A simple ?, Electric fencing

[slamberson]

Hey Everyone! My BF and I have a new house picked out and the paper work drawn. I have already decided to do electric fencing. My simple Question is,

1)Which one do you have and which one do you prefer????
T-post or Wooden post???? Pros, Cons?

If you have something other, please list it.

2)While Im at it what Kind of grass should I lay down??? I dont want to do fescue and Im not sure about bermuda. Which do you have ??What about rye or blue grass??

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Goldun Acres]

Can't help you with the grass, I'm asking a similar question in another thread.

But for fencing I'm going to be using wooden posts and BRAIDED(not twisted) electric rope fence.

[cook1745]

Originally Posted by slamberson

Hey Everyone! My BF and I have a new house picked out and the paper work drawn. I have already decided to do electric fencing. My simple Question is,

1)Which one do you have and which one do you prefer????
T-post or Wooden post???? Pros, Cons?

If you have something other, please list it.

2)While Im at it what Kind of grass should I lay down??? I dont want to do fescue and Im not sure about bermuda. Which do you have ??What about rye or blue grass??

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I say bermuda grass in summer and over seed in the winter with rye. I like wood post on the corners for strength and tee post between with a wood post on occasion again for strength. Also I'd would us a minimum of a three strand but four strand is better!!!

Also in GA we had to put in two to three ground rod to properly power the fence do to the soil out there.

Good luck and have fun with the work.

[Touche]

I use Tposts for my perimeter and fiberglass for my line fence dividing my pastures. ALL of my tposts are capped. I use 2 strands of polywire with a strand of aluminum wire in the middle. Works well for me, but I want to switch to rope when finances allow. I do not like tape, in our snowy weather, it gets frozen and sags-stretches.

Now, if I had the money, I would have used the tpost sleeve to make it look prettier. All that matters to me though, is that my horses are safe and stay contained. This has worked for me for 16 years.


Not sure on the grass for your climate.

[walkerfarms]

T-posts work good but be sure to put the caps on. The only problem we have with electic fence is that when or if it gets extremly dry the horses are not grounded and it will not shock them,have to have some moisture in the soil for them to work properly! As for grass bemuda or Tift 9 (bahaia) and it grazes earlier and last longer in the season,also grows quick.

[Appylover]

We are doing every 50ft there is a wooden post and in between each wooden post for every 10 ft we are using metal tpost. And using telephone poles for the corners. We have regular grass like in our front yard.

[Sirita_88]

We have both wood and T-posts. Then again, we also have the no-climb fence so we need the wood for strength.

Wood is always going to be better (and look better) But T-posts work fine, with Caps!!!

I use electric tape, the thicker the better (more visible).

We have No-climb fence around the outside with 1 strand of tape around the top. Our fields are divided with fiberglass and a 2-strand tape. The horses don't bother eachother but they are all geldings.

I would seed with bermuda/fescue for the warmer months and rye over the winter. If you plan to breed then skip the fescue. Once again, I have geldings so we use fescue/bermuda and rye.


BTW I don't reccomend this but, my boss only uses t-posts. 2 strands of tape. Don't ask me how but her big warmblood jumpers don't even try to get out.

[randy_dani]

We have just redone our pasture with electric rope instead of wire and LOVE it. Our posts are the regular metal T-posts and we put wooden corner posts to make it more sturdy. We had our pony tangled in the rope and her leg didn't even get cut. The best decision we ever made...

We plant pearl millet for the summer and rye for the winter.

[redboy]

I totally reccommend the T post covers by "Sure Fit". I did my fencing in electric rope and wood posts to begin with. I paid a professional to do that part initially, BUT then, I went back and fenced off of that, with metal T posts and those Sure Fit T posts sleeves. They are a little bit expensive, BUT also, the hardware, so to speak, is already built in. The sleeves have slots to hold the rope/ or I ran it thru where the tape might go, and you don't have all that expense of the hardware on each post like you do with wooden posts.
When I crunched the numbers for what I had in each wood post plus hardware, it was considerably cheaper to use those and I feel the combination of the two types looks fine.
Check them out on line, and they ship directly to you, vs buying them thru Tractor Supply, etc. Originally I bought some thru TS, but once I found them on line, it was better to just go with them directly.
Good Luck, Redboy

[redboy]

PS..., Call your County Extension office and ask them to do a soil sample, and see what type pasture they reccommend would grow where you are moving. That's what I did when I planted mine, and I told them I was looking for 3 season pasture, and they recommended orchard grass, and ladino clover, in the proper ratios. Then, I just hired a farmer to put it in in those ratios and I bought the seed.
It has been great! The only thing I would do differently, is plant less clover next time, there are pros and cons to it, but it tends to take over, and I have and Easy Keeper. Its a bit too rich during certain times of the year.
Good luck, RB

[seerfarm]

Wood post 6" on the corners and 4" in between.. 7 strand braided electric rope fencing with ground rods 3(min)

Your area would probably do best with bermuda or timothy mix and overseed rye for winter grazing.

[slamberson]

Originally Posted by Sirita_88

We have both wood and T-posts. Then again, we also have the no-climb fence so we need the wood for strength.

Wood is always going to be better (and look better) But T-posts work fine, with Caps!!!

I use electric tape, the thicker the better (more visible).

We have No-climb fence around the outside with 1 strand of tape around the top. Our fields are divided with fiberglass and a 2-strand tape. The horses don't bother eachother but they are all geldings.

I would seed with bermuda/fescue for the warmer months and rye over the winter. If you plan to breed then skip the fescue. Once again, I have geldings so we use fescue/bermuda and rye.


BTW I don't reccomend this but, my boss only uses t-posts. 2 strands of tape. Don't ask me how but her big warmblood jumpers don't even try to get out.

At my moms we used no climb fence with wood post and a top wood board and I was thinking about doing that ....maybe I should stick to what I know. I just thought an electric fence would be better.

The breeder that my aunt got her colt from Did almost the same thing that your boss did except it was only one strain of wire separating 8 pastures from each other she has two studs two BLM mustang mares with a total of I believe at the time 15 horses 8 foals 2 ponies( not including all the cows and goats + that she had) and they dont try to get out either. GO FIGURE???

[breburtch]

Wood posts IMO are best as there taller sturdier and don't rust and cause less unjury usually if a horse somewho hits there head on it etc.
So I would use a good thick wood post and braided electric(I like electrabraid)
As for grass I like a mix of everything and a small amount of alfalfa and clover but all depends on the horses that will be out on it if there fatties that are prone to founder etc I wouldn't use any alfalfa

[Horse_Orderly]

We have the electrobraid for the first couple of strands up and then the thick tape at the top for good measure.

[slamberson]

So If I was to use electra braid with a wood post I would use those plastic insulators right, not staple them... I couldve swore that I heard people stapleing there wire to the fence


And I would need LOTS of grass seed..... Where would I buy large quanities. Or would I have to go to TSC or Home dept for 50lb bags grass seed? Just to let ya'll know I've never had to plant a large quanity of grass before. Where would I get clover Seed from? Or timothy Cause I know Home depot does'nt carry it.

[breburtch]

Originally Posted by slamberson

So If I was to use electra braid with a wood post I would use those plastic insulators right, not staple them... I couldve swore that I heard people stapleing there wire to the fence


And I would need LOTS of grass seed..... Where would I buy large quanities. Or would I have to go to TSC or Home dept for 50lb bags grass seed? Just to let ya'll know I've never had to plant a large quanity of grass before. Where would I get clover Seed from? Or timothy Cause I know Home depot does'nt carry it.

No climb wire you can staple on but the plastic insulators you use for electric fence you nail/screw on.

You local farm stores and co-ops may carry grass seeds you'll need if not TSC would def have what you want

[pippy]

A couple years ago we planted our new pasture, with a mix from the co-op made for pastures...it was timothy, brome, kentucky bluegrass, alfalfa(just a small %) and fescure (just a small %) and it had others, I don't remember all of them. We planted it along w/ oats, to shade the grass until it got on it's feet. Unfortunately, we had a couple dry summers and it didn't grow as well as I'd hoped..we have alot more alfalfa due to the dry summers, in it then I wanted.

As far as fencing, we went w/ wood posts, because at the rate of steel these days, the wood only cost .40 cents more then metal tposts, I feel wood is safer and looks nicer.
We then did 4 strands of twisted barbless wire and two hot strands of electric. We usually end up having to cut our pasture to bale, so we put in a long 16 ft. gate so as to still get the tractor in there as well as a smaller gate for horses.
It's been alot of work, considering we can only work on it during weekends and that is in between family stuff....but we are almost done...now on to the shelter.............

[slamberson]

Thanks to everyone!!!!! Ya'll have been informational and I have come to my decision.

Originally Posted by pippy

It's been alot of work, considering we can only work on it during weekends and that is in between family stuff....but we are almost done...now on to the shelter.............

Ha, the Shelter thats another thing I have to think about!

[pippy]

Here is a photo of the finished Front Pasture:


A closer view of the posts (in this photo you can see the top wire needs to be tightened up some but otherwise, this was pretty much done)

[seerfarm]

Very nicely done, safe and secure!