Product Guide · AS 4534 & AS 2423

Fixed Knot Fence,
Built From the Wire Rod Up

How YIELD MAX manufactures a fixed knot fence you can trust — from raw material selection and lab-verified coating, through joint integrity, export-grade packaging, and the right size and coating for your farm.

Every roll of YIELD MAX fixed knot fence is built on galvanised wire that meets AS/NZS 4534, and the finished product is manufactured to AS 2423. Those two standards aren't badges we add at the end — they're the framework we build around, from the wire rod we accept at the gate, to the pallet that leaves our yard.

1 Wire Rod — One Mill, One Standard

Quality starts long before drawing and galvanising. It starts at the wire rod.

We deliberately source wire rod from a single, long-trusted steel mill with a proven record of consistent chemistry and mechanical properties. Multi-sourcing wire rod might look attractive on a costing sheet, but it introduces variation — variation in carbon content, in cleanliness, in how the wire behaves in the drawing die and in the zinc bath.

By committing to one stable supplier, we eliminate that variation at the source. Every drum of galvanised wire we send to the fence line draws from the same raw material baseline. That is the foundation that makes all the downstream quality control meaningful.

Why this matters

Inconsistent wire rod is the root cause of most "good batch / bad batch" complaints in the fencing industry. We choose stability over short-term savings — and pass that consistency on to you.

2 Galvanised Wire — Tightly Controlled, Independently Verified

The four properties that define a fence wire — tensile strength, zinc coating mass, elongation, and wire diameter — are all controlled to tight tolerances on every coil we produce.

For each strength grade we manufacture (soft, medium-tensile, high-tensile), every coil is tested in our in-house lab before it is released to the fence weaving line. Coils that fall outside spec do not get used.

In-house testing is the floor, not the ceiling. To make sure we are not "marking our own homework", we send samples on a regular schedule to the SGS independent laboratory for verification. The tests we run there cover the full AS/NZS 4534 specification:

In addition, samples are periodically submitted to the National Metal Products Quality Inspection & Testing Center for further independent confirmation. We can supply the SGS reports and national testing certificates with any order, on request.

Documentation supplied on request

Mill test certificates, in-house QC records, SGS lab reports, and national testing centre certificates — for the exact production batch you receive.

3 High Tensile Strength Fixed Knot Fence

We build fixed knot fence on high-tensile galvanised wire because it delivers measurable, real-world advantages over conventional soft (low-carbon) wire.

1. Higher breaking load at a smaller diameter. High-tensile wire (typically 1,200–1,400 MPa, vs. ~450 MPa for soft wire) carries far more load per millimetre of cross-section.

2. Elastic memory — the fence "bounces back". When stock, fallen branches or wind push against a high-tensile fence, the wire stretches and then returns to its original tension. Soft wire stretches and stays stretched, so the fence sags, gaps open up, and the next season is spent re-tensioning. High-tensile wire keeps its tension over years of service.

3. Longer post spacing, lower installed cost. Because high-tensile wire holds tension over longer spans, posts can be set further apart (commonly 6–8 m, vs. 3–4 m for soft-wire fencing). Fewer posts means less timber/steel, less digging, less labour — typically a 20–35% saving on installed cost.

4. Resistance to permanent deformation. Cattle leaning, kangaroos hitting at speed, deer pressure, or a tree dropping on a line — high-tensile wire flexes and recovers where soft wire would permanently deform and need replacement.

In short

High-tensile galvanised wire gives the farmer a fence that is lighter to transport, cheaper to install, holds its tension for decades, and shrugs off the impacts that wreck soft-wire fencing.

4 Zinc Coating — W10 as the Baseline

For most environments we recommend a zinc coating of Class W10 (≈ 240 g/m²) or higher. This is well above the entry-level grade and gives the wire a service life appropriate for genuine rural use.

For coastal, humid or chemically aggressive environments — much of New Zealand and most of Australia's coastline — we recommend stepping up further, typically to a heavier Class W coating or to a Zinc-Aluminium (Zn/Al) coating, which offers significantly longer service life in the same conditions.

Picking the right coating class is the single most important decision for fence longevity. To make it easy, we've published a visual guide to Australia's six AS/NZS 4534 corrosion categories:

🗺️

Australia Corrosion Zones — Wire Coating Guide (AS/NZS 4534)

Find your corrosion category and see the recommended HDG or Zn-Al coating class for your site.

5 Sizes & Configurations — Match the Fence to the Animal

AS 2423 defines a standard set of fixed-knotted-joint fabrics. We manufacture all of them, with the wire-size combinations specified in the same standard.

The product designation reads as line wires / fabric width / picket spacing. For example, 15/150/15 = 15 longitudinal wires, 1500 mm fence height, 150 mm picket (stay-wire) spacing.

STANDARD FIXED-KNOTTED-JOINT FABRICS (AS 2423 TABLE 6.1)

Designation Long. wires* Height (mm) Picket spacing (mm) Wire spacing from top (mm)
13/190/15131900150190, 3×180, 4×165, 150, 125, 2×110
13/190/30131900300190, 3×180, 4×165, 150, 125, 2×110
15/150/15151500150180, 3×165, 2×100, 3×90, 5×75
15/150/30151500300180, 3×165, 2×100, 3×90, 5×75
17/190/15171900150190, 2×180, 3×165, 2×100, 3×90, 5×75
17/190/30171900300190, 2×180, 3×165, 2×100, 3×90, 5×75

*Total longitudinal wires = line wires + selvedge wires. Fabric width includes the selvedge wires, excludes picket-joint projections.

STANDARD WIRE SIZES FOR FIXED-KNOTTED JOINT (AS 2423 TABLE 6.2)

Component Wire size (mm)
Top selvedge2.50
Bottom selvedge2.50
Other line wires2.50
Pickets (stay wires)2.50
Separate joint wire2.24

Note: Wire size 2.44 mm may be substituted for 2.50 mm. Refer to AS 2423 Table 2.4 for tensile-strength values.

As a general guide for matching configuration to stock:

🐑
Sheep / Goats

15/150 — tight bottom spacing keeps lambs and kids in

🐄
Cattle

13/190 with 300 mm picket spacing — standard paddock fence

🐎
Horses

17/190 — taller fence, smooth fixed-knot finish

🦌
Deer / Game

17/190/15 — full 1.9 m height with close 150 mm pickets

If you're not sure which configuration is right for your application, send us your animal type, paddock size and terrain — we'll suggest a spec. Custom heights, wire sizes and roll lengths are also available on request.

6 Wire Splices & Welded Joints — Built to AS 2423

The strength of a fixed knot fence is decided by its joints. During production we pay particular attention to how each joint is formed: every weld point must be tight, fully bonded, and smooth — no sharp burrs that can cut stock, no cold joints that can pop apart in the field.

In continuous fence-weaving, when a coil of a single wire runs out, the next coil has to be butt-welded onto the running wire so the fabric can keep being produced without interruption. This is a normal part of manufacture — but it has to be controlled, and AS 2423 is explicit about how:

AS 2423 — Welded joints clause

"Welded joints in individual wires are permitted during manufacture of the fabric; however, the number of welded joints in line wires in any roll shall not exceed one-third of the number of line wires in the fabric."

Every YIELD MAX roll is manufactured well within this limit. Joint counts per roll are tracked on the line, so the finished fabric is fully compliant with the AS 2423 welded-joint clause — and the splices that are made are welded properly, not just twisted together.

Roll length is treated with the same discipline. Every roll is measured and we deliberately run the line so that actual length meets or slightly exceeds the customer's specified length — never under. If you order 100 m, you get 100 m, every time.

7 Packaging — Built for Sea Freight, Customised to You

Pallet, bulk, or something specific to your warehouse — packaging is built to order.

Most customers prefer palletised loads. Our standard options:

Whatever option you choose, the goal is the same: the rolls arrive intact, dry, and ready to install — no bent ends, no broken pallets, no quarantine surprises at the port.

Ready to Spec Your Fence?

Tell us your animal, your environment, and your roll requirements — we'll come back with a spec sheet and a sample.