Animals getting over your fences?

If you have animals getting over a fence and you need to stop them, then you either build a new taller fence or raise the height of the one you have.

No matter whether you are trying to stop deer or roos getting on to your property or trying to stop sheep, goats or chickens getting out, there is a PickeX solution to suit your fence extension idea.

If you can slow down or greatly reduce the movement of animals getting onto your land or your stock getting out, it can have a big impact on profitability. The quicker you deal with the problem, the sooner a solution will provide a return on your investment.

* Most of the ideas in this article relate to agricultural fences however, the POLESTAR system is so versatile (when used in combination with the PS45 and PSTY Brackets) it can be used to achieve practical solutions to residential and industrial fencing problems without the use of STAR pickets or T posts. They are both easy to install and unobtrusive to look at - If you would like to know more about how to use the PickeX POLESTAR range of products in a residential or commercial setting please give us a call or send us an email to sales@wireman.com

The standard solutions

Up till now, most land owners raised their fences by either putting in taller posts, using bolt on brackets, or welding on an extension of some description.

Putting in taller posts is expensive and bolt on brackets mean having to remove the wire from the posts then tying it back on, which is time consuming. Welding is not always possible because the poor quality steel found in many newly manufactured pickets is often not weldable. There is also the obvious fire risk of welding over dry grass and the problem of getting a welder to the posts.

Some will say, pull out the fence and start from scratch. But you are not going to be keen on doing that if you have spent thousands of dollars on a not so old fence.

What can be done?

PICKEX POLE STARs are made in 300, 450, 600 and 900mm lengths. Best described as a post extension sleeve, they can be used in a variety of ways or in conjunction with a standard STAR picket or part STAR picket, to raise the height of the fence to virtually any height you may need without removing the existing wire.

Made from high tensile galvanised steel PICKEX POLE STARs are a strong and robust item. They fit both the STAR pickets used in Australia and all Tee posts commonly sold in the USA. With the addition of a POLE STAR MAX, they can also be used to extend BEEFY or MAXY posts.

The Versatile Solution

The real beauty of the POLE STAR system is versatility. They can be used as a stand alone item or in conjunction with the PS45 brackets to create the right barrier for any situation. No matter whether it is deer, goats, kangaroos, chickens, pigs, wild dogs or cats that you are trying to stop getting over the fence.

If you are trying to stop animals like roos simply jumping the fence, then pairs of two wires close together are better than one wire by itself as the animals can see the pair better, especially when moving at speed.

The key point is that you do not need to have a lot of tension on the wire up high as there is not going to be any stock pressure high on the fence. You simply need to add a strong riser to the end assembly to secure the wire and apply light tension. The main aim is to provide a visual deterrent.

Different picket and post sizes

You may have differing types of posts on your property, and there are many varieties of posts on the market so, it would be virtually impossible to have a perfect fit for all of them. If you want a really tight fit or you are having trouble getting a POLE STAR to slide over the particular posts that you have, a great feature of the POLE STAR shape is that it can easily be adjusted to suit the post size. Details of how to do this can be seen in the PICKEX instruction manual.

These are just some of the ways PICKEX and POLE STAR can be used. If you have any questions or problems, please get in touch and let us know your thoughts at; sales@wireman.com.au

Raising Electric Fences

One of the best ways to prevent animals getting over a fence or keep them apart and stop them fighting is to use an electric fence, as animals can sense the fence is there without contacting it.

If you are looking to raise a fence and add an electric hot wire, a variety of insulators and offsets can be used with PICKEX POLE STARs to achieve the right solution for your needs.

CERAMIC INSULATORS are the most long lasting and versatile solution for both direct to post or offset hot wire setups.

PLASTIC INSULATORS are made from UV and heat resistant PVC. They offer the most cost effective and easy to install electric fence solution.

There are several well known companies (including DATAMARS and GALLAGHER) who supply plastic insulators that can easily and quickly be fixed to PICKEX using self drilling screws.

Davo’s Fencing Clips have wire saddles that allow you to fix either ceramic insulators, plain wire or plastic tubular insulators to PICKEX with a single screw. Find their products at davosfencingclip.com

Double the netting

One of Wireman’s the first customers, Nick Hearn is a Fencing Contractor from Mount Barker Western Australia. In 2024 Nick installed around 7 km of exclusion netting on an existing farm fence in Western Australia.

Using PickeX Pole Star 600’s the fence was raised 450 mm (18”) using the existing pickets. The top of the fence was formed by simply adding another run of 900mm high 7, 90, 15 netting. Which was fixed to the Pole Stars and the existing fence with wire ties and C clips (hog rings). Naturally, this created an overlap of the two layers of netting.

It would not be unreasonable to think the overlap approach is somewhat wasteful. However, the result has been found to be highly beneficial as two sets of wire overlap at the point where most pressure is applied to the fence.

This feature has been particularly good at preventing emus and kangaroos (from the adjacent National Park) getting onto the farm and damaging crops. The picture below shows the original Waratah fence extensions with plain wire damaged by kangaroos landing on top of the Wire.

Animals going under the fence

The reality is that most animals will try to go under a fence before they try to go over it. This is especially true of Deer and Kangaroos. As a result you will need to plug holes and tie down the bottom wire of the fence to make it an effective barrier. To do this Wireman has developed the HOLDFAST HARPOON Ground anchor system which can be seen by clicking the link.