Field fence pain

joeu235 · Jun 21, 2015

My dad put up a bunch of net wire fence 10 years ago
to help keep coyotes out. Barbed wire on the bottom and two above above the net wire. Now the cows have pushed the top down between each post. We've started running a fourth wire right next to the top of the net and using hog clips to raise the net wire. Anything we did wrong in the first place or have a better idea?

DJ54 · Jun 21, 2015

A strand of electric on top ought to solve the problem. They do have some pretty decent solar chargers, if it's not close to a power source.

hslogger · Jun 21, 2015

DJ54 is right. run a hot wire on the inside. I would prefer an offset that would be sticking in towards the pasture. You get that going and they will respect it. Then you will be able to fix your field fence at your leisure. Put a couple isolation switches on it at convenient locations and make sure your grounding rod(s) either go wayyy down or you have good access to keep the soil damp at the grounding point.

gwdixon · Jun 22, 2015

As the others have said, electric fence wire should solve the problem. Cows and horses (and coyotes) will respect it. Hogs...not so much. They will test it every so often and will go right through it if it is off or grounded out. You might guess how I'd know that.

Anyway, if your fence run is not that long a low powered or solar charger should do the job. I prefer the longer stand-offs to keep the wire away from the fence to avoid grounding out. One stand off every three or four posts is enough.

The strand of hot wire can be strung at about four feet high or about a foot above most field fencing. That way the field fencing is protected as well as the strands of barb.

With hogs, the wire has to be a foot, or so, from ground level and Roundup used to keep the fence line clear. There are weed cutter chargers, but I've not had any experience with them.

As far as the wire sag goes, you can use a lighter wire to wrap around the top barb, then around the second barb, and finally on the field fence. That way the field fence gets two attachment points and is stronger. Install the light wire support midway between each post. But the way you are doing it with the extra wire and hog rings should work fine...still might get a bit of sagging however.

dieselbeef · Jun 22, 2015

even if you keep it tight as you can pull it and retension it it will sag...cows working it just makes it worse..save yerself the work...

MortalWombat · Jun 24, 2015

gwdixon said:
As the others have said, electric fence wire should solve the problem. Cows and horses (and coyotes) will respect it. Hogs...not so much. They will test it every so often and will go right through it if it is off or grounded out.

Just like the velociraptors from Jurassic Park.

joeu235 · Jun 24, 2015

It would be easier to convince my dad to vote for Hillary Clinton than to string up electric fence everywhere. Thanks for the input though.

farmer2009 · Jun 24, 2015

Place a single strand of electric barb wire about 15-20 feet inside current fence. Post every 30-40 feet. Then when you have time repair or replace current fence. If post are good the replace wire. If post are bad then doze and start over. I have too much to do to fix fence everyday. I have become a big fan of 5 strands of barbed wire over a page wire fence. Just holds cattle longer. And can make any strand hot at any time. Easier to repair also.