A client just bought an 80 acre facility which I am leasing. He’s made some major improvements to the farm, including a large new outdoor, which are fabulous. However the outdoor went over budget and we are looking at having to push back our wood fencing in the pastures a bit. The pastures currently have field fence with a barbed wire on top. We’ve gone through and taken down the barbed wire and replaced it with electric rope on t-post caps. I’m now wondering for what’s left if it would make more sense to run electric rope ~ 2 feet off the existing fence line on step-in posts? Would this make you feel that the fencing was safer or that our facility was higher end (theoretically of course)? Or is it a waste of money?
I am confused, the remaining fence is all field fence? I wouldn’t call that “bad” fencing especially is the barbed wire is gone. Putting hot wire on top would be fine for me to try to keep the horses leaning on the fence (which they will).
We have some field fence with barbed wire on top left. I’ve had a couple horses (at other facilities) get their shoes stuck in field fence so for the couple remaining pastures I thought maybe we’d try an interior electric rope line on the step-in posts.
If I saw an extra run of fence I would assume the existing fence was unsound and dangerous. Metal t posts are also dangerous even with caps. I’d much rather have field fence with hot wire on top.
The t-posts unfortunately are the supports for the field fencing. But good point about the second line of fence. The field fence is taut and well-maintained.
You can buy extensions to put on the t posts to hang the electric rope, they stick out about 6 inches, these were the first I found as the price is a little :eek: http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-Extension-Insulator-T-Post-Black-Electric-Fence-/310125887806
What is field fence? Not familiar with that.
They make electric wire/rope/tape holders that stick out from whatever they are attached to -not by 2 feet but perhaps enough that the horse won’t get close enough to interact with the field fence. That would be my recommendation for the temporary fix.
No fence is 100% safe - it’s horses. They will go through it if they really want to, or impale themselves, or get stuck. Yet some will stay in with dental floss and a good word. If you have a fence tester, s/he doesn’t get field privileges and has to stay where the newer fencing is. The compliant ones get to be out in the back 40.
[QUOTE=lesgarcons;8535699]
We have some field fence with barbed wire on top left. I’ve had a couple horses (at other facilities) get their shoes stuck in field fence .[/QUOTE]
have had that to occur also, could not figure our way my daughter’s horse was just standing in the same spot for several hours… that was until I went out to look at what he was looking at, he had hooked a shoe on the bottom strand of the cross fence… bolt cutters to remove the wire than pulled the shoe
[QUOTE=ReSomething;8535735]
You can buy extensions to put on the t posts to hang the electric rope, they stick out about 6 inches, these were the first I found as the price is a little :eek: http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-Extension-Insulator-T-Post-Black-Electric-Fence-/310125887806[/QUOTE]
Since that’s the price for a bag of 32, I don’t think it’s that bad. (You have to read down to the end of the description to find that.) Or you could just buy them at TSC.
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Field fence, called sheep fence in our area, is a good alternative to barb wire for fencing larger areas. That is what our perimeter fence is. We capped the steel t posts and added a strip of Horse Guard Electric tape. So far, no problems or injuries.
Any fence has a potential to be dangerous in some way; even wood.
You said the property is 80 acres so I would imagine the pasture are large sized.
Honestly, I think what you’ve got is just fine. With the electric rope on the top, they should mostly stay away from it anyway.
I would not waste the money to put in a “second fence” of step in posts.
I think it also has to do with the horses. If you have a 20 year old packer who just grazes in the middle all day and doesn’t play over fences your fine. But if you a nuty 4 YO who goes nuts and tests fences I might be a little more worried. We all have pretty and what we think safe fence at the beginning of ur farms but by the end they are held together with bailing wire and corral panels patch up holes.
But sheep fence can really do a number on a horse’s leg if they out foot through it. I have seen several really nasty injuries.
Much as I dislike T-posts, even if capped, I think a double strand, at leasts would keep them away from the field fence
Instead of separate step-in stake fencing, I’d stick with the field fencing with hot wire on top but also add it to the bottom. Definitely use the longer extenders (we use 5 inch extenders).
The only danger I’ve seen with field fencing is when there is no hot wire and the horses try to reach grass on the other side (which is, of course, greener, lol). I have ab ornery mini gelding, who, unless there is hot wire, stands on the horizontal wires (even with no-climb) and bends the fence down to reach the grass.
Electric rope needs to be under tension - don’t use it with step-in posts. I’d use electric tape and stand it off the field fence using those stand-off insulators.
The field fence can be dangerous if the horses mess with it - the openings are large and the wire isn’t as heavy as horse fence, so adding the electric is a good plan.
Get a good charger that will have plenty of zap even if the grass starts to grow.
Yes we also had this fencing with three strands of electric. Just plain wire, with some of the flappy things on it for visibility and run pretty hot. One wire at the top and two on the longest extenders they make. One was set around knee height for grazing horses and sheep and one higher up for standing horses. Worked great to keep them off the fence. I’ve also seen people run a single strand of tape 2-3’ inside the perimeter fencing with the charger set to “kill” and that also keeps them off the perimeter fencing pretty well.
The main issue is that you can no longer climb over or through your own fence and have to go around! And the dogs got shocked a lot on the lower wire which can be a bonus depending on your point of view.
Can someone direct me to a link? What is “Field fencing”?
[QUOTE=Sannois;8539984]
Can someone direct me to a link? What is “Field fencing”?[/QUOTE]
welded Wire fencing with 4x4 holes. “No Climb”, in the other hand, is welded wire fencing with 2x4 (vertical) holes - generally safer for horses.
I have field fencing with electric on top on my farm and HATE, HATE, HATE it. After a couple of extremely serious injuries resulting from horses kicking into it, including one boarder’s horse who cut one of her hooves half off and took six months to recover, I fenced all the horses away from it with Horseguard-like tape and step in posts. I am budgeting to replace it completely this year.
Most of my horses that got injured in it did not have shoes on at all. Still very dangerous because they stick a leg through the holes and horrible things happen.
My step in posts are much farther than two feet to the inside, they are about six feet to the inside. Two feet is not enough to prevent a kick out injury.
I prefer the step ins to T posts because they are less dangerous. They will break if a horse tangles with them. I tried the tall ones but they are not sturdy. The short ones are actually much heartier. It does require a good bit of maintenance to keep the system up and running and I consider it a “patch” – I am always out there fixing something and tightening something else. in the long run you just need to figure on replacing with a horse safe fence. You also need an extremely strong charger to keep it all going, I got a “Cattleman” type charger. That keeps them off the tape.
It also makes mowing a bit of a PITA – I unplug the charger, pull down the line, drag it a few feet in, mow, put it all back up again…so annoying. But the horses’ safety is more important so I deal.
Now you could do a whole set of additional fencing inside with real tensioned Electric or whatever but you will need more than T posts for that. And if so you might as well rip out the field fence and just run coated wire where it used to be on your existing real posts. In fact if I was running a professional horse facility I would definitely consider that. it will look a lot more professional and attractive. I wouldn’t want to board at a place with field fence.
