Mowing under electric fence wire

jwmorris · Sep 24, 2015

My Father asked me last weekend if I could come up with something to knock the weeds down under hundreds of yards of electric fence he has. Once they short the wire to ground the fence is useless.

I thought of using one of the line trimmers I had but thought he might not like messing with starting and stopping the engine to change out the line because the mature stalks take their toll on the line much faster than new growth.

Any way I threw this together this morning, will give it a full test this weekend.

Hiltz · Sep 24, 2015

What do you do when you get to a post? Stop ,backup, go forward again , stop, backup..... Walking with a weed eater would be faster. You need a forward facing guard that springs out of the way after it hits the post. I remember seeing video of a weed eater type attachment that was on a spring arm that as it came to the fence post it simply folded back then sprung back after passing the post.

Threepoint · Sep 24, 2015

Very slick, JW! Looking forward to a video of it actually cutting under the fence wire and around the posts, if you're able to hold the camera and still steer! Seems to me your ATV will be maneuverable enough so that you can swing in and out well enough, as long as you don't try to cut too far underneath.

4570Man · Sep 24, 2015

There will still be a fair amount of work with a hand held weed eater, but that should get most of it.

jim44 · Sep 24, 2015

That is exactly what God invented Roundup for. A wand equipped spot sprayer on an ATV or Mule is just the ticket.

jwmorris · Sep 24, 2015

"Round up" is what I use at my house as I have no climb fence and the posts are welded to the runner but the ground drys up enough to swallow a "T" post, much less for an electric fence post.

Note the cracks in the fence row that was treated and it is fine to either side. If you use chemicals and don't have posts deep in concrete you will make more work for yourself that you would want.

The idea is to swing in after the rod and swing out before you hit the next one. Drive both sides and there "should" be a lot less manual labor.

KevT · Sep 25, 2015

pramatrol-25 Stronger than round up and lasts about 3 years. I buy it a Rural King or Agri Supply. Whoever has it on sale

jwmorris · Sep 25, 2015

Sahara is another herbicide that lasts much longer than round up but again this is avoiding their use. Even if it were not it would be like closing the barn door after the horses got out. Spray them now and the weeds are still in the fence.