My favorite resources for electric fencing and more

Purchasing gear and supplies for electric fencing locally can sometimes be a major logjam. The best resources are right at your fingertips online. I purchase my gear and supplies primarily from three online stores: Gallagher USA, Kencove and Powerflex Fence.

Gallagher USA is my go to for electric chargers and aluminum wire for our permanent fences. I think the Gallagher chargers are the best on the market. Their customer service is awesome and the company is really innovative. I’m really excited to try out their “iSeries” charger on one of our upcoming projects. From their website: “Gallagher i Series Fence Energizer systems allow you to quickly and easily monitor your fence performance, informing you of any problems immediately, so you can take action to protect your livestock and land in the event of a fence breach.” An essential component to this system is the i Series Wi-Fi Gateway. This device is connected directly to your charger, which sends updates to an app on your phone at timed intervals to give you peace of mind that the fences are working as they should and the herd is resting peacefully in the paddock. For me personally this is huge! I really would love to take a vacation knowing that the livestock are safe and if their is a problem it can be called upon and dealt with immediately.

Kencove has everything you need. It’s a virtual one-stop-shop for grazers. At Kencove we purchase PasturePro posts (owned by the same company), Plasson quick coupler water valves, O’Brien Reels and O’Brien step-in posts. Kencove also has a nice selection of other hardware such as wire strainers, gates, wire bolts, cut-off switches and more. Most of the time you can get free shipping unless it’s large items like PasturePro posts. When purchasing posts it’s best to plan ahead for big projects and order them by the pallet. Your price will be significantly better and even out the shipping costs.

Powerflex Fence has one product that really stands out to me. Their PolyBraid is one of a kind on the marketplace. It is hands down the best choice to replace cheap, easy to break electric twine. It has 9 strands of wire that gives it excellent conductivity and the breaking strength is two times stronger than standard electric twine. I purchase the 2640’ rolls which require a bigger reel. Install the larger rolls on the O’Brien’s Geared Mega Reel (that you can purchase from Kencove). We have been using PolyBraid for about six months and I can already tell you it’s significantly better than twine. Powerflex is also a great source for water products, specifically fittings and connections for HDPE pipe.

Folks I have used a lot of gear and supplies over the years. I wrote a few earlier blogs about how we build our permanent electric fences and how we set up temporary fences. Save yourself the time and money by using gear and supplies that have proven effective by seasoned grazers. I want to fully disclose that these are the resources I prefer and they may not be the best for you ranch. I’m not saying there aren’t other great resources and products out there, but these are simply the products I personally have tested over years of trial and error. I hope these resources help those of you wanting to develop a better grazing system. Any questions or comments please feel free to ask.

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