Gripple Incorporated
Regional Sales Representative: Payne Hall
Company History: “Our company was founded in 1988 by Hugh Facey in Sheffield, England. We manufacture “gripples” which are joiners and tensioners for use on wire and cable. The “gripple” is so named because it “grips and pulls” wire and cable. Mr. Facey invented the first gripple after being challenged with the task of finding a better way to splice sheep fence. Gripple has sold over 300 million gripples worldwide.” Payne Hall, the Missouri representative, added, “I live in eastern Oklahoma, and have been involved in ranching there my whole life. I received my bachelors degree in Agricultural Business from Missouri State University in 2006. An interesting fact about our company is that our entire agriculture division holds degrees from Missouri State. The CEO of our company, Tim Caton, has an undergraduate degree from MSU and is a native of St. Louis. Our other Ag Sales Manager, Justin Williamson, is also an MSU grad and native of Springfield.”
Products and Services: “The Gripple System works on all types of wire fencing, from barbed wire, to woven wire, to electric. The Gripple has two one-way locking channels that make it work like a Chinese finger-trap for fences. One strand of wire is run through one channel, and the other strand of wire is run through the other channel. Once the wire goes through the gripple, it can’t come back out (however, there is a release function in case of mistakes). The wire should be run all the way through the gripple to leave a little tail of wire sticking out on the other side. The Gripple Tensioning Tool grabs that little tail and pulls the wire farther through the gripple. As the tool pulls the wire through the gripple, the slack comes out of the wire and the fence tightens. The combination of the gripple with the tensioning tool is ideal for both constructing new fence and fixing breaks in existing fence. We also have products for bracing corner posts with cable and securing hi-tensile field fence to end posts. Gripples eliminate hand-ties, crimps, ratchet strainers, come-alongs, and stretchers.”
Advice for producers: “The Ozarks region has some of the highest cow-calf numbers in the nation, as well as lots of stocker cattle, horses, meat goats, dairies and poultry operations. This area is at the forefront of grazing philosophy and fencing technology. So there are many, many applications and opportunities to use gripples.”
By OFN Staff
