OT Electric fencer question

I have always used just an ordinary fencer (6 joules, low impedance, etc) from TSC or similar. Running a few (2-3) miles of fence line around 16-20 acres. Works well but I have to weed whack the fence lines regularly in the summer to keep it hitting well. We just added a few more acres of fence line and I don't look forward to running the weed whacker more distance next year.

I have seen much higher priced fencers online and wondered what the difference was. Our fencing guy was telling me the circuitry is different and that the better fencers put out more juice when called for and fry the weeds off keeping them clear. He says he runs a 20 joule fencer and never has to weed whack the fence lines. Of course this is like music to my ears if it frees me up from all those trips around the fences in the summer. He is saying that for somewhere in the $1,200.00 range he can get me a 20 joule fencer like his.

Question is, are the better fencers worth the cost? What brand do you guys use and do you have to weed whack the fence lines anyway? Thanks in advance.
 
Look at Taylor Fence. I have one it if some thing happen to it I would buy another one. I know it will knock off weeds I had a grasshopper get on my fence and got too close to a steel post and I could hear it popping and see the flash of light. www.taylorfence.net
 
I would put the 1200$ towards a permanent fence that I would not have to worry if was working all the time.

Gary
 
I have the same "Cheap" one and yes the weeds play with you. I guess I have been lucky, The horses are good at trimming the fences for me. I do have lots of fed out there for them. I would think a old cycle bar would work to save your trimmer
 
we repair hundreda of fencers a year and sell parmak 50 mile fencers that work well with 3 grounds the high price fencers are the worse rip off we have ever seen ----the gov regs tell how storng a fencer can be ---gallagher are horrible and virtually non repairable and we sold those until we learned better
 
I used the cyclops Brute 8 joule. Had 3 of them before I sold all the cattle. Never had a problem with vegetation. Best fence chargers I ever owned. I had to run 3-5 ground rods on them depending on footage of the fence. I've seen the tops of new cedar trees burned out. I think that box is around $300 now.

You can check to see if you need more ground rods by a test. Use the fence voltage tester. If your digital tester has a ground probe,stick that in the earth and touch the tester probe to the end of the ground rod with the fence charger on. If you detect more than 300 volts add a rod or rods till the voltage is below 300 volts.

If you use a one probe digital tester just lay the probe on the rod and it'll show voltage. And do the same as above.

I had lightening take out several of the boxes over the years. The folks at Taylor do great repair and quick turn around. Cost would be around $45 most of the time. Great folks to deal with.
 

I have an old CO-OP that my Father in law gave me back in the 60's. I use it around the garden. It will burn the weeds down. Burn a mark across your fingers too.
 
stafix.com. We use both solar powered and plug in type. They put out right at nine thousand volts. We seldom have any problem with them.
 
(quoted from post at 21:40:05 10/23/14) I have always used just an ordinary fencer (6 joules, low impedance, etc) from TSC or similar. Running a few (2-3) miles of fence line around 16-20 acres. Works well but I have to weed whack the fence lines regularly in the summer to keep it hitting well. We just added a few more acres of fence line and I don't look forward to running the weed whacker more distance next year.

I have seen much higher priced fencers online and wondered what the difference was. Our fencing guy was telling me the circuitry is different and that the better fencers put out more juice when called for and fry the weeds off keeping them clear. He says he runs a 20 joule fencer and never has to weed whack the fence lines. Of course this is like music to my ears if it frees me up from all those trips around the fences in the summer. He is saying that for somewhere in the $1,200.00 range he can get me a 20 joule fencer like his.

Question is, are the better fencers worth the cost? What brand do you guys use and do you have to weed whack the fence lines anyway? Thanks in advance.

I'm going to guess around 7? years ago my ancient fencer quit. I went in to formerly Country General (I think, changed names a couple times and forget when that time was) and got a "Bulldozer" 6 Joule rated for up to 100 miles for less than $200. First year I ran it with a single wire around the outside of a section (640 acres) my family had leased for over 60 years. Then I moved it to power a single wire around a 1/2 section, and a couple division fences in that, it's been running on that every day since. It will shock through any growth in it and kill what touches it, including heavy grass. Bigger cedar trees grow in the fence line and it will kill the branches. You may have more growth though, but mine has quite a bit sometimes and I never had an issue. It's pretty stout, I test it occasionally by hand, usually by shorting it, sometimes by just touching it (that's how my dad had me test them, doesn't bother me being shocked, just a good jolt). For here I wouldn't get a more expensive one, but no doubt there are better built ones around.
 
I had two of the bulldozers and lightning took those out over the years. I don't know if our weeds grow more or not bt, I had to keep the fence clean then too or the light on the bulldozer would get pretty dim. Have three ground rods burried along the back of the shed where the fencer is according to the instructions of the fencers.

The parmarks that I currently have I think work better than the Bulldozer I had did. (maybe yours was a better unit than what I had).

Was just hoping to find one that would allow me to reduce the weed whacking. Thanks.
 
there was one that was known and advertised to deal with the weed problem. Long time ago, so all I remember about it was that it had an externally access able plug in part and likely ceased to be sold because it was known for starting grass fires ! Why would anyone expect anything different? Burns weeds!?
 
If you don't like weed whacking your fencelines and you don't fancy the idea of chasing livestock all over the countryside, then yessir, it is well worth the investment.
 
Oh and my fencer is from kencove farm fence. I can't remember the exact model, but it was around $500. I think $1200 is a bit rich for a fencer.
 
I have two old plug in Parmaks. Don't remember any of the specs except they are green and rated for 10 miles.

They have been very, very reliable and will shock the snot out of you.

Don't know about burning weeds. The wire is along the top of a 52in high cattle panel, so no weeds.

They will burn vines that try to attach to the hot wire.
 
(quoted from post at 14:59:38 10/24/14) I had two of the bulldozers and lightning took those out over the years. I don't know if our weeds grow more or not bt, I had to keep the fence clean then too or the light on the bulldozer would get pretty dim. Have three ground rods burried along the back of the shed where the fencer is according to the instructions of the fencers.

The parmarks that I currently have I think work better than the Bulldozer I had did. (maybe yours was a better unit than what I had).

Was just hoping to find one that would allow me to reduce the weed whacking. Thanks.
Don't know what to tell you there. Most of mine here is along a regular barb wire fence just to keep them from reaching through, not really needed to keep them in. I have cheap insulators on there and not really close enough together and sometimes it gets knocked or falls off of the longer kind. It's very heavy high tensile wire so I should have better. I've had a couple times where it was laying on the ground for a distance for a couple days, still shocking all the way to the end, and there'd be a streak of dry grass where it was laying. Also, one part I cut across is by a windbreak with tall grass/weeds, not grazed, never worry about it. It does just kill off what touches it. The only issue I ever had with it was when it was on the north section. It was a very dry/severe drought year and the one corner was high, dry sand. Wouldn't shock there, so I ended up running a ground wire on the fence. When it did rain it didn't bother, and it was only in the one area, it shocked past there in lower ground and further away from that yard. I know it's not a premium one, but I can't complain, works as good as the old one did. All I can say is, you are running some miles but it's a small area relatively. What you have "should" be stout enough I'd think. But for whatever reason it isn't, so it looks like you'll have to spend some $$. Ground good, wire not shorting somewhere (and good wire), not much else to say.
 
I have two parmarks now (one as a back up). They do good as long as you keep the weeds and grass trimmed down. As soon as the fence gets any amount of grass on the lines they drop right off. They are supposed to be good for 50 mile of fence.
 
(quoted from post at 18:12:06 10/25/14) I have two parmarks now (one as a back up). They do good as long as you keep the weeds and grass trimmed down. As soon as the fence gets any amount of grass on the lines they drop right off. They are supposed to be good for 50 mile of fence.

Guess I must be lucky with my off brand one, here I was thinking I'd get another cheap one if this one quit. But the way you guys are talking, I don't think so. Lots of Parmarks around and I'd have thought they were good too.
 

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