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Imogen Bertin
Member
Username: Imogen
Post Number: 849
Registered: 4-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, Oct 29, 2006 - 3:51 am: |   |
I know Gallagher's systems are more common outside the US (widely used NZ, AU, UK, IRL, souther Africa and I think to some extent in Canada) but I thought I would just mention for the rest of us something I only recently discovered.
The only thing I do not like about 12 mm electrified polytape as a fencing (temporary or permanent, attached to wooden stakes, in our case backed up by good old fashioned stone faced banks and brambles) is that the insulated fixings for attaching the tape to the wooden posts cause the tape to fray which is expensive in tape and time to keep maintained.
Gallagher's brought out special flat fixers a couple of years ago for polytape as opposed to wire/braid. These were absolutely rubbish and worse than the old round ones. Total waste of money, and I wish I'd never bought them.
However they have now produced flat fixers with rubber grips which hold the tape quite rigidly in position when closed and prevent fraying. They will also help stop the situation where one horse breaking the fence causes the whole line to come down, then some daft animal gets tangled up in the tape lying on the ground and injures itself. I'd still rather they broke the polytape fence than got injuried on that very strong 5 mm round white electrified cable they are promoting which I think is just plain dangerous, for TBs at least.
The new clips are expensive (nearly one euro per clip) but a much better solution for permanent fencing. You might need to get your co-op to order them because they are really specific to polytape/horses and not much use to the majority of users of this type of fencing for cattle. There is also a new more expensive type of tape with copper cross wires which is less prone to breaks in current. I haven't tried that yet but I'm going to.
All the best
Imogen |
