Get a Grippler

This afternoon was spent putting up five strands of plain wire around what we call the 'grove' - a collection of fodder, fruit and nut trees in the middle of a paddock. Goats are wonderful intelligent animals but they like to eat trees and they like to work out a way of getting through fences. Our initial electric fence kept them at bay for a while but those green leaf shoots proved to be too tempting to Cedric, our Boer buck. So it was back to the drawing board, out with the chainsaw and down with enough Red Box trees for six posts and stays.
I like fencing and have been doing it now and again for almost thirty years. But what has made the job so much more enjoyable and it so much easier to get a tight fence was using a Gripple tool. No more sagging wires when one wire is over-tightened. No more figure of eight joins in the middle of the run. The job is done quickly and effectively in half the time. I can recall spending hours digging out star pickets before I had a post remover or wielding a sledgehammer above head height to knock in the picket before I had a 'banger'. While it is hard to contemplate going without those 'new' technologies my favourite is the Gripple tool. Slip the two ends of wire needing joining in either side of the Gripple and use the tool to pull the wire through till it is tight. Simple and very effective - works every time. Can be retightened at any time and even loosened off if required.
In the packet of Gripples there are some plastic pieces called 'twisters'. Until today they were ignored and thrown out with the wrapper. Now I have discovered they make a great way of holding together the cut ends so that they are not a hazard to the stock. There is always something to learn on the farm. Get a Grippler!

'New Technology for easy fencing - Post remover,  Gripple Tool and 'Banger'

The Gripple with a Twist at the end.