I’m out of Gripple wire joiners and I have a broken hot wire that needs to be reconnected. There is about 24 inches of gap so I have a plan.

Project:
Reconnect pasture hot wire

Tools:
Pliers
Gloves
16 gauge aluminum wire

By making hooks in each end of the fencing wire I could use them to wrap wire around and across the gap. I pulled the two lengths taut and wrapped a couple of lengths of wire between each hook. This gave me plenty of connection for current to flow.

This might be a good time to talk about hot wire fencing.

I live in an expansive landscape with little barrier for wind. As a consequence, the tumble weeds can freely travel the landscape until hitting my fencing. This can short out the flow of current and make the wire useless as a deterent for those pesky animals wanting to escape to freedom. It’s important to keep grasses, weeds and free wheeling tumbleweeds from touching the wires. At this time of year it’s a constant job to walk the fence line and clear debris that wants to cling to the fence. What I’m looking for is wire that is strung without impediment and current flowing freely. I usually get a chance to test this by accidentally touching somewhere along the line…yeeowch! Unfortunately this day I was also touching my mule at the same time. It took a couple of apples and reasurrance before she’d approach with any trust the rest of the day.

Time to do it like a woman and order from enasco.com some more Gripple joiners.