Barbed Wire

Tim Watson · Post by **Tim Watson** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 10:00 am

All the fences we have are in pretty good condition with the exception of one short side of a field which is on the to do list.
They are stock mesh fence on posts about 10' apart which seems fine. However, nearly all of them have two strands of barbed wire as the top two.
I am on the whole against barbed wire because of the damage it does to horse rugs , horses chests etc and my trousers if I have to get over one in a hurry - I try to use the gate as much as possible!
Before I start the sizeable task of taking it down and replacing it with high tensile what are others peoples opinions?
Barbed or non barbed?
Thanks

However, nearly all the fences have

Saffy · Post by **Saffy** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 10:31 am

As I keep horses on the farm I have also had the rug/barbed wire problem and dislike the stuff as all animals can rip themselves horribly on it.

However if you are to do away with it on top, I would think it is a good idea to put two lengths of very tight plain wire on top and some people even put a length of barb directly underneath the pig wire.

The barb underneath is very close to the ground and very close to the pig netting and makes it very difficult for unwanted things to wriggle underneath.

Cows will push on a fence without barb on the top at some point, so it will need to be high and strong, despite the Dexters being small! That is why cattle farmers use the barb in the first place.

I am sure you will get lots of differing ideas from us and you will be able to make up your own mind which will suit your farm the best.

Stephanie

Woodmagic · Post by **Woodmagic** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 12:54 pm

I took out all the barbed wire on the place when I moved here. Where it is needed I use a single strand of electrified wire about 4" above the netting. It needs to be well strained or it can earth on the fence underneath.
Beryl (Woodmagic)

Louise Badcock · Post by **Louise Badcock** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 5:49 pm

Hi all
I too got rid of barbed wire because of the horses but the cows do abuse the plain wire. They lean over the pig net and under the plain wire and push it down. Then the staples come out. I think I would definitely use barbed wire if I just had the cows.
Louise

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 6:15 pm

We have two strands of high tensile barb at the top almost everywhere except where there are horses. Where we don't have barb, cattle can rub themselves with some force, especially bulls.

Take care about the spacing if you have deer. My strands of barb are at the top of the post and then the second is mid-way between that and the top of the stock netting. I have had two deer get the hind legs caught between the two strands and hung there for hours before I cut the wire. Not so much to do with it being barb, although the barbs won't help, more to do with the spacing. I can't advise if there is a way to do it, otherwise I've have done it myself. ??? You can still have the problem with one strand and the top of the netting.

If we're using high tensile (fencing/wire/barb), we only drive the staples home at the ends of the run. All the mid-way staples are not quite driven home and so are left running. We can then tightened the fencing in a years time by pulling it again and just driving home again at the end posts.

Edited By Broomcroft on 1260206330

domsmith · Post by **domsmith** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 6:42 pm

If you remove the barbed wire, without using an electric fence or wire, your fences will be down in a few months. they are so destructive. any weaknes or leaning fence seems to atract them over to do more damage. they will rub at something until it breaks, i think they do it purposely.
stone dykes are a nightmare, without a barb to keep them off them they will knock whole lengths down.

simple answer get rid of horses and keep more dexters!!

dom

Tim Watson · Post by **Tim Watson** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 8:42 pm

If we use white electric tape do they learn to stay away as I was thinking of putting a run of that along the top. With the horses you only have to show them a length of something white and they will stay well away. Somehow I suspect that Dexters may be smarter!

Duncan MacIntyre · Post by **Duncan MacIntyre** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 8:42 pm

I am not convinced that barb stops anything, all it seems to do is cause more damage if any animal gets caught it it. Our fell ponies spent considerable time leaning over a top barb to eat the grass on the other side, even when there was plenty on their side of the fence. On one stretch the ground falls steeply away from the fence and they used to put their front feet right against the fence and push hard against the barb till they could reach a couple of feet below the bottom of the fence - whole fence tipping over as they did it, even when seriously well strained. I am not too sure that it stops cattle doing anything either.

Duncan

Martin · Post by **Martin** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 8:58 pm

A good stock fence with two strands of wire on the top is in my view the best fence there is if it is put up correctly. If you add horses to the mix then add an electric to the top, problem solved. Horses won't go near the electric so cannot catch themselves on the barbs.
My cattle have at times this summer been on very short keep and all my fences are still intact and tight. Horses will destroy fences that are not electrified a lot quicker than cattle.

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 9:02 pm

I was just going to say the same as Martin. If we put horses in cattle fields, we run an electric poly-wire stood off the fence a little with the little black insulator "thingies".

Minnie · Post by **Minnie** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 10:47 pm

I realise I'm in a different country and conditions but thought I'd chime in... can't help myself. :laugh:

I hate barb, and Australia is just full of it! The cattle still lean against it, go over it, and push the fences down with it... they just do things like rip their udders, testicles legs etc.

Most where I am are now are having to do five strand fences with road frontage and they put five strand barb, flying foxes get caught in the top barb and other wildlife gets injured in the bottom and cattle 'still' push and go through and over. (our dexter bull went through five strand barb when the electric was down to beat up the brahman bull next door, granted it was not new and tight).

We found four strand with a top plain, bottom plain and two barb in the centre with the electric 'out rigged' was a good compromise. If the electric went down the cattle felt the barb and ours are so used to electric they don't really push.

Alpacas are different we've tied hay string together as a temp fence in our garden and it's now hanging about 12" off the ground and still the alpacas don't go over it... pity it's not the same for cattle. :D
:D
Vicki

wagra dexters · Post by **wagra dexters** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 5:09 am

On our larger acreage we have seven strand plain wire; from the top down they were hot, hot, earth, hot, earth, hot, earth. For years that fencing kept horses & goats safely inside where they belonged.
No longer keeping goats, the second bottom wire has been disconnected because apart from the moral issue, a fried echidna causes a 3000 volt short. We have no sheep mesh nor any barb on that property and have never had an escapee. It probably only works so well because our animals are fence trained in a tight, hot-wire training pen as babies. It certainly doesn't slow down the migration of native or feral animals.
The other property has internal fences as above, but the inherited boundary fence is sheep mesh with top two barb. We ran a 14 ft wide plain wire 7 strand lane down the back boundary where the neighbours have bulls, and an offset outrigger hot wire around the top of the rest of the block. That isn't ideal either because kangaroos occasionally catch a wire and hook the hot over the barb, a dead short, which could also happen with deer.
Margaret

jem · Post by **jem** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 9:05 am

I have 5 strands of plain wire, but the more adventurous soon found they could push their way through this, bending the wire as they went! So I erected an electric fence a couple of feet within the boundary. The cattle soon realised this was not to be messed with! It does not have to be very high - I have just 2 strands with the max being only about 3 foot high. I also use electric fence to didvide the fields and again, there is no problem. But be aware if you are using batteries they know as soon as the battery has run out (they hear the clicking has stopped) and will then push the fence, usually within a few hours of the flat battery! I would also say you need a stroger energiser than you would use with horses.

bjreroberts · Post by **bjreroberts** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 10:25 am

On a visit to Denmark last year, I was astounded to see several instances of cattle enclosed by nothing more than a two strand permanent electric fence!

clacko · Post by **clacko** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 4:28 pm

stock netting with electric h/t plain is great if you can stop it earthing out on vegitation when it is at its highest, it also keeps joe public out better than barb, but you do have to hang signs on it to say electfied. on ditches where reed growth is i use barb as shorting fence will soon drain batterys. also use barb in low spots under stock netting, gulleys/drains/ditches. with any electric fence if they get a good whack at the first touch they will soon learn to respect it, paul