Polywire Reel Stand – How To

Fresh grass and move, is how we mimic nature in our part of the world. The technical term for this is “Biomimicry“. Our friends at The Land Institute, Kansas, are listed as one of the top 50 examples of biomimicry for their work in Prairie Ecosystems. Through Holistic Planned Grazing, we manage all of the animals on the farm to move. Animals are moved to fresh grass, allowed to graze for a while, and then moved to fresh grass. The grazing duration is planned to give appropriate disruption to the system. We are, in essence, “exercising” the soil, grasses, and animals all at the same time to keep the entire system healthy. In summary, we are simply following God’s created order by observing how nature works.

Portable Fencing

To keep the animals moving, we currently use portable fence that includes polywire on reels, temporary posts, and our reel stands. In our past post Move’em on, we have a couple photos featuring the stand that we use to hold portable polywire fence reels. If you or someone you know has basic welding skills these stands are easy to make with rebar from your local hardware store. Below are a few more examples of the stands in use.

In the example above, a stand is placed next to an existing polywire fence. The “jumper clips” deliver power from a “hot” fence to a “cold” fence. The stands provide great flexibility in placing reels and subdivision fences anywhere in an existing pasture.

The stands can hold multiple reels depending on fence “pull” and soil conditions. Most of the year, push the reel stands in with your foot. In frozen ground, we use a hand sledge and spike to make holes to slide the reel stands in. If the ground thaws quickly, reel stands may fall if the pre-spiked frozen soil holes were shallow. During dry weather, tight clay soils will be difficult to penetrate with foot pressure. Carry a water bottle along, a little water at the stand spike locations allows for the stands to slide into dry clay soils. You can also secure the stand to existing barbwire fence or posts with a clip or cord when soils are difficult to penetrate.

Cattle are easily trained and moved with a single strand of polywire. For pigs we started with two reels at the lower height but found that pigs can also be managed well with a single wire. Sheep are a different story. Depending on the time of year, two wires work but at other times, three wires do the trick. We also utilize some poly netting in some situations, most specifically at our single wire gate openings.

Below is a link to a PDF for the dimensions of the traditional reel stand for cattle. You will need to modify the design for pigs and sheep or other critters of your choosing. Good luck in your quest to keep the animals on the move!