6 Best Electric Fence Strainers For Small Farms That Prevent Escapes

There’s no feeling quite like the morning dread of seeing a gate ajar and a pasture empty. A sagging electric fence is an open invitation for livestock to wander, turning a peaceful morning into a frantic neighborhood search. The humble fence strainer is your first and best line of defense against these escapes, ensuring your fence remains a psychological and physical barrier.

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Why a Quality Fence Strainer is Non-Negotiable

A loose electric fence wire is practically useless. The shock an animal feels is directly related to the voltage, and a sagging line that touches grass or a stray branch will ground out, rendering the entire fence powerless. A quality strainer ensures the wire is taut, keeping it clear of vegetation and delivering a consistent, effective shock.

Think of tension as the backbone of your entire fencing system. Without it, the fence loses its physical integrity, making it easy for a determined sheep or curious goat to push through. More importantly, proper tension maintains the electrical circuit’s reliability. A tight fence is a hot fence, and a hot fence is one your animals learn to respect quickly.

This isn’t just about initial setup. Fences sag over time due to weather, temperature changes, and the occasional animal testing its limits. A good strainer allows for easy re-tensioning with a simple turn of a ratchet or handle. It turns a frustrating, time-consuming repair into a two-minute job, which is a lifesaver when you have a dozen other chores waiting.

Gallagher In-Line Strainer: Reliable & Rust-Proof

When you need a simple, durable solution that works almost anywhere, the Gallagher In-Line Strainer is a fantastic choice. These are designed to be installed directly into the fence line, allowing you to add tension wherever it’s needed, not just at the ends. Their biggest advantage is their robust, rust-proof construction, typically a heavy-duty zinc-aluminum alloy that stands up to decades of rain and humidity.

The design is straightforward: you thread the wire through, wrap it, and use a handle to crank the spool tight. A spring-loaded clip locks the gear in place, preventing it from unwinding. This simplicity is its strength. You can install one in minutes to fix a sagging section between two posts without having to undo your entire fence line.

Because they are so reliable and easy to use, they are perfect for permanent high-tensile fences for cattle or horses. They provide enough torque for steel wire but are also forgiving enough for some heavier polyropes if installed carefully. Consider them the workhorse of permanent electric fencing on a small farm.

Zareba Ratchet Strainer for High-Tensile Wire

If you’re working with 12.5-gauge high-tensile steel wire, you need a strainer that can handle serious pressure. High-tensile fencing relies on extreme tension to be effective, and the Zareba Ratchet Strainer is built specifically for that job. It features a heavy-duty galvanized steel frame and a spool designed to grip steel wire without slipping.

This type of strainer provides immense leverage, allowing you to pull a long run of wire banjo-string tight. The ratchet mechanism locks securely with each turn, so you can apply tension incrementally and safely. You will need a separate strainer handle, but this is a benefit; a single handle can service dozens of strainers across your property.

Don’t confuse these with the lighter-duty models. Using a flimsy strainer on high-tensile wire is a recipe for failure, as the strainer will bend or break long before the wire is properly tensioned. For perimeter fences meant to last a lifetime, investing in a heavy-duty ratchet strainer is a wise decision.

Strainrite Chain Strainer: For Serious Tension

This one is different—it’s a tool, not a permanent part of your fence. A chain strainer, often called a "wire puller," is what you use to get the initial tension on long, heavy runs of wire, especially woven wire or high-tensile steel. It has jaws that grip the wire and a long chain that you crank with a handle, giving you the mechanical advantage to pull hundreds of feet of fence tight by yourself.

Here’s a typical scenario: you anchor one end of the wire at a corner post. You then walk to the other end post, attach the chain strainer, and crank until the fence is tight. While the chain strainer holds the tension, you install your permanent in-line or end strainers. Once they’re set, you release the chain strainer and move to the next line.

You simply cannot build a proper high-tensile or woven wire fence without one of these. Trying to pull that much wire tight by hand is impossible and unsafe. It’s a one-time tool purchase that makes every future fencing project faster, safer, and more professional. It’s the difference between a fence that sags in six months and one that stays tight for years.

Speedrite Geared Reel: Best for Rotational Grazing

For anyone practicing rotational grazing with sheep, goats, or cattle, temporary fencing is a way of life. The Speedrite Geared Reel isn’t just a spool for storing polywire; it’s an integrated tensioning and deployment system. The geared mechanism (often 3:1) means for every one turn of the handle, the spool turns three times, letting you wind up or pay out fence line incredibly fast.

The reel itself acts as the strainer. The handle has a locking mechanism, so once you’ve set up your temporary paddock and pulled the line taut, you simply lock the reel. This holds the polywire or tape at the perfect tension—tight enough to be effective, but not so tight that it damages the delicate conductive filaments or pulls over your step-in posts.

This system is the gold standard for portability. You can carry a reel with 1,300 feet of polywire in one hand and a bundle of step-in posts in the other, setting up a new paddock in under 30 minutes. It completely removes the need for individual in-line strainers on temporary fences, saving time and reducing hassle.

Patriot In-Line Strainer: Ideal for Poly Fencing

Polywire, polytape, and polyrope are fantastic for their visibility and safety, but they have a weakness: they stretch. They also can’t handle the same tension as steel wire, and the sharp edges on some metal strainers can sever the small, conductive wires woven into the plastic. The Patriot In-Line Strainer (and similar plastic-bodied models) is designed to solve this.

These strainers typically feature a smooth plastic spool and a simple wing-nut or handle design that allows for tool-free tensioning. The smooth surface won’t abrade or cut the poly material, preserving its conductivity and lifespan. They provide enough tension to remove sag from a poly line without over-tightening it to the breaking point.

Because poly fencing expands and contracts significantly with temperature, you’ll find yourself adjusting it more often than a steel wire fence. Having these simple, easy-to-use strainers installed every few hundred feet makes that seasonal adjustment a quick and painless task. They are an essential component for any semi-permanent poly fence.

Hayes Wire-Vise: Simple One-Way End Straining

Sometimes, the simplest solution is the best. The Hayes Wire-Vise is a brilliant piece of engineering used for terminating a wire at an end or corner post. It’s essentially a tapered sleeve with a one-way gripping mechanism inside. You drill a hole through your post, insert the Wire-Vise, and then simply push the high-tensile wire through it.

The internal jaws allow the wire to move in one direction but bite down and grip it instantly if it tries to pull back out. You apply tension using a chain strainer or other tool, and the Wire-Vise holds it permanently. Installation takes seconds, and it creates an incredibly clean, strong anchor point without any need for wrapping or tying knots.

The tradeoff for this simplicity is adjustability. Unlike a ratchet strainer, you can’t easily add or release a bit of tension later on. It’s a "set it and forget it" solution. For this reason, it’s best used in combination with in-line strainers mid-fence, which can be used for any future adjustments.

Choosing Your Strainer: Wire Type & Fence Length

There is no single "best" strainer; the right choice depends entirely on your specific fencing system. Trying to use a light-duty polytape strainer on high-tensile wire will lead to immediate failure, while a heavy-duty ratchet can easily destroy delicate polywire. Matching the tool to the job is critical.

Here’s a simple framework to guide your decision:

• For permanent, high-tensile steel fences: Use heavy-duty ratchet strainers like the Zareba in-line and consider Wire-Vises for clean end posts. You will need a chain strainer for the initial installation.
• For semi-permanent polywire or polytape fences: Use plastic-bodied, tool-free strainers like the Patriot. They are designed to prevent damage to the wire and allow for frequent, easy adjustments.
• For temporary, rotational grazing setups: A geared reel system like Speedrite is the only way to go. It combines storage, deployment, and tensioning into one efficient tool.

Ultimately, most small farms will use a combination of these. You might have a permanent high-tensile perimeter fence with ratchet strainers, and then use geared reels and step-in posts to create smaller paddocks inside it. Understanding the role of each type of strainer allows you to build a fencing system that is safe, effective, and easy to manage.

A reliable fence strainer is a small piece of hardware that provides enormous peace of mind. By choosing the right one for your wire and your purpose, you’re not just buying a tool; you’re investing in animal safety, soil health, and your own time. A tight fence is a good fence, and it all starts with the right tension.