A couple of recent conversations with friends and my own personal fencing issues sent me on a quest to research different fencing products. Growing up, we had a combination of smooth metal electric wire and barbed wire. (go ahead, gasp, I can hear it already) Aside from ONE injury in which Buck for some unknown reason tried to jump INTO the trees (no joke, he jumped into a thick wood line) and landed on top of the barbed wire, 3 strands no less) and cut both front pasterns, injuries that looked horrid but he recovered fully from with no issues whatsoever, he was fine. The wire of course, did not break – but anyway, aside from that one injury we never had any issues. With that said, we had a relatively HUGE pasture, well 2 large pastures, only had 2 horses and a couple cows.
After a couple conversations with Zephyrs Mom and Rocky Mountain Yankee I started looking at different fencing options for my field now. Due to neighbor issues and family crap, my pasture space has changed and that leaves me with some issues fence wise. Add to that a neighbor/relative who insists on screwing with my fence and I’m at the end of my rope. In years past, I’ve used electric rope, electric tape and regular metal wire. All have had pluses and all have had minuses. Right now, my fencing is a concoction of all of the above!!
ZM and I were talking about the risks of Z getting hurt in the field that is to be his summer pasture this year with metal wire. Now we are talking about regular tensile electric fence wire, not high tensile wire or barbed wire. My argument was that it breaks easily, almost too easily in my opinion and she was afraid that it being metal wire it would slice him. RMY and I were talking about childhood fencing and she pointed out that she never had an issue with it with her horses when we were kids.
Which brings me to this – I am not picking any one brand, just a sampling of different ropes, wires and tapes.
2” Mega Poly Tape – this particular one has a breaking point of 790lbs.
2” Mega Reinforced Tape – this is the same as above but has more wires in it – it’s breaking strength is 1045lbs.
Standard 1/4” Rope – breaking strength is 850lbs.
Electric Fence Wire – breaking strength…..125-145lbs!!! This actually shocked me. (haha right?)
Now what does all of this mean? Nothing really! BUT! Personally, I will still continue to use the standard, metal electric fence wire. It’s break strength is so much lower that I personally feel that the risk of injury (from running thru the fence at least) is lower simply because it is going to break a LOT faster than those poly ropes/tapes/wires.
Now please – this is all just MY PERSONAL OPINION on what I personally want to use – what each person uses is their own business but I found this to be interesting information and wanted to share it.
1 comments:
Thanks for posting those, that's definitely in line with my experiences. When Zephyr ran through his 1.5" electric tape portable pen at an endurance ride, the tape did not break, it shredded as it was pulled through the clips on the poly posts (breaking them in the process). The .5" tape didn't shred when he ran through that a few weeks ago, but maybe that's because of the fancy new "safety measures" on the posts I'm still using (ie electrical tape over the top to keep the tape in now that the clips are broken).
HOWEVER I wouldn't use electric tape for a permanent pasture because I keep hearing that the conductivity is so much lower! The wires are more easily broken, and there are far fewer of them, than in standard poly wire. Besides, the wide tape catches the wind too much, it really sags fast if you aren't able to put a lot of tension on it (wood posts and tighteners at the corners).
My personal favorite is still Electrobraid, as it has a high number of thick copper wires (flexible, and more conductive than stainless steel). Electrobraid also just stretches when/if the horse runs into it; it won't break or cut the horse. It's like an electrified boxing ring. :-D I'm going to put wood posts around our front yard grazing pen this year, so I can put Electrobraid out there. If I do that, I will no longer freak out at the idea of leaving him in it overnight or while I'm away from home. Right now I won't do it because he's escaped too many times!!
Of course, Electrobraid will also (practically) cost you your firstborn child. Hmm..............
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