Staytuff Fence

I have spent the last few days at home really having fun. I learned how to build fence.
I’ve been building fence all my life, felt like I was pretty competent at it. Like many things, fence building has evolved with technology and people wanting to improve.  I had and have lots to learn.

Several years ago I was doing a colt starting demo in North Carolina, and and Lewis Sapp was in attendance. He was a Gallagher rep, and we hit it off and He and I did some work together and he taught me much about power fence. I have used it for years and really believe in its benefits.

The first place I was around power fence was the “Houlihan Ranch” and Buck sold me on it. He said you could put a stud on one side of the fence and a mare in heat on the other side of the fence and not have problems. That was a pretty good picture to understand how good it was. I put it up on a place we had in Helena, MT and it was great but I was always worried about the power being off or a short, and it required a lot of maintenance to keep it working, and not everyone wanted to do that when I was on the road.

I got interested in Staytuff fence after Lewis told me about its benefits. It makes a lot of sense for me to have a real effective, low maintenance perimeter fence that is safe and will last a long time. The deal is it is a special fixed knot on hi tensile wire that will stretch if pressured and come back to its normal shape when the pressure comes off.
I’ve been putting it up on the perimeter of our little place. It is not easy to put up. It takes a lot of skill to get it up right and you really need good braces because of the amount of pull to get it up right. This is where Lewis really taught me, and it is funny to watch a guy that is so good, get frustrated at people that are slow and having a hard time figuring it out. When you have passion and do something for a long time it is hard to understand how people don’t get it. I see the same thing with horse and livestock handlers.

The first place I put it was along the highway. When the fence was built it wasn’t real good and it had not had much maintenance, and I was always worried about something getting out on the highway and getting hit. As soon as we got the Staytuff fence up I could sleep better and quit worrying about not being a responsible stockman and landowner.

I still use single strand power fence for my grazing management on our little place. As I get time I will keep adding to my fencing ability and my perimeter fence. I am also going to use it for some pens.

I’m not the handiest guy with a tool, but I can get by with a chainsaw and a hammer. All the cool stuff I am learning to use building this fence, and the challenge of doing it right makes this a nice experience, and I think building fence is real rewarding because it goes up pretty quick and you can step back and see what you have done, and everyone else that sees it for the next thirty or forty years can see how much pride you had in your work.

Lewis Sapp has a lot of Pride.