Disclaimer: I am not endorsed by or paid by Kencove or PasturePro. I am just sharing what I have learned over the past decade of building electric fence. There are a lot of folks out there who will probably disagree with me about my construction techniques. In fact, they may not work for your context. By all means experiment with different materials and techniques. I am simply writing this to share information. I really believe in the products that I talk about and as a bonus they are American Made.

There are a few key components to building a permanent electric fence. Key considerations are your brace posts, line posts and wire. I have experimented with a little bit of everything during the past decade. As you can tell by now I like electric fencing for two reasons, it’s economical and easy to build. I have used two different line posts over the years, fiberglass and composite. Both have their pros and cons, but I have decided that for my application the composite, PasturePro post is what works best for me. They are made from a wood-plastic composite material. It drives like a t-post and drills like wood. The posts are non-conductive and self-insulating. Most importantly they are inexpensive, strong and easy to work with.

Why did I choose the PasturePro? We don’t own any of our ranches, everything is leased. Most of them are really good, long-term leases. These are people that really believe in our mission and we do our absolute best to take care of their land as if it was our own. That being said things happen, such as a death or other dramatic event that may impact that lease agreement. The point is we might be out there pulling up that fence one day to vacate that lease. Have you ever seen a fiberglass post after ten years of being exposed to the brutal South Texas sun and heat? I wouldn’t want to touch it. Some might argue the UV treated posts will stand up to it, but from my experience I will simply have to disagree. I am certain that at some point our PasturePro posts will degrade. For starters, PasturePro guarantees their product for 20 years. I have owned some for ten years and I can attest that they are in the exact same condition as they were the day we installed that fence. I just simply don’t like the idea of handling degraded fiberglass somewhere down the road.

There is one downside to PasturePro fence posts. They are hard to drive into hard ground or rocky ground. The post isn’t rigid enough to be driven into difficult ground. To solve this problem you need a pilot hole, and the good thing is you can buy a pilot hole driver for about $100. Fiberglass posts are significantly more rigid and I have seen them driven into really rocky soil without an issue. TIP: I built a post driver from 2 3/8” steel pipe to exactly 40”. When the driver hits the ground you know the post is set exactly where it needs to be. The good thing is that the posts are flexible. I have had big mesquite limbs fall on our electric fence and bend the posts all the way to the ground. We cut the limb off the fence and the post pops back to its original position. There is a cool video on their website of a round bale rolling over the fence that I will link here.

The wire is attached to the post in the exact same fashion as fiberglass. You simply drill a small diameter hole into the post at your desired height. Kencove sells a stainless steel cotter pin for about $0.08 each, which is cheap. TIP: If you want to be even cheaper I simply tie it on with a piece of galvanized steel tie wire. You can buy a huge roll for $20.00 at your local hardware or feed store. Remember don’t twist it so tight that the wire can not move freely. I twist the wire two times so that it’s secure, but loose enough for the wire to move back and forth. TIP: drill your holes after the posts are set in the ground. Don’t drill more than a 3/16” hole. I made a PVC “guide” with markings for each wire height. This makes it really easy to keep the wire at the same height throughout the fence, especially when your adding more than one wire.

I purchase the 4’ X 1.125” PasturePro Posts. We drive our posts about 8” into the ground. You honestly don’t need a taller fence. If your animals jump over a 40” fence then you should think about getting rid of them. I you buy more than $1000 worth the shipping is free. The per post cost is only $3.80 each. We build two different types of fence with them. The cattle only fence is single strand hi-tensile wire and we put a post every 60 feet. The cattle/sheep fence is four strands of hi-tensile wire and we put a post every 30 feet.

So, where do you buy them? Kencove.com. Kencove not only sells PasturePro posts, but they own the company. It’s one of my favorite places to shop for electric fence supplies. PasturePro sells a few other products that look interesting, but I have never tried them. Stay tuned for more blogs on electric fencing where I will talk about H-braces and hi-tensile wire.

Questions or comments? Please feel free to contact me. We offering consulting for fencing system design and more. Check out Ranch Consulting & Marketing Solutions to learn more.