Depending on what kind of type electric fencing you want to have - temporary or long-term, the installation process and difficulty of it may vary. In rocky and sandy areas the electric fence posts need to be set deeper than they would be in clay or dirt. Once you decide what kind of area, for how long the pasture or paddock will be fenced and what kind of posts will be the best fitting for your paddock or pasture, there are also other things to consider.
The important thing to remember is that the larger the area, and the longer it has to be kept, the harder it is to install the electric fencing and prepare the posts in the right way.
Distance Between Posts
Depending on the size of the posts itself, the area covered, a terrain of the area, and tape wire or rope used, the distance between posts has to be carefully considered for your electric fencing to be fully functional and secure. As a rule of thumb, the lighter the material of the posts is the closest to each other posts have to be situated. Same goes for the areas which have uneven sloping.
However, it is important to note, that fence posts cannot be too close to each other. If they are, in case if an animal runs into the electric line, all insulators and posts would be knocked to the ground. However, if they are spread wide apart, the posts will just bend and then pop back, so the risks of the breakages and injuries of animals are way smaller.
When setting up the posts make sure that tape, wire or rope is well fitted and doesn’t hang too low.
If a wire is being used, post distances can be from 6 to 8 metres, but it does highly depend on the post material itself - the heavier material of the posts used is, the smaller distance between them is expected.
When using a tape, it depends on the diameter of the tape. The wider the tape, the shorter the distance has to be. For example, if the tape is 40 mm, the distance between posts should be approximately 4 metres (13ft), if a diameter of tape is 20 mm the distance between posts should be 5 metres (16.4ft) and if a tape is as thin as ten millimetres, distance between posts is expected to be from 6 m (19.7ft) to 8 m (26.25ft).
When using rope, the distance between posts again depends on the diameter of it. If an electric rope is 7-8 millimetres the distance between posts should be somewhere around 4 metres (13ft). If an electric rope is thinner (5-6 mm), the distance between posts should be 6 metres (19.7ft).