Medium Tensile Barb

Our go-to, high performance wire for pastures, perimeters and cross fencing

Most barbed wire fences are built with the priority on big posts, small end braces and soft Canadian barbed wire. This results in a fence that is expensive, high maintenance, and short lived. The end braces lean, the wire slackens, animals put their heads through, staples pop or the wire breaks, and you have a jailbreak on your hands. The integrity of a barbed wire fence starts with high quality wire and good braces; remember, posts are there only to hold the line and maintain the wire spacing.

We use medium tensile Gaucho and Cattleman’s barbed wire. Being a medium tensile product, there is elasticity in the wire, which when installed properly with good end bracing results in a resilient fence. The wire is not tied off every ¼ mile. The longer the run, the greater the elastic effect. If the fence is hit by wildlife or livestock the wire can stretch a foot or more and return to its original position in tension. In most cases no fence repair is required or only a few staples need to be replaced.

For most pastures and perimeters that have low stocking pressure, we would use 4.25” x 7’ pressure treated posts on 16’ centers, with 5 strands of Gaucho barb installed with 10’ x 3.5” or 4.5” drill pipe freestanding end braces, pounded 6’ into the ground. If there is high stocking pressure (you have less grass than your neighbors), or a lot of wildlife activity, we would use a top strand of Cattleman’s which is 35% stronger than Gaucho or Canadian barb, and has a more aggressive barb on it. If you have a bull pasture, we might suggest 5 strands of Cattleman’s. The cost of an extra wire is minimal when compared to the overall cost of the fence, as we roll out 4 spools at a time (the sight line is the 5th) so in this case more is better.

All medium-tensile wire has Class 3 galvanizing of .80 oz/ft2 compared to .18 oz/ft2 for Canadian barb.

Over 30 years of retiring our grandparents’ barbed fences, observing the shortcomings of other installers’ fences, and constantly iterating our own, we’ve developed a product line that we believe is unmatched in durability, longevity, ease of maintenance, and value for Alberta’s landowners. We look forward to hearing about your barbed wire fencing project.