Need fencing advice.

I have all my tPosts in place and I am trying to decide whether to go with 1 1\2" tape or the rope style fencing. I am on a budget so some of the more high dollar fencing like Ramm Fence are out. This is to fence in roughly 4 acres for 3 horses. I have been looking at some of the tape and rope rolls on ebay.

What are my best options here?
rope\tape manufacture recommendations?
Electric control box recommendations?
Any tips or trick's?

Thanks
Wade

At the stable I board at, he put up both tape and cord. Not sure what brands. The cord or rope type held up better. The power boxes are solar powered.

The issue we found were weeds and grass growing up and grounding it out. He also only used 2 strands and has the posts 8 feet or better apart - some of the tougher horses (or when the wire is grounded) will step through the fence. Some of the real shit heads will literally walk all over it and push it down. Those guys are now paddock horses.

So you will need to put your post at reasonable distances to keep the rope tighter, put the strands close enough like a barb wire fence and keep your fence line maintained. We try to keep the fence line Round Up sprayed - not pretty, but woody weeds are hard to cut back with a weed wacker and like all good intentions, it doesn't get weed wacked often enough to keep the weeds from getting too tough to wack.

Good luck!

i have tape and a wire. it works really well. only the wire is electrified but it keeps the horses in

Erin,

How many strands are you running of rope and tape?

Thanks
Wade

The braided wire is difficult to see -- drives me nuts when I look back and can't tell where the fence it. When I have a choice, I buy the 1/2" tape -- no need for the $1-1/2"$ IMO. And, while the braid should be snug between posts, the tape is meant to be loose and move in the wind so don't crank it tight.

I bought a 12V fencer for about $100 from Princess Auto and have a marine battery hooked up to it. This way I can use different paddocks on different days and never worry about where power is. I didn't go solar because I thought I'd have problems in the winter.

I have only one strand at the horses' chest height. I have had about 5 or 6 horses here over the past few years and it's been fine for them. However, we do not jump and my horses were mostly all the same height, ie. no ponies. Right now I have the biggest discrepancy -- almost 1 foot, but the short one can't fit under the wire and the tall one hasn't figured out she could probably jump it if she tried.

I gave up on the t-posts also. They are too darn expensive. I went to a steel supplier in town and bought lengths of 1/2" hot rolled round steel cut down to 5 foot lengths. Works great for me. I'll never buy a traditional fence post again.

im running 1 strand of wire and 2 tape

We had the 1'' tape and it worked well, but we are going with 1 line of 2'' tape and 3 strands of 12 gauge at our new farm with t posts.

Northernmama, do you have pics of the posts you're using instead of the t posts?

Deineria, I don't have any pics handy. I could take some, but all they are is lengths of round steel that are 1/2" in diameter. Hot rolled is just the method of forming the steel. Cold rolled is basically the same, but marginally "cleaner". Cold is usually more expensive than hot and the minor difference in the finish only matters if you are welding.

If you really want pics, post again and I will take some. But, really, just picture round pieces of steel sticking up from the ground. Nothing fancy at all.

i prefer the white tape, thick as possible for your budget. i hate cord/wire fencing. it might be cheep but if a horse runs through it and cuts themselves up, the vet bills will be anything but cheep.