Elecrified Woven Wire
is it feasible ?
First off, we are not the first people to think of electrifying woven wire. We know of a few people that have tried it with success. Primarily those people were using it as a means to control predators / feral animals and/or to keep breeding stock seperated. Mostly these folks are in the sheep or goat industry. And, most of those were using regular class I "farm store" types of soft wire with 6" or 12" vertical stays and standard hinge knots.
We do feel strongly that our Hi-Tensile Woven Wire with actual Hi-tensile wire of 180,000 psi, plus class III coating and the Fixed Knot is a much superior product to begin with. This wire will maintain its tension under all forms of pressure. The coating allows it to last much longer. It does not stretch out of shape or sag. The overall integerity of it is far superior.
We have installed our woven wire in standard configurations as well as on our Insulated Powerflex Posts. If not electrified, we have installed a stand-off wire at about 16" off the ground to keep animals from rubbing on it - this has worked extremely well also. Although Electrified Woven Wire may not be for everyone - in some cases it will offer security and peace of mind regarding predators and / or feral animal problems.
A few comments that we will be adding to as time goes by:
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You will need a little more power out of your energizer, when electrifying woven wire as compared to normal smooth wire. This is due mainly to the fact that you are going to have wire near or down in the grass. This creates a load on wet dewy mornings or wet weather when the grass is growing. One recourse here is to chemically spray or weedeat below your fence - or put more power into your energizer.
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All components for traditional electric fencing will work with electrified woven wire. You can use the items that you are familiar with and get along well with.
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Tensioning can be accomplished in many ways, including: Traditional stretcher bars & crimps or Hi-tensile wire tensioners or Gripples.
Below are some cost estimates for our Hi-Tensile woven wire and a comparison to a standard barbed wire fence. This is directed towards a goat or sheep fence. Some may question if you can fence goats with barbed wire. Some get along with it and some dont.
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Cost Comparison for Hi-tensile Woven wire on Powerflex Posts
PowerFlex Posts are utilized for the purpose of electrifing the wire. |
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Based upon 1/4 mile (1320') not including corner or end posts.
Note that there would be some minor added costs for end strain insulators and tensioning. |
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| Item |
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Item # |
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Quanity |
Description |
Cost each |
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Total |
| Powerflex Line Posts |
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1460 |
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52 |
1-1/4" 60" at 25 foot post spacings |
$ 5.70 |
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$ 296.40 |
| Woven Wire |
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7-36-24 |
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4 |
Hi-Tensile woven wire, 7-36-24 X 330' |
$ 99.50 |
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$ 398.00 |
| Cotter Pins |
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2529 |
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2 |
Cotter Pins 100 per bag, 5-1/2" 13 gauge |
$ 5.95 |
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$ 11.90 |
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Total - cost per 1/4 mile |
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$ 706.30 |
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Cost per foot |
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$ 0.53 |
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| Powerflex line posts |
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1460 |
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52 |
1-1/4" 60" at 25 foot post spacings |
$ 5.70 |
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$ 296.40 |
| Woven Wire |
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11-36-24 |
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4 |
Hi-Tensile woven wire 11-36-24 x 330' |
$ 138.50 |
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$ 554.00 |
| Cotter Pins |
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2529 |
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2 |
Cotter Pins 100 per bag, 5-1/2" 13 gauge |
$ 5.95 |
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$ 11.90 |
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Total - cost per 1/4 mile |
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$ 862.30 |
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Cost per foot |
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$ 0.65 |
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| Powerflex Line Posts |
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1460 |
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52 |
1-1/4" 60" at 25 foot post spacings |
$ 5.70 |
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$ 296.40 |
| Woven Wire |
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11-36-9 |
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4 |
Hi-tensile woven wire 11-36-9 X 330' |
$ 189.00 |
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$ 756.00 |
| Cotter Pins |
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2529 |
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2 |
Cotter Pins 100 per bag, 5-1/2" 13 gauge |
$ 5.95 |
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$ 11.90 |
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Total - cost per 1/4 mile |
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$ 1,064.30 |
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Cost per foot |
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$ 0.81 |
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| The above fences could be electrified and considered Goat & Sheep ready. |
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| Additional 12.5 ga smooth wire(s) could be added above for $ 0.02 per foot per strand |
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| Below is a comparable Barbed Wire fence with 8 strands of Barbed wire. |
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| The barbed wire fence would need to be maintained tight and in good condition |
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| to be considered goat ready. Some may contend that 8 strands of BW would not be enough. |
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| Steel T-Post |
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N/A |
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110 |
1.33 Steel T-Post at 12 foot spacings |
$ 3.50 |
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$ 385.00 |
| Barbed wire |
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N/A |
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8 |
12.5 ga 4 pt barbed wire, 1/4 mile roll |
$ 52.00 |
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$ 416.00 |
| Post clips |
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N/A |
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880 |
Wire ties |
$ 0.05 |
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$ 44.00 |
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Total - cost per 1/4 mile |
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$ 845.00 |
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Cost per foot |
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$ 0.64 |
Some additional comments for the above woven wire configurations are:
- 7-36-24 woven wire is the most common configuration that we see people electrifying. It can also be used on steel or wood posts and not electrified. We would recommend installing a off-set hot wire about 16" off the ground, to keep animals from rubbing or climbing on the fence.
- 11-36-24 woven wire is a pretty tight fence as it is. We feel that it will keep in kids and lambs with out electrification, however a hot wire, will keep the animals off the fence.
- 11-36-9 woven wire is a very tight fence. Electrification is not required.
11-36-24 hi-tensile woven wire
On Powerflex Posts
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