Sagging HT woven wire fence versus fixedknot

[ejb]

Hi folks...

At my local fence dealer, when I went to look at woven wire fence for my sheep and goats, they pushed me towards a fixed knot woven wire fence instead of a hinged knot fence. The cost of the fixed knot solution is much more, but it does appear more sturdy to me...

One of the things I really, really don't want is a sagging looking fence...the dealer claims the hinged knot fence will definitely end up sagging and the fixed knot won't, when the same number of posts are used...he even showed me a decade old sagging hinged knot fence and a 8 year old fixed knot fence that wasn't...

Will all hinged knot fences eventually start sagging and looking like cr*p? Or was my dealer showing me a poorly installed hinged fence versus a properly installed fixed knot?

I am trying to decide between a woven fence and a HT smooth fence for sheep and goats. The smooth HT fence is about 1/3 the cost of a fixed knot woven and 1/2 the cost of a hinged knot woven....

 

[beenthere]

Seems it boils down to how really important the 'sag' in the fence is to you. Just the mechanics of the hinged vs fixed knot would indicate that one will have the potential to sag and the other not. The cost, time, and labor of keeping the sag out of a hinged knot fence may pale in comparison to the extra bucks to get the fixed knot. I know which way I would go, if it were my fence. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif