We have a 3 mile fencing project upcoming and have used stay-tuff brand 949-12-660 with a strand of barbed wire on top and bottom for years. On a smaller tract, we recently bought some rolls of stay-tuff barbed wire which did not have any barbs on part of the roll and had to return the rolls so I'm wondering about the stay- tuff quality now being produced.

I've seen the Bekaert brand advertised and it looks like they now make the same 949-12-660 product.

Has anyone used both products or have any comparison info?

I just built about 2.5 miles of 75" tall fence using Sta-Tuff fixed knot net wire.
I shopped Bekaert and Sta-Tuff. Sta-tuff was more money but the wire looked much more heavily galvanized than the comparable Bekaert.
I also had some application questions so I called the Sta-Tuff number and a really nice lady answered the phone….took my message and about 20 minutes later the field rep called me and not only answered my questions but offered to come out to our project and give instructions and tips on our construction.
He did just that and really offered some hands on help that our fence builder and myself did not know.
Customer service over and beyond…very rare these days.



ETA: I had solely used Sta Tuff for our 8' fixed knot for our high fence ranch in Texas and it really held up well. That was many years ago.
The product I just bought actually seemed to be higher quality than before…..and the warranty was much better.

We used Sta-Tuff netwire and Bekaert gaucho barbed wire for the top and bottom strands for three miles of fence.

Mas. I didn't use Sta-Tuff on my top barb. I used Oklahoma brand 12 gauge 4 point wire. We used that in Texas and it really is well built….so I used it up here as well.

Thought I would share this practical comparison on some fence of 5-strand barb wire. We just had a bad flood on our place and our bottom pastures along our county road caught hell.
The first picture with the fence on the right the previous owner used Gaucho 14 gauge cattle high tensil barb wire. ($100.00 per roll), The typical Gaucho is 15.5 gauge.
Multiple strands broke and by the gate all five strands completely gone.
The next picture ( fence is on the left) is on the other side of the road and I built that fence using 12 gauge Oklahoma brand barb.
The t-post all bent over but not a single strand broke even though they were full of drift.
The same weight t-post and distance between them same on both.

I spent 37 years in this industry before retiring a few years ago. There is so much misunderstanding about wire . Thousands of times we tested and compared wire breaking strength on a tensile tester. We even took a tensile tester to trade shows and tested whatever the potential customer brought us to test. Without fail the 15 1/2 ga. high tensil ( gaucho, etc) tested stronger than 12 1/2 ga. Low carbon wire. Since the 12 1/2 ga. Is thicker most people think it is stronger. Not so. The carbon content ( hardness) is where the strength comes from. Much of the misunderstanding comes from the installation. You should not try to " stretch" high tensile wire . It should just be pulled tight . 12 1/2 ga low carbon will stretch easily but will also shrink and stretch in different weather conditions and tend to sag. Those are just the chemical make up facts. Think about 12 ga wire in a roll of fence compared to a 12 ga wire in a grocery basket as to softness and flexibility, the grocery basket is made of high tensile wire wire. It does not stretch or give.
In addition to the strength of the high tensile wire there is also the factor of the zinc galvanizing. Almost all high tensile wire has a thicker zinc coating and resists rusting for many more years. ASTM standards are the measuring standard in zinc. They, too are confusing. The top grade of zinc coating is " Class 3" if it is indeed Class 3 it will be declared on the tag. If the tag has no ASTM designation on it then watch out. It can be anything. There is a Class 1 but it is commonly used on low tensil wire. The mills and retailers are seeking a lower price point with Class 1. There is no such grade as " commercial" , '" industrial" , " premium" or such. That is 100% marketing BS. You can be certain if it is not labeled ASTM Class 3 then you are buying an inferior product . This is true for all wire fence products. If you want the strongest buy a high tensile wire product. If you want a wire that will not rust for many years buy ASTM Class 3. To summarize the superior fence products by chemistry is " High tensil Class 3" . Correct installation only makes it better.

Good info. I elected to go with 12 gauge Oklahoma wire due to input from all our neighbors here in the Ozarks. We have lots of tall trees and they invariably fall across fences. So we put pulls every 330' instead of 990' so we don't have to repair such a large pull after a tree falls.
Much of our place had 14 gauge or 15.5 Gaucho five strand with t post every 10-12 feet. Every tree that has fallen on the Gaucho has broken all five strands every time. On the fence that was built with galvanized Oklahoma wire , 12gauge…when trees fall it rarely breaks the strands and typically just stretches to the ground and much easier to repair as we just put new t- post in if needed.
So that makes sense of the carbon wire stretching and the high tensil not. Guess that's why the Gaucho broke in the floods and the Oklahoma wire did not…it just gave instead of breaking.
We had about five miles of 8' fixed knot high tensil we built in Texas and it worked really well. The nice thing was being able to go larger distances between t-post and save bunch of money…..but also have the "give" if an animal ran into it.
We used Class 3 in Texas as well as the fixed knot net up here.

Thanks for the replies. Looking at the two brands, the weight of the 660' rolls is very similar. I'm doing some research on the coatings and classifications after reading the advice. Waiting on the surveyor to stake the property line every 200 feet before starting and it's currently too wet to start anyway after 7 inches of rain recently.

Looking forward to fencing out the hogs and having additional pasture/ hay land available.

I did a direct comparison between StaTuff and Bekaert as I was doing the same as you…trying to decide on which brand on the last project I referenced.
Both are Class 3 galvanizing.
I found that the warranty between the two seemed very different as they both said 20 years on the Class 3 high tensil but Bekaert warranty was for the galvanizing coating only and Sta -Tuff was worded as on workmanship and coating.
I also found in specs that the Sta-Tuff had a higher tensil strength in comparing product to product.
I found this pocket guide on Sta Tuff to be very informative. https://staytuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Pocket-StayTuff-04-21-Resources-Catalog.pdf

Hope it helps you. Good luck.
ETA: Here is Sta Tuff Class 3 high tensil 20 year warranty

https://staytuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/staytuff-20years-warranty.pdf

I have net fence with a strand of barbed wire across the top. In 5 years I've had 2 or 3 deer attempt to jump the fence only to have their back leg get caught up between the barbed wire and the top strand of the net wire. I love the net wire but if you add a strand of barbed across the top deer will eventually get hung up in it and die.

That's why you put it right against the top wire of the net wire. Either that or I go a minimum of 14-16" space above the top wire. 1"-10" spacing above the top wire is a death trap for them.
Here is the recommendation from USDA.
https://efotg.sc.egov.usda.gov/references/Delete/2009-10-31/Archived_382specification_091030.pdf

BrazosBull said:

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I spent 37 years in this industry before retiring a few years ago. There is so much misunderstanding about wire . Thousands of times we tested and compared wire breaking strength on a tensile tester. We even took a tensile tester to trade shows and tested whatever the potential customer brought us to test. Without fail the 15 1/2 ga. high tensil ( gaucho, etc) tested stronger than 12 1/2 ga. Low carbon wire. Since the 12 1/2 ga. Is thicker most people think it is stronger. Not so. The carbon content ( hardness) is where the strength comes from. Much of the misunderstanding comes from the installation. You should not try to " stretch" high tensile wire . It should just be pulled tight . 12 1/2 ga low carbon will stretch easily but will also shrink and stretch in different weather conditions and tend to sag. Those are just the chemical make up facts. Think about 12 ga wire in a roll of fence compared to a 12 ga wire in a grocery basket as to softness and flexibility, the grocery basket is made of high tensile wire wire. It does not stretch or give.
In addition to the strength of the high tensile wire there is also the factor of the zinc galvanizing. Almost all high tensile wire has a thicker zinc coating and resists rusting for many more years. ASTM standards are the measuring standard in zinc. They, too are confusing. The top grade of zinc coating is " Class 3" if it is indeed Class 3 it will be declared on the tag. If the tag has no ASTM designation on it then watch out. It can be anything. There is a Class 1 but it is commonly used on low tensil wire. The mills and retailers are seeking a lower price point with Class 1. There is no such grade as " commercial" , '" industrial" , " premium" or such. That is 100% marketing BS. You can be certain if it is not labeled ASTM Class 3 then you are buying an inferior product . This is true for all wire fence products. If you want the strongest buy a high tensile wire product. If you want a wire that will not rust for many years buy ASTM Class 3. To summarize the superior fence products by chemistry is " High tensil Class 3" . Correct installation only makes it better.

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Excellent post. And it is spot on.

Stay Tuff and Bekaert dealer here for many years. In my opinion, I would use Stay Tuff for any hi-tensile fence. I just think it is a superior product. And they are very easy to communicate with. Their reps know the product and can answer any installation question.

The only comment I have on barbed wire is I don't use hi-tensile. It can be very difficult to work with in terms of twisting and coiling. Personally, I don't care for it and will use a 'regular' low carbon.

I run bison and put up a lot of 48" - 6" (1348-6) Stay Tuff. Those big animals have leaned into it and you would never know as it pops back into its original shape. Put a strand of Bekaert barbed wire on top and bottom.

If using hi-tensile, follow recommended installation. It defies what we all grew up with such as t-posts every 10 feet. But it works.