to contain. Additionally, perimeter fences will have more strands than interior ones will. For cattle we normally suggest 5 strands on the perimeter, but only 1 strand will work fine for interior cross fences. If you are concerned about calves going under this single strand then install a second or third strand.
With sheep or goats, perimeter fences usually have from 6 to 8 strands. I personally know people who get along with 5 strands for goats, but 6 to 8 is more common. Some of this will be dictated by your management practices also. If, for instance, you will be with your livestock daily or more and you are moving them to fresh forage regularly, then you can probably get by with less strands of wire. The animals wont be searching for forage and will be less likely to challenge a fence.

6.) In the past I have read about hi-tensile fences being set up with alternating hot and ground wires in the fence. What do you suggest in regards to a set-up like that and grounding in general?

Alternating hot and ground wires can be effective with dry soil conditions, especially in the case of goats or other lightweight livestock. With a all hot wire system, in order to receive a shock, you have to be grounded to the earth while touching the hot wire, thus completing the curcuit. In the case of a small goat, that might be standing on a dry thatch of grass, they may not be fully grounded and do not receive a shock or a full shock. When using alternating ground wires, if an animal touches a hot wire and a ground wire at the same time they will receive a full shock, regardless of wheather their feet are well grounded or not.

Q & A Interview With Gary Duncan of Powerflex :: Part Three

Again, a big thank you to Gary Duncan for taking the time to answer these questions and to chime in on the comments. Here are the next two questions I asked him along with his wonderful responses.

3.) What makes the PowerFlex post and the hi-tensile fencing system good option for the farm practicing Management Intensive Grazing.

I think that the answer to that is “flexibility”. This system offers a lot of benefits during installation and afterwards. It is an easy system to install and should you want to add a gate later it is very easy to accommodate that as well. As we become better graziers, we often need to modify our system to fit our needs and climatic conditions. With this system it is very easy to add portable fencing components to further subdivide larger paddocks and get better utilization of our resources. Besides that it is more economical to install and will last much longer.

4.) Obviously when you are dealing with electric fence the fence energizer is an important piece of the puzzle. What sort of advice do you generally give to someone when they are picking out an energizer?

First off, don’t necessarily believe everything that you read on the label of the box ! There is really no international standard in the way energizers are rated, so labeling can be very confusing. Some manufacturers state stored joules while others give you output joules. Most will give you mileage and some will give you acres. These claims will vary greatly depending on may factors. Most manufacturers will claim that one output joule will power about 10 miles of fence. They may with a clean fence with no vegetation on it. However, when you consider grass and vegetation load you would be better off using 3 miles per joule. This will give you adequate power under high vegetation periods. If a manufacturer only gives you the stored joule rating, then reduce that by about 30% to know what the output joule rating is. With electric fence energizers, more power is better than not enough power. Another aspect to be aware of is grounding the energizer. None of them will operate to optimum performance without adequate grounding. One suggestion is to install 3 feet of ground rod per output joule.

Q & A Interview With Gary Duncan of Powerflex :: Part Two

Here are the first two questions and answers from my interview with Gary Duncan of the Powerflex Fence company. Feel free to add questions of your own in the comments and I'll see if we can get some feedback from Mr. Duncan.

1.) Hi-Tensile fencing is something that is fairly new to me. Thanks to the readers of my blog I was turned onto this type of fencing and decided it would be a good fit for our fencing needs. Could you give a brief overview of the ins and outs of a hi-tensile fence?

Firstly, hi-tensile electric fencing is a physiological barrier rather than a physical one. Typically a traditional fence of barbed, woven or a board fence is a physical barrier and must be maintained taunt and tight to be effective. Electric fences work on the memory of the animal from a previous shock. Once properly trained, animals respect electric fences greatly. They simply learn not to challenge them. Hi-tensile wire itself is much stronger than the traditional low carbon wire used in agricultural fencing. 12.5 gauge hi-tensile wire has a breaking strength of 1300 pounds plus. Around 3X more than barbed wire. The finish on hi-tensile wire is also superior. It has at least a class III galvanized coating, which will last 3 to 4 times longer than class I traditional wires. Hi-tensile wire will also stretch up to about 2% of its initial tension, but once stretched, it will return to its initial tension. This feature reduces the maintenance that is normally required to keep other fencing tight and effective.

2.) Can you tell me more about the PowerFlex posts and all their benefits?

The PowerFlex Posts are an “oriented” composite. They are comprised of about 70% polypropylene and 30% wood fiber. The orientation process that they go thru during manufacture gives them grain vertically similar to woodgrain. This adds strength and flexibility. All material used is virgin and no recycled products are used. They are made of an insulative material, so do not require insulators. Only a cotter pin to hold the wire in place. I think that the greatest benefit that Powerflex Posts offer is that they are flexible. They will yield to pressure, then return to their upright position. Next is the fact that they are made of an insulative material. Anyone that has been around electric fencing very long soon realizes that much of their maintenance involves replacing broken insulators and finding shorts on conductive posts.

Make sure you check back tomorrow for more. Also, a big thanks goes out to Mr. Duncan for all of the time he as taken helping us figure out what we need and answering our questions!

Q & A Interview With Gary Duncan of Powerflex :: Part One

Finally it is going to happen. Finally we are going to begin putting up our perimeter fence! I can't tell you how amazing it is going to be to actually have a fence around our farm so that we can really get down to business with our managed grazing. We have been doing the best that we can right now, but without that nice exterior fencing it has been more difficult and more time consuming. Not only will it be great for our cattle, but it will also open up so many more options with our pigs. This is a very good thing!

If you have been around the blog for awhile you may already know that we have decided to go with six wires of hi-tensile fence and Powerflex line posts. Quite awhile ago I posted some of the fencing ideas that we were considering and someone (sorry I don't remember who) mentioned in the comments that we should consider hi-tensile. It was something I had never heard of, but I checked it out right away and eventually decided it was the best fit for us.

While I was researching hi-tensile fencing I came across the Powerflex website and started to read about their posts. It seemed like the perfect fit and since then I have been in contact with the folks at Powerflex talking about all of our fencing needs and options. Next week Gary Duncan of Powerflex will be delivering our materials and giving us a hand, but before we begin the work I thought it would be nice to do a little Q & A interview with him about their posts and hi-tensile fencing in general.

I encourage you to check out the Powerflex website today and then check back the next few days for the interview. Like I said ... I am very excited about this!

Please ... Fence Me In

Because of soccer commitments (and everything else) we have not been able to get going on our PowerFlex perimeter fencing project. Nevertheless the cows (and especially Barnabas the bull) have decided that it is spring and they want to be out on the green grass. I don't blame them one bit, but I just haven't had time to tackle all of the projects that need to be done. But, my plan was to go to a meeting this morning (and arrive early to write my blog post) and then run out to the farm to put up some electric fence so that they could have grass. Needless to say, that isn't what happened.

First the calves got out when I was building a new paddock for them (not their fault ... this was a user error). After getting them back in I had just a few minutes to get ready before needing to leave to the meeting. My wife happened to look out the window as I was getting ready and said, "Where is the bull!" We went out to try and get them in, but they are just spunky when they get on the grass and it was going no where. So, I decided to settle for the better part of valor and skip the meeting so I could put up the fence ... meanwhile the three cows and the bull that were out just wandered the farm.

After a few hours, a trip to McCorkles Hardware and a lot of help from my wife I finally have a nice electric fence up. I would say that the perimeter of the area they have now is about 3/8ths of a mile, so they have a bit of room to roam. I will be rotating them through that area and always giving them a gate back to their winter pen so they can have water. It isn't ideal at all, but it will get us by for now.

How to do the Fence?

Our fencing alongside the road is easy (a relative term I know) and pretty much straight forward. It is mostly a straight line, except for around the corner, and the slope isn't too steep most of the time. The problem that I'm having run through my mind right now is how I'm going to do what I'm calling the interior/perimeter fence (the stuff in red above). Ideally we would just do the high tensile all the way around our 40 acres (there is the remains of a fence left), but that would require a bulldozer ... fill dirt ... and more money than we can afford. On top of that it would also mean there would need to be some cooperation with the neighbors.

With all of that in mind my idea is to have something semi-permanent going along the tree line. I would like it far enough away from the trees (I think) so that I can get a tractor along the outside for wood cutting and I would also like the ability to flash graze cattle and hogs inside the woods. That would mean some sort of access through the "semi-permanent" fence.

When I e-mailed back and forth with the guys at PowerFlex we talked about using a three wire fence. I think that is a good idea, but I'm wondering about posts and such. If I followed the general contours of the tree line there would be lots of bends ... which could equal lots of wooden posts. The idea of putting in a bunch of wood posts down there when I only wanted it to be semi-permanent didn't excite me.

I guess the other option would be to put in wooden posts and make as many straight runs as possible. Then put in some gates and we are set. Anyone have any thoughts on this or have you worked through a similar situation? I open to all ideas.

Putting Up Some Fence

No, I'm not putting any fence up just yet (and my plans may take a step back if we get the snow they are calling for on Friday), but we have settled on a bit of a fencing plan. We are in need of about 1/2 mile of exterior fence along two sides of our property that borders the road and then a diagonal line of fence along the woods. Of course we could have just put up straight shots around the entire property, but that would have taken to many hours on a bulldozer so we are going to just fence along the woods.

Thanks to Gary at PowerFlex we now have a plan that goes something like this... On the exterior fence we will have six strands of hi-tensile wire. There will be wood hedge posts at the corners, around the turn of the property, and anywhere there is big terrain change. For line posts we are going to go with 1 1/4" x 66" PowerFlex posts (we could and we might go with the 1 5/8" bull posts) spaced at about 30 feet. I'm not exactly sure on the spacing of the wires, but will check with Gary to see what he recommends for the livestock that we have/will have.

Along the woods we are going to use three wires (and some gates most likely so I can do some flash grazing in the brush) and the 1 1/4" x 60" PowerFlex posts. There will probably be some hedge posts thrown in along the line at the major bends and such. I like the idea of the three wires because it allows us to be a bit flexible down there.

As far as interior fencing goes I think we are going to go with some of the Management Intensive Grazing basics. We will have some tread-in posts, wire or polybraid, and some reels for quick setup and tear down. At this point we aren't going to do much in the way of permanent interior fencing so we have some time to really understand our pastures.

This bad boy of a system will be powered by a 6 Joule fencer (most likely a Stafix brand) that ought to provide a shocking mental barrier to our livestock.

I've got to tell you that I am very thankful for the help that they have been at PowerFlex and I really get the feeling that their product is as good as their service. This spring (if it ever completely comes) I'll have a good series of posts on the process and lots of pictures. So, stay tuned!

Just a Farm Update...

Life on the farm has been a bit busy around here lately. Between work at the church, family, and regular winter chores we are sure to keep busy, but when you add in all the spring/summer planning we are going through now and the homework from the GYSMF class there isn't a lot of down time. Lately I have been able to finish our makeshift chicken coop that will get us buy until we are able to build an eggmobile type of structure, finalized some exterior fence plans with a ton of help from the guys at PowerFlex Fencing, and how can I not mention the fact that we are taking in three of our last four pigs to the processor tomorrow. The only piggy left is the boar ... we are just going to try to sell him either to an individual or at the sale barn.

But, one of the most enjoyable things that I have been doing is splitting wood (you can see a bit of my stack in the picture above). Thanks to some great church friends we had a bit over 5 pickup loads of wood dropped off this winter and it was a big help because of everything that we had going on while our Senior Pastor was in the hospitial.

Mostly we have been burning the chunks that didn't need to be split because they were they were on top of the pile and of course took the least amount of work. But, now we are down to the bigger stuff and I have been spending a little time each day out there chopping away with the splitting maul and axe. I don't even know where the maul came from, but my wife found it in the wood pile one day. Someone must have felt sorry for me when the saw my little axe!

I do love cutting wood. I love being outside in the fresh air ... I love smelling the wood all around me ... I love the sounds of the cows, pigs, chickens, and more as I chop ... I love the tired feeling I get as I'm working ... and I love to see the wood fly apart in two pieces. Of course the wood doesn't always fly apart in the picture perfect way. That is what happens when you have some elm mixed into the pile!

Pretty soon I'm going to hit the woods again and build up more of a supply for this year and next. I'm looking forward for those times again...

Thursday's Farm Update

We don't have a ton to update on the farm progress this week because we had around 5 inches of rain in the last week or so (maybe more, but I don't have a rain gauge out at the farm). As you can see the picture above the house looks about the same except that it is ready for the concrete slab to be poured. Having the slab down is a huge step because after that our builder can come back in and finish up the windows, doors, siding, and roof. If we can get the concrete done and our other work the basic structure should be done pretty soon. Now we just pray for NO rain (I know I shouldn't say that) and pray that a couple little snags can take care of themselves (the fact that we are first time general contractors pops up every now and again).

Other than the building we have good news from the garden. Just like other gardeners and farmers in our area we have been fighting water all spring and summer, but a couple weeks ago we were to put in a few things out at the farm ... for fun if anything. Now we have beans, corn, and pumpkins taking off. We also planted some tomatoes, peppers, and yams that we had been growing in pots since early spring. Of course the upper 80's and the high humidity have helped things really pop.

The last thing that I finished up this week was clearing the grass/brush from the areas where I'm going to put the fence. And, I think I finally have it all planned out... Basically we have slightly less than a half mile of high tensile electric to put up along the roads and then I'm going to just run two or three hot wires along the edge of the woods with steel t-posts. The million dollar question right now is what posts I am going to use for my line posts on the high tensile exterior fence.

For some time I have been thinking about using Powerflex posts ... and I think I do want to go ahead with them even though the cost is a little more. Now I just need to figure out how to get them in Iowa and pray that freight/shipping doesn't kill the deal. Has anyone used Powerflex posts?

The Thing About Bare Land...

The thing about bare land is that it is ... well ... it is bare, empty, and void of buildings! That is the case with the 40 acres that we are in the process of buying, so we will have to build everything that we are going to need. A house, storage, shelters, and fences will all have to be built because we are starting with a blank slate. On one had that can be a bad thing because of all the work that it will take to get things up and running, but on the other hand it gives us the opportunity to do exactly what we want exactly how we want to do it. I'm going to try and be the optimist and run with the latter of those two options!

Let me start with the easy stuff first ... One of the reasons that I brought up the fencing questions a little while ago on the blog is because I knew this land might be a possibility. You can get an idea of the land we are working with from the image at the top of the post. Initially I think we are going to fence along the road and the along the wooded area. I think with a little work the fence on the West side of the property could be usable, but we may end up putting up fence just inside of that and going with high tensile electric all the way around. Yep, right now I believe we will be going with high tensile electric. I'm not sure how many wires yet, now that I'm looking for it I am beginning to see it around quite a bit. In fact there is a PowerFlex dealer not to far away so I think we are going to check them out pretty soon. Once the boundary fences are established we will use all portable fencing inside and then eventually make a few more permanent fences if needed.

As far as storage buildings or livestock shelters go ... we will probably tackle those this fall or as needed. We may make some basic portable shade for the cows and beef up the chicken pen a little, but other than that the fence and the house are much more important building projects.

Which leads me to the house. This is the thing that is probably going to be the most stressful because we don't have a ton of budget to work with. We knew going in that we were going to have to choose between a larger chunk of land or a nicer house. As a family we decided that we wanted the land because we could always upgrade the house!

Right now we are looking at a 36 x 45 x 12 post frame barn (like the image on the right) that would be roughly 1600 square feet. Then we would build our living area inside that barn ... err ... house in an area around 1200 square feet leaving the rest for storage. Of course it would have a slab concrete floor and we would probably build a very small lean-to off the side with a cellar because we live in Iowa (tornadoes). Our house will have no air-conditioning and we will heat with wood in order to save money. We will install some electric base-board heaters for backup though.

We are still going through the plans and talking to builders about putting up the barn for us. Once it is up we plan on doing all of the interior work ourselves and building a bare bones home that will be full of love ... but not much else! This is were living simply and making sacrifices for what we believe we are supposed to be doing becomes real, and we are excited about the possibilities.

A few more details ... there is no electric, water, or septic on the farm, but the power and rural water lines are on our side of the road so it is not that big of a deal. Also, it is important to realize that right now we are looking at bare bones and no frills. In fact we see this as a temporary house or one that we can "fancy" up as we desire. Hopefully we will live in this barn for a while and then turn it "back" into a barn and a on farm store.

I would like to open up everything for discussion and suggestions though. I would especially appreciate and thoughts, links, or book recommendations that would help in the building of the barn/house. Do you have any great economical ideas on insulating a post frame/pole building? Let the discussion begin! :)

High Tensile Electric Fence

Well, after my fence post on Saturday it was pointed out in the comments that I had forgotten "high tensile electric fence". I blame it on my "Iowa Farming Bias" (I really don't, but it is a good excuse). Basically what I mean is that as I drive the roads of Iowa and look at fencing I always see the same thing ... woven wire with a couple of barbs on the top. That is pretty much standard fencing in Iowa, so I admit even with all the reading and researching I have done the "Iowa Standby" was the first and only thing that popped into my head. But, after being reminded of the other options out there I dove in and started reading.

One thing I found out right away is that when you Google "high tensile electric fence" or even "how to install high tensile electric fence" you end up with a lot of links to companies selling the product! But, I picked through and did as much reading as I could on sites trying to sell the product and extension agency type of sites giving basic information about high tensile. I would say that there isn't one good source when it comes to this type of fencing, although I think that is true when it comes to beginning farming in general (that is one of the reasons I started the blog).

Here is what I have "learned" ... High tensile seems to be more economical than conventional woven wire or barbed wire fences. It requires a smaller number of posts. You can have it all electrified, partially electrified, or not electrified. High tensile fencing originated in New Zealand. It holds up better than some of the other options, and is easier to install. Those are some of the basic facts that I found in a short afternoon of reading, but I have so many more questions!

Some of the things that I am wondering:

-I have Dexter cattle and expect to have pigs and sheep. How many wires should I think about using? How many should be electrified?

-I have read about those "flex" posts that a few companies are selling. They look pretty nice and are about the same price as t-posts. Should I use those or stick with the old standby?

-Does anyone know of a good book or pamphlet on how to install the fencing?

-I have seen some cost comparisons and read from others that it is less expensive, but what exactly are we talking about? How much per foot realistically?

-How about post spacing? I read that you can do 40 to 50 feet! Is that true?

Of course I'm wondering so much more, but I just thought I would throw those questions out for debate. Other suggestions are welcomed also. I am not set in stone on the high tensile fence, but it does sound very intriguing. If you are interested in some of the sites I used for research check out these links:

"How 2 Articles" at the PowerFlex Website

"High Tensile" section of the Max-Flex Website

"Construction of High Tensile Wire Fences" by the University of Florida Extension

"Why Build High Tensile Fences" from the Ken Cove Website

Like I said three of the four links come from manufacturers, but they were helpful. I think the best links is the top Powerflex site. The links there are pretty good and a couple of them are from outside sources.