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I would be careful that it is white paint and not "white rust" which I have seen on some high tensile smooth wire. Looks like the galvanizing has been dusted with hard powdered sugar or the like. If it is the aforementioned rust, it is likely that the salesman cannot sell it to any of his commercial fencebuilding customers who reject it out of hand. I am no expert but have strung about five miles of HT smooth wire here on our rolling acreage in NW Illinois. Probably 10% of the wire, purchased from a friend of mine in the fence business, ahows this white rust, as pronounced by my neighbor the proofessional fence builder. In seven years of weather exposure, I can find no evidence of premature or accelerated wear or failure of the protective covering, which is not to say that there won't be some a week from now. If it really is white paint or a similar coating, I have seen some coated fence wire which has been very aesthetically pleasing and very effective in conducting electricity. You should be able to Google the manufacturer and check their line for this item. The coating would not be a dealbreaker for me. As to the posts, in my mind it depends. If you are truly building High-tensile electric fence, that typically means wood H-brace assemblies at corners and dips with a wood line post every 50 feet max. Steel posts are typically used only as spacers between the wood. In that case, the lighter (cheaper) ones should work fine. If you are building temporary electric fence in the yard, HT wire is not the way to go because the memory and spring of the wire make it virtually impossible for me to work with because of the necessity of stretching. Others' experience may differ, of course. A word of caution: if you are considering a HT smooth wire fence for horses, I urge you to reconsider. The combination of relatively low visibility, high strength, and high tension can cause some spectacular wounds when horses attempt to run through it when spooked, playing, or other horselike behavior. My wife is a large animal vet, she says they look just like a cheesecutter going through cheese. In fact, the coated wire has been brough to market to address the visibility issues associated with plain HT wire. Regards, Phil Crome
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