6 Best Portable Wire Dispensers For Small Farms That Simplify Fence Repair
Discover the top 6 portable wire dispensers for small farms. This guide compares key models designed to make fence repairs faster, safer, and tangle-free.
There’s nothing quite like walking a fence line after a storm, only to find a downed tree has snapped three strands of high-tensile wire. Unrolling a new section by hand is a recipe for a tangled, kinked mess that fights you every step of the way. A good portable wire dispenser transforms this frustrating chore into a manageable task, saving your time, your sanity, and your hands.
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Why a Wire Dispenser is Essential for Fencing
Trying to unspool wire without a dispenser is an exercise in futility. The coil wants to expand violently, creating a "bird’s nest" of tangled wire that’s nearly impossible to undo. You end up with kinks that weaken the wire and waste valuable material, all while you wrestle with a spring-loaded trap.
A wire dispenser, often called a "jenny" or "unroller," tames the coil. It holds the spool on a spinning axle, allowing you to pull wire off smoothly and under control. Most have an adjustable friction brake to prevent the spool from over-running when you stop pulling, which is the primary cause of tangles.
This simple mechanical advantage is a game-changer for a small farm. It turns a frustrating two-person job into a straightforward one-person task. You can walk the fence line, pulling out exactly what you need without a fight, making repairs faster, safer, and far more efficient.
Tarter Wire Unroller: Tractor-Mounted Efficiency
If you have a compact tractor with a 3-point hitch, the Tarter Wire Unroller is a model of efficiency. You simply back up to the unit, hook it up, load a heavy roll of wire, and drive. It’s designed to make long, straight runs for new fencing almost effortless.
The beauty of this system is its speed and power. The tractor does all the heavy lifting and moving, allowing you to dispense hundreds of feet of wire in minutes. For establishing a new pasture perimeter or replacing a whole section of fence along a road, its value is undeniable.
The tradeoff, of course, is its reliance on the tractor. It’s not the tool you’ll grab for a quick 30-foot patch in a wooded back corner. Firing up the tractor, hooking up the implement, and navigating tight spaces can be more trouble than it’s worth for small repairs. This is a tool for big jobs, not quick fixes.
SpeeCo E-Z Fencer: The Ultimate Walk-Behind Tool
The SpeeCo E-Z Fencer is what you get when you design a tool specifically for putting up fences on foot. It’s essentially a heavy-duty, single-wheeled cart built to carry a roll of wire, posts, and all your tools. It’s the perfect solution for terrain where a tractor just can’t go.
Imagine fencing through a hilly, wooded area or along a winding creek. With the E-Z Fencer, you can navigate the landscape while the wire dispenses smoothly behind you. Its stability and all-in-one design mean fewer trips back to the truck for staples, insulators, or your hammer.
This is a specialized piece of equipment, and its price reflects that. It’s not for the farmer who only mends a fence once a year. But if you’re managing rotational grazing paddocks or fencing off challenging parts of your property, the time and labor it saves can justify the investment very quickly.
Dare-O-Matic: Versatile Hand-Crank Dispenser
The Dare-O-Matic is a classic for a reason: it’s simple, effective, and incredibly versatile. This hand-crank dispenser is lightweight enough to carry but can also be mounted on a post or the side of a UTV. Its most significant feature is its ability to both dispense and retrieve wire.
This two-way action makes it the undisputed champion for temporary fencing. When it’s time to move your poultry netting or take down a temporary grazing lane of polywire, you can reel it back onto the spool neatly for storage. No more tangled piles of wire stuffed into a bucket.
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While it can handle smooth or barbed wire for repairs, it requires more physical effort than a ground-based jenny. For a quick patch, it’s perfect. For unrolling a full 1,000-foot spool of heavy-gauge wire, you’ll feel it in your arms. It’s an essential, affordable tool for managing electric and temporary fences.
Worksaver SWD-350 for Heavy-Duty Fencing Jobs
Like the Tarter, the Worksaver SWD-350 is a 3-point hitch implement, but it’s built for bigger, tougher jobs. This dispenser is designed to handle the immense weight and tension of woven wire or multiple strands of high-tensile wire at once. It’s a piece of serious fencing machinery.
If your project involves installing field fence to contain sheep or goats, or running five strands of high-tensile wire simultaneously, this is the kind of tool you need. It’s overbuilt to handle the torque and weight, ensuring a safe and controlled dispensing process for materials that are otherwise unwieldy and dangerous.
This is not a general-purpose repair tool. It’s a project-specific workhorse. For the small farmer establishing a permanent, heavy-duty perimeter fence from scratch, the Worksaver turns an intimidating, multi-day struggle into a planned, manageable installation. For anything less, it’s simply too much machine.
Gallagher Wire Jenny: A Simple, Stable Solution
The Gallagher Wire Jenny is the quintessential ground-based dispenser. Its sturdy A-frame design is incredibly stable, even on sloped or uneven ground. You place it at the start of your run, load the coil, and pull the wire to where you need it.
The key to the Gallagher’s effectiveness is its adjustable friction brake. A simple wingnut system applies pressure to the hub, preventing the spool from spinning out of control when you stop pulling. This gives you perfect tension and eliminates frustrating overruns. It’s simple, robust, and has no moving parts to fail in the field.
This tool hits the sweet spot between portability and performance. It’s light enough to carry to a remote repair site but stable enough to handle a full, heavy roll of high-tensile wire for a new fence line. For the all-around fencing needs of a typical small farm, the Gallagher Wire Jenny is one of the most practical and reliable options available.
Strainrite Fencemaster: The All-in-One Fencing Tool
The Strainrite Fencemaster takes the concept of a wire jenny and turns it into a complete mobile fencing station. It’s designed for the person who spends a lot of time building and maintaining fences and wants maximum efficiency. It’s a premium tool for a professional-level approach.
The Fencemaster often combines a heavy-duty wire dispenser with an integrated toolbox and holders for posts and tools. Some models even feature a dual-jenny setup to dispense two wires at once. The entire unit is designed to be moved easily, either by hand or towed behind an ATV, keeping everything you need within arm’s reach.
This is the top-tier option. The convenience and integration are unmatched, but so is the price. For a hobby farmer who views fencing as a constant and critical task—perhaps for intensive rotational grazing—the Fencemaster can streamline the workflow immensely. For most, its features may be more than what’s needed for occasional repairs.
Choosing the Right Dispenser for Your Farm’s Needs
The best wire dispenser isn’t about which one is highest-rated; it’s about which one best fits the jobs you actually do. A tool that’s perfect for building a new perimeter fence is often impractical for patching a small hole in a back pasture. Your choice should be guided by your terrain, your equipment, and the type of fencing you do most often.
Consider your primary fencing tasks and match the tool accordingly:
- Long, straight runs with a tractor? A 3-point hitch model like the Tarter or Worksaver is your most efficient option.
- Repairs and new lines on foot in rough terrain? A walk-behind SpeeCo E-Z Fencer or a stable ground-based Gallagher Wire Jenny is ideal.
- Managing temporary polywire or quick patches? The retrieve function of a hand-crank Dare-O-Matic is invaluable.
- Looking for a single, comprehensive system? The Strainrite Fencemaster integrates everything you need, but at a premium.
Before you buy, be honest about your needs. Are you a fence builder or a fence mender? Do you work with high-tensile, barbed wire, or lightweight polywire? Answering these questions will point you toward a tool that won’t just sit in the barn but will become an indispensable part of your farm’s toolkit.
Ultimately, a wire dispenser is an investment in efficiency and frustration-free work. By choosing the right tool for your specific needs, you transform fence maintenance from a dreaded ordeal into just another manageable task on the farm. That means more time for everything else and a secure fence you can rely on.
