Hi Tensile Wire

Going to be putting up about 20 acres worth of 4 wire high tensile wire. What gauge wire should I use? What kind of charger should I use and what would be the easiest way to figure out how many feet of wire I am going to need? I know theres some kind of formula. Thanks Guys

Get a Tractor Supply Catolog. First few pages have all that info for all kinds of wire set-ups like that.

If I did it right your 20 acres=10.000 sq-feet
there for a roll 16.5 gage hight tinsel wire will only streach out to 80 yards that = out 1,320.
so this figures out to be 8 rolls of 16.5 gage
high tinsel wire per each layer so if you are running 4 strans of high tinsel wire you will need 32 roll's app, and what ever you are going to use for post: depends on how far apart you put your post and what kind you use, is this perment,
or temperary, or are the post wood,steel.
But the number of post will be about 200, if you space them about 6' apart: again depends on the post that you use depends on the post inselaters.
I hope this will give you the idea:
JR.FRYE

I can't help you with the guage of wire or type of charger, but "20 acres" of wire doesn't help much. Twenty acres is an area measurement. You need a length measurement. What are the dimensions of the 20 acres? The way to figure the amount of wire needed (perimeter) is to add up all of the sides of the plot of land and (since you want 4 strands) multiply by 4. That will give you the amount of wire needed. I taught this kind of math to 5th graders for 35 years! BTW, if you have a "standard" 20 acres, ie: 1/2 mile long, then its 2640 + 2640 + 660 + 660, which equals 6600 feet, and times 4 equals 26,400 feet of wire. That's 5 miles of wire.

What about google planimeter? Find your place and outline in. Should give you measurements.

Dave

BTW, if you have a "standard" 20 acres, ie: 1/2 mile long, then its 2640 + 2640 + 660 + 660,

Click to expand...

Those dimensions would give you 40 acres if my math is correct.

UP here a "standard" 20 acres is 1320x660.

You need the perimeter. If it's a rectangle, length & width.

If it's odd shaped, you need to pace it off for 20 acres, probably easiest.

Handheld GPS will do it. or working with areal photos, like google or the USDA maps online.

You got a good rough guess for the typical 20 acre retangle, but skinnier or irregular shapes will take more wire.

--->Paul

I"d use 12-1/2 gauge high tensile wire. Measure the fence perimeter and multiply by the number of strands of wire and then add 10% more for wrapping, etc.

For example,if your 20 is half of a 40, then it"s 660 ft X 1320 ft, that a perimeter of 2x(660) + 2x(1320)=4960 ft. Adding 10% is 4960 + 496 = 5456 ft. So you need over mile of wire.
As far asa charger is concerned. A lot depends the the ammount of rainfall you normally get. If you get < 30 inch rainfall, then you need a wide impedence type charger(www.premier1.com). If you have > 30 inches than a low impedence charger may work well for you. If you are planning to electrify all four strands, get big charger( 5 joules) because unless you keep stuff off the lower parts of the fence, you"ll need to power through it.

Assuming 1320' by 660' is the demensions of 20 acres, you are looking for the perimeter.
Formula for P= 2L + 2W

2L = 2640'
2W + 1320'
P = 3960' per strand x4 strands
One spool of barbed wire USED to be 1320'
3960 divided by 1320 = 3 spools x 4 strands equals 12 spools total with none left. Probably take an additional spool for wrapping around post, gates, etc.

Correct me if my math is wrong.

A Square mile, 640 acres, is of course one mile on each side. A Half square mile is therefore 1 mile x 1/2 mile. 160 acres, a quarter section, is 1/2 mi x 1/2 mi. A Quarter quarter section, or 40 acres is then 1/4 mi x 1/4 mile. That makes 20 acres 1/4 mi x 1/8 mile or 1320 feet time 660 feet. One acre is 43,560 square feet which makes an acre just under 209' x 209'.

A 4 wire fence, of 1/4 + 1/4 + 1/8 +1/8 = 3/4 mi,x 4 wires = 3 miles of wire, and posts for 3/4 mi or 3960 feet yields 264 posts.

The post count is approximate, as if gates are planned for, extra posts will be required. Also, while line posts may be 6.5 foot steel t-posts if desired, corner posts ought to be heavy 5 or 6" x 8' wooden posts. Wooden line posts should be 4" x 7' at least, and penta-treated!

A spool of barb wire has 80 rods=1/4 mile. Other poster messed up 320 acres=1/2 section. 160 acres= 1/4 section.

The wire length cannot be figured until the geometric shape of the plot to be fenced is known.

Think we have three votes like this now.

12 ga. hi-tensile comes in 4000ft. rolls (not 80 rods) around here and you need a jenny or similar to put on the roll so it doesn't explode when the bands are cut, also wear safety glasses as it can easily spring out and get your eyes

Your "standard" 20 acres is actually 40- sign me up for a couple of those! LOL

Around here, everything is stated in terms of square 40's (1320' X 1320')- so a 20 would be 660 X 1320.

Use 12 1/2 gauge HT, not the lighter stuff. Walk around and step it out.....if its a regular shape you don't need to go all the way around. Lots of chargers to choose from, I'd use a 110v if you can, with good grounds rods, good quality insulators and a lightning protector. I have a parmak that is ok on a 7 wire fence, Gallagher is supposed to be the best but $$$.
Chris

IMHO Taylor Fence makes the best fence charger out there. They are a little more expensive but worth it. Google Taylor Fence Inc. or email [email protected]

Ask these guys
Kencove Fence

I"ll second that. I use the Cyclops Brute and have 4 of them. Made in America,good price, best lightening protection built in the box and darn good service.

12.5 ga. wire

Yep ,

A square twenty arces has 3,739' perimeter feet where one acre wide by twenty arces long has a perimeter of 8,778'

We have two places to get HT around here, don't know the ga of them but one sells wire that 200,000lb tensile and one sells 175,000lb. They are most of the time about the same price per 4,000' spool. For my money the 175,000 is the only way to go and all I will use. It is much easier to wrap and tye off. It also seems to not want to kink up as bad.

For chargers I have always had gool luck with Gallagher.

20 acres of fence depends on the shape as others have said. You are going to be buy'n in 4,000' spools and most places will take a spool back it the bands have not been cut. To get an idea bum a measure'n wheel or step it off and X4. Add a 100' or so for splices, ties, and corner insulators.

If you have never put up HT before a few words of advise. Start on the back side next to the creek or woods. When you have never done it the first two tries will be ugly. What ever you do never ever even think for a second about take'n the bands off a spool of smooth HT with out have'n it in a spinning jenny. If this is all you are ever going to be doing bum from a neigbor or rent one from where you are getting your wire and other stuff. If you plan on doing more go on a buy you a good one. I have found it works good to have one mounted on a 3' chunk of square 2" tube'n and mount it on the reese hitch of a pick up (or most of the time in my case a trailer made out of truck bed).

Your results my vary.

Good luck.

Dave

I'll second what Kyplowboy says. If you've never worked with HT wire before, practice twisting it and snapping before you start. It takes practice to get good clean twists and close break off's. Use a pair of vise grips to clamp the free end of the wire to the reel at all times to stop it unspooling.
When you're running it out, keep some tension on the reel to stop it free wheeling and spinning off more wire than you need.....it's a PITA to get back on the reel, and if you tension it with a kink it will break.

I use a reel holder in the truck hitch receiver, and put some brake resistance on the reel with washers under the nut on the spindle. A wire 'dog' (grip) and a come along is useful for tensioning the wire as you twist off at the end of each run.
I put tensioners on about every second corner. I always start my wire on the fixed corner, and pull it to the corner that i have the tensioners on.
Chris