Electric fence post spacing

[texasjohn]

+1, Joshua

 

[DT86]

With electric fence, it is actually better (in my opinion, but I'm not the only one) to have some give in the wires. If the posts are close and the wires are piano tight, the first time a deer or a cow runs full speed into them, or a tree gets knocked down on them, the wires may break or a post may get pulled out. But if they have only enough tension to take out the sag, and the posts are far enough apart, they will stretch and bounce the animal back, or the tree will lay them down all the way to the ground, but as soon as you move it, the fence will spring back up again, as good as it ever was.

X3......

I practice rotational grazing, my internal division fences are two wire hi tensile with posts about 30' apart. The wires are loose enough that I can actually step on them to cross the fence yet tight enough that they don't sag to the ground.

 

[joshuabardwell]

... and another benefit, which I just now remembered, is that the less tension you have on your wires, the less likely you are to have your corners or posts at the bottom of a depression pull out.

 

[BHD]

Single wire electric fence,
most of the time i place my electric fence posts at 30 to 33 good steps, or about 90 to 100 feet apart, and we run cattle on some locations I add a extra posts if the ground is not level, and stretch the wire so that it will not hit the ground if it off a post, (200 feet) is usually about 6 to 8 inches still up off the ground, seldom break a wire or have a problem. (unless we get a lot of tumble weeds catching on it), been building it like this for 30 years,

we use single strand steel wire "14 Gauge Electric Fence Wire"

 

[triangel]

I ran cattle in an electric fence for about 20 years. Posts were 6" thick and were spaced at 50' and we used smooth High Tensile wire. When it comes to stopping things this will do it. My son and his friend in their younger days ran through it accidently with a snowmachine at about 25 mph . He was lucky and all he ended up with was a broken hand and jaw. If he had not got his hand up in time he would have lost his head. I would sooner have someone drive on my land than have to go pick up a body. I think if its just trespassers your worried about signs will do the job. If they do not obey signs a fence will not stop them. Just my opinion

 

[Willl]

And may even be found liable.