It is a straight line, so we will be able to put in a chicken wire fence easily, it won't need proper fence posts etc. If needed we can also run a wire of electric at deer height.
I am one for (sometimes) ignoring given wisdoms and doing what sounds right to me. However, I would offer the thought that electric fencing is not considered a great deterent for deer (due to their hairs being hollow).
There are plenty of rabbits and visiting Roe deer on my land and, for a temporary rabbit/deer fence, I once installed rabbit netting, with a ground-level out-turn, fixed to 1.8m bamboo canes and then I strung fishing line in, I think it was, 3 rows between the canes above the netting. Deer do not like coming up against stuff they cannot see and get spooked
apparently by the fishing line. All I can say about this solution is that the willows I'd planted were not nibbled by deer (or rabbits) over 12 months: they were, however, nibbled by field voles!
To note that farmers tend not to bother with the out-turn when temporarily protecting their new brassica plantings against rabbits (in particular) with netting and canes.
If you have excluded deer and rabbits (and any livestock you might have) from the planting area then you only need shorter vole guards which, someone here pointed out to me, are best 'sunk' into the ground a bit.
I will bet, however, that "vole guards" are a premium price item compared to "standard" tree guards.
I expect it would be cheaper to buy "standard" tree guards and cut them into shorter lengths (if one really needs to be frugal and/or can be bothered - to note, though, that they do get slightly brittle over time and old ones do not like being cut - I've tried).