Abstract: There is supported, from support cables under tension, a porous textile product suitable for use in shielding farm plants or animals from adverse weather. A hem cable of a pliable multifilament wire inside a soft sheath is sewn around one or more edges of a panel of a preferred cloth, with its free ends exteriorised at one corner. Frangible plastic clips are used to make loops around both the hem cable and the support cables. Optional panel stretching uses a hem cable anchor holding the cables to a fixed support located by one corner of the panel, a pulley at each adjacent corner, and a hem cable tensioner located at the free ends may be used to maintain the panel in a spread-out state. Alternative ways to provide a fabric panel with edge reinforcements are described.

Abstract: A frangible clip which gives way at a loading less than the limits of supporting structures is used in bulk to secure panels of porous cloth to supporting cables. The porous cloth is that used in agriculture for shade, wind, rain, hall, or snow protection of plants or animals. The clips are installed to form loops which slide along support cables and which pass through the structure of the cloth and around a preferred soft-sheathed hem cable which strengthens all edges of the cloth. A panel of porous cloth may be held stretched out by anchoring hem cables at a first corner, passed around anchored pulleys at each adjacent corner, and tensioning them onto an anchor at the far corner. The anchors may be attached to the support cables or to poles or ground structures. These improvements are useful in minimising storm damage.