Centaur vs. Ramm flex fence?

[fordtraktor]

Any opinions on quality/difference? Is the Centaur worth the extra $$? For the 5 inch. Anyone have the Hotrail? Like it?

My dad has the Ramm fencing that must be 15 years old now and still looks wonderful but I wanted to consider all options. Thinking of redoing my farm this year and pricing stuff out…I am intrigued by the Hotrail because we do have to keep something hot on the Ramm fence to keep the horses off it.

My posts are not that high, 50 inches, and I don’t expect to replace them because they are not that old. so I was thinking 3 board hotrail would probably do it. 4 boards seems like a lot on that amount of post. Anyone do 3 and regret not having 4?

Thanks!

[NaturalSelection]

I was also hoping for some responses from the COTH community…evaluating a similar decision for our farm…

[fordtraktor]

I am strongly considering doing 2 rails of the Hotrail and then the bottom plain Centaur HTP, Natural Selection. But it is so expensive, I just want to be sure I do the right thing. I would love to know about experiences with the Hotrail.

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

I think the problem is people either have one or the other, but haven’t had both.

I am still debating this vs. wood along the road and our driveway. I think I’m doing 3 rails. I am leaning towards running a hot wire (or hotcote) on the inside. Just in case something happens to the hot line, so I don’t have to try to splice a wide rail. But I’m open to why that isn’t the way to go…

I haven’t figured out who has the best hardware yet either…

[bfeintn]

When I was facing the same decision Ramm seemed to have the better warranty and better customer service so that’s who I went with.

[SouthernYankee]

My parents had white 4" Ramm for years. My farm had portions of white 4" Ramm when we bought it. All of it was still useable after 15 years but the white was so mildewed it looked nasty. (the farms are in Illinois and Alabama)

My parents have since replaced their fence. And we also took down all of the Ramm fence and put up 5" Centaur flex rail. We had multiple reasons for taking it down but the biggest reason was it was only about 42" tall and I did not feel safe turning out the horses in it. The Centaur fence has been up for 2 years now and the only thing we have had to do with it is cut 2 trees off it. It is seriously zero maintenance. The trees didn’t damage it when they fell on it, it was a simple loosen the bracket and straighten out the fence and boom done.

We chose Centaur because it’s manufactured 45 minutes from us and we could pick it up from the warehouse and not have to pay freight. That saved us $$ money. We went with the regular flex rail and added the coated hot wire instead of installing the hot-rail. It was cheaper for us to do it that way. The Centaur fence really isn’t very expensive, it’s all of the accessories that make it so high. And the hot rail brackets are expensive.

See the 2 pictures linked to see how we have the fence set up. It’s 4 rails with 3 coated hot wires. Which is entirely overkill for the horses, they would be fine with 1 hot wire but we also have longhorn cows and they can and will go through the boards. So that is why the coated hot wire is positioned in between the rails.

Or you can see this picture from before we added the coated hot wire.

[fordtraktor]

Thank you SouthernYankee! Your fence is gorgeous! There is a place not too far from us I could drive to to pick up Centaur, I think that would make it more affordable.

[poltroon]

I have the Ramm flexrail for more than a decade and I’m very happy with it. I’ve not had to do anything to it.

My choice of Ramm vs. Centaur was largely based on the fact of who could ship to me in what quantity, and Ramm happened to be better for my particular order. I wouldn’t hesitate to get either one.

[khall]

I have Ramm 4.25 4 rails and love it. Very safe fence. We put in 10,000 ft by ourselves no issues. Re 3 vs 4 rail, depends on the horses you need to keep in. Big well mannered horses, 3 rail should be fine. Ponies and foals, 4 rail. We chose Ramm because of how the rails can be buckled together for longer runs (our longest run of fence without ending is 1800 ft.) and how they are tensioned. I love the Ramm tensioners. We did put separate hot wire around the top to keep the horses (draft boarder) from leaning over.

Picture here of our farm in unusual snow for Georgia https://www.facebook.com/347546461986279/photos/pb.347546461986279.-2207520000.1455818153./347836501957275/?type=3&theater

[khall]

I have Ramm 4.25 4 rails and love it. Very safe fence. We put in 10,000 ft by ourselves no issues. Re 3 vs 4 rail, depends on the horses you need to keep in. Big well mannered horses, 3 rail should be fine. Ponies and foals, 4 rail. We chose Ramm because of how the rails can be buckled together for longer runs (our longest run of fence without ending is 1800 ft.) and how they are tensioned. I love the Ramm tensioners. We did put separate hot wire around the top to keep the horses (draft boarder) from leaning over.

Picture here of our farm in unusual snow for Georgia https://www.facebook.com/347546461986279/photos/pb.347546461986279.-2207520000.1455818153./347836501957275/?type=3&theater

[Libby2563]

[QUOTE=fordtraktor;8520354]
My posts are not that high, 50 inches, and I don’t expect to replace them because they are not that old.[/QUOTE]

I was just looking at Centaur’s website and the installation manual stresses the importance of bracing end posts and using concrete if your fenceline is curved. If you have a different type of fence now your posts probably aren’t set up that way, right? I fantasize about replacing my wooden boards with flex fence sometimes but the manual made me think it would be a bigger hassle than I realized.

Khall-- that is beautiful!

[poltroon]

It is definitely a Thing for this style of fence that all posts that are not line posts need to be firmly anchored and/or braced. If you have flat land and a rectangular area, this works well. If you’ve got a lot of curves, it may add quite a lot to the cost.

[SouthernYankee]

[QUOTE=poltroon;8536559]
It is definitely a Thing for this style of fence that all posts that are not line posts need to be firmly anchored and/or braced. If you have flat land and a rectangular area, this works well. If you’ve got a lot of curves, it may add quite a lot to the cost.[/QUOTE]

Yes, and when you think you have enough concrete put more in the hole. We’ve had to reset a couple of end post because we thought we braced enough, and we thought wrong.

[khall]

poltroon, take a look at my fence, see the curve? half of our driveway, lined both sides of the drive with our fence, is curved. What we did was to use 8" full round posts, 4’ in the ground with 160 lbs of concrete in each post, but NO bracing like in the corners. Our fence has been in for 10+ yrs now and still holding well. The only issue is when we have a post rot out that has to be hand dug up and replaced. Poor hubby works hard when that happens!

[fordtraktor]

Thanks so much for the information about the bracing and/or concrete. that is so helpful. My current posts are braced with wood cross bracing at all the gates and at least the end posts are concreted, but I will have to see if it is sufficient. I don’t know if they ALL are. I did not put this fence up myself, bought this farm. I’ll need to do some checking. I have been debating between flex fence and no climb and while I think flex fence is more attractive, the no climb would be more cost effective and I know the fence is appropriately set up for that. It has horrid field fence up now, and I’ve run hot Horseguard-like tape around the inside several feet in to keep the horses away from the field fence which is just a nightmare of inefficiency but necessary for safety. It’s beyond time to upgrade to horse fence.

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

[QUOTE=khall;8537320]
poltroon, take a look at my fence, see the curve? half of our driveway, lined both sides of the drive with our fence, is curved. What we did was to use 8" full round posts, 4’ in the ground with 160 lbs of concrete in each post, but NO bracing like in the corners. Our fence has been in for 10+ yrs now and still holding well. The only issue is when we have a post rot out that has to be hand dug up and replaced. Poor hubby works hard when that happens![/QUOTE]

Did you use 8" rounds everywhere then, or just on the curve? I’m just thinking of how much that would add to my cost estimate…

[poltroon]

If your fence is adequately braced for no-climb, it’s braced for the flex fence. They both put a lot of force on posts (much more than field fence).

I actually have both, no-climb with a flex fence top rail.

IME the cost per foot is going to be really similar between the two.

[fordtraktor]

Field fence has to be tensioned significantly. I don’t know how comparably to the others but it requires significant bracing. We have always pulled it with a tractor on my dad’s farm. But anyway. I will investigate as to whether it is enough.

[khall]

poltroon, just the curves have full rounds and 160 lbs of concrete. The straight line posts are half rounds 3 ft in the ground and no concrete usually. The occasional one in a dip or if the ground was very soft at the time of fencing then added 80 lbs of concrete.

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

Southern Yankee, every time I see pictures of your fence I drool a little! I REALLY like the hot coated in between. Now I am thinking I need to do this. The rest of my fence is either coated wire or only three board though. Hmmm.

It would help to keep larger critters (dogs) out and people when they read my signs warning them about electricity. This fence will be along the road, unlike my other, which is basically hidden.