[john and helen]

whats best tape rope or wire

[Foobar]

depends on how well your sheep respect the fence.  if you have lazy sheep then tape is fine, otherwise use wire.  rope is, in theory, fine, but in practise it gets tangled up with wool when sheep run through it and the thin wire strands break easy.

[Sbom]

Ours run through the tape but not the wire, it seems to carry the current better.

[Foobar]

You want whatever has the least electrical resistance, in ohms.  When I say wire I mean actual galvanised wire, not polywire.  Disadvantage with that is that it's not so flexible if you need to move it around a lot.

If you look here http://www.williselectricfencing.co.uk/Wires.asp for example you can see at a glance the ratings of the different types available - note they differ considerably.  I've used 9-strand polywire and and 20mm tape, both work up to a point.  Top tip is to never ever let your battery run down or allow the wires to short out on vegetation etc .

[trish.farm]

wire!!!   

[john and helen]

  thank you looks like wire it is then

[Kimbo]

.....and tape catches the wind more and can pull your posts over if using moveable plastic ones. That doesnt seem to happen with rope or wire. For horses I much prefer rope but I can see why wire is better for sheep

[john and helen]

i will be putting in wooden corner posts. but in a way that will let me move the plastic posts to create new paddocks, if that makes sense

[Kimbo]

yes it makes sense. We live in quite a windy place and we often find that the tape catches the wind and has broken a few plastic posts..... so it does look like wire is your best bet.
Thanks for raising this as we are due 3 Ryelands soon and will need a sheep-proof fence