The award-winning Styx Batten is designed and manufactured in New Zealand, and is a proven alternative to traditional wooden battens, metal lightning droppers or end-of-life insultimber battens.
The battens/droppers (depending on what part of the country you live in) are manufactured from a high-quality UV-resistant plastic material comprising 40% virgin and 60% repurposed plastic that won’t rot, splinter, or leach, like some treated timber products do and are completely recyclable at end of life which means no plastics destined for landfill.
Originally designed to take a wire diameter of 2.50mm and suit wire spacings from three to nine, the newly designed Styx Batten (due for market release in late August/early September 2024) can be customised to suit wires of 2.50mm, 4.00mm (number 8), and barbed wire. The 3.15mm diameter wire will be catered for later in the year. If the customer requires a 7-wire fence with the top wire barbed and the bottom wire number 8, then this can be done.
The Styx Battens are proving to be extraordinarily successful in retaining, or keeping out all types of livestock. Our customers enjoy the ease of installation, either by hand or with the Styx Batten installation tool for larger projects.
Farm fencing costs are front of mind for our customers. The Styx Batten eliminates the need for using barbed wire on the top and lower wires, which is often only used to stop wooden battens from moving along the fence line. The patented Styx Batten design not only stops the battens moving along the fence, but also allows individual wires to be restrained without pulling the battens/droppers out of alignment.
Barbed wire (75mm pitch x two strand 2.50mm soft) can cost upwards of $1.14 per linear metre compared to HT 2.50mm diameter wire costing around $0.19/m. Coupled with the extra labour costs of installing barbed wire versus smooth HT wire, the overall reduction costs per metre is a no brainer, especially with the Styx Batten not moving.
Staples are also not required as the Styx Battens are designed to interweave down through the wires, effectively creating a woven structure, whereby battens cannot be released from the fence by stock pressure. The removal of staples results in average savings of between $0.90 and $1.20 per batten depending on the type of staple used and based on using 10 staples on an 8-wire, 2.50mm high tensile fence whereby at least one of the 8 wires are double stapled.
Customer feedback on the product has also highlighted that less battens are used between the main support posts, and in some cases the main posts/waratahs are pushed further apart, resulting in more savings for customers through reduced driving costs and materials.
Freight costs also continue to escalate. The Styx Batten weighs only 0.315 kgs compared to a dry 50mm x 40mm wooden batten weighing 4.2 times the weight at 1.33kgs. Not only does this mean freight volumes and weights are down, but the batten is also lighter to carry and install on steep and difficult hill country and reduces the sprung weight on the fence wires. Every Styx Batten is identical, negating the need to sort and sift out wooden battens that may fail due to knots and splits by the fencing contractor or farmer before installation.
Attaching battens has a high labour component. Carrying equipment (stapleguns, staples, compressors, and extra insulators), and installing battens can often involve two people. One person can carry 50 battens easily and install a batten within 20-40 seconds by themselves. Fencers often say to us that not having enough time and labour can be a real issue for them. Anything that can utilise labour more effectively and efficiently must be an advantage.
On a recent project in North Canterbury, the customer, with financial support from the QEII National Trust, had removed old broken wooden battens and twisted lightning droppers, restrained the fence, added some insulators to the main posts for electrics and then installed 80 battens in under 2 hours – which included digging out the bottom wire that had been buried. All of this was conducted on extremely steep hill country that was too steep for vehicle access along most of the fence line.
Each batten has a tie down/anchor location at the bottom of the batten, which is useful for increased stock pressure and pulling the fence down into undulations or in flood fencing situations.
To complement the Styx batten/dropper, we manufacture a Styx Outrigger/Offset/Standoff which attaches seamlessly onto the batten without tools, in multiple positions, including back-to-back on the batten, or it can be nailed or screwed directly to wooden posts either horizontally or vertically.
No metal is used in our outrigger/offset (made from the same plastic as our battens) ensuring no electrical shorts. The outrigger includes multiple features for the attaching of wire, rope, or tape, and all can be electrified, the design of the features also reduces damage and breakage to wire, rope or polytape.
The outrigger is available in three lengths: 175mm, 300mm and 400mm. They are great for providing further defence against animals pushing up against the fence, and are popular:
- for cattle and deer
- the equine community due to the safe design and ease of use when using wide Polytape
- bull farmers
- positioned low on the fence for keeping sheep off the fence
Our customers have found that the Styx battens and outriggers are an extremely robust solution to other traditional materials. Both the batten/dropper and electric fence outrigger come with a limited 5-year warranty against breakage.
Styx Solutions also provides a range of New Zealand made and imported German-designed and manufactured AKO brand of fencing insulators, retractable gate kits, electric fence gate handles, Topline equine fencing wire & accessories, and a comprehensive range of electric fence solar energizers to suit all situations, ranging in size from 0.4 joules to 20 joules with a 5-year warranty on the power unit and solar panel.
A comprehensive range of New Zealand and German-made polywire, polytape and electric bungy cord is also available, with some 40mm wide polytape delivered with the lowest electrical resistance on the market and coupled with a 5-year
UV warranty.
Styx Solutions delivers to all parts of New Zealand and has sent products to Australia, Great Britain, the Falkland Islands, Canada, and a bit closer to home, the Chatham Islands.
Supplied by: Styx Solutions
Published in WIRED issue 74/September 2024 by Fencing Contractors Association NZ
