Using Baling Wire to Mend Fences

Baling wire is an incredibly diverse material, and while its main purpose is to keep bales together, the baling wire itself has been used for centuries for many different purposes.

One of those purposes is to use the wire to repair a fence, especially if you are far from a store and the wood fence needs repairing quickly to ensure your livestock, animals, or even the safety of other people.

Keeping Your Fence in Good Repair

In truth, keeping your fence in better repair will negate the need to use materials like 12 gauge galvanized wire to make emergency repairs, but it's easy to say invest in proper maintenance after your find your fence has failed, and not so easy to consider it beforehand.

If you find yourself with an emergency repair to your damaged fence posts on your hands, bling wire is a great material that can provide strong fence support when you need it most.

Using baling wire in these circumstances is perfectly legitimate and has been a technique that has been used across the west by cowboys and horse owners for centuries, and for a good reason.

It's fairly cheap, and it's easy to do, not to mention the results -while not pretty- are surprisingly robust and will last well enough time for you to order the correct tools such as pouring concrete, installing longer screws, getting an auto tie, or using stain or paint available at most hardware stores to get the job completed.

Fixing Your Fence Without Tools

One of the most common ground level fence problems, especially with wire fences, is that of sagging, where a wire fence stretches and sags, creating a dangerous dip that could be harmful to your herd or your horses should they come over to investigate.

There are two key ways to fix a sagging gate without any tools type of wood. Method one is easy enough: take a piece of pressure-treated wood or a dead branch from a tree and place it in the fence; from here, you can twist it to pull the fence tighter again.

Method two is a little more complicated but works better; this time, you should take a number of pieces of deadwood or tree and weave them in between the lines alternatively, which will clinch onto the wire and tighten it, creating a tighter and more robust fence with a temporary fix.

Electric Fence Repair

A warning before you consider repairing your electric fence with baling wire, make sure you switch off the power supply to the current fence. This is usually fairly simple and involved simply unhooking the battery and solar panel that will run horizontally to the fence to make sure no charge is going through the metal fence.

You can replace a damaged insulator or a wire hook with baling twine depending on the type, letting it go around the fence posts to absorb and stop the conductivity of the electric fence when you do hook it back up to the power and re-electrify the fence.

Fixing Things Permanently

As with all quick fixes, these are not intended to be a long-term solution, but here at Baling Wire Direct, we've used along with a wire for so many of life's little jobs, we sometimes forget it's used primarily for bailing up in the recycling industry!