Making a Basic Electric Fence: Hot Tape

I believe that hot tape is pretty good to use because it is easy to roll back up and be used again. You can also attach two pieces of hot tape up using hog ring pliers (explain later).

I, personally use star pickets with black clips connecting to the picket with hot tape running through the plastic clip. On my property i have cattle, sheep and horses. I have some barbed wire fences separating paddocks, but I need more paddocks. So in the mean time I have electric fences. For my cattle I have three strands of hot tape. It keeps all of my cattle in except sometimes my bull might get out and snap some tape in the process. If the tape snaps I get the two pieces double them over then put 4 staples in. This is a very effective way and it lasts for a long time.

For the horses I put 2 strands of tape. You can also do 1 strand, horses hate electricity alot. Once they get shocked once, they get the message.

For the sheep I do not use any electric fences, they can get out with ease.  On a plain field I space my star pickets 10 paces apart. If the cattle get out alot, go along the fence and check the shock. If it is weak go alonk and poison all the grass touching the tape.

If you want to make a gate, get a pvc pipe and cut it to star picket length. Get some wire and wrap it around the pipe once, make a little loop for the gate hook. Personally I do not buy gate hooks, I make them myself. First of all I get some small black pipe cut it to an appropiate length. Get a long piece of wire, bend it in half and roll the cut end in a nice circle. This is the part you tie the tape to. Slide it through the black pipe and bend the end into a nice hook shape. It is much cheaper than buying one of these: