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Electric Fence

Started by Raider Bill, November 02, 2012, 02:56:53 PM

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Raider Bill

Maybe putting in some electric fence to graze my 2 cows. One is getting pretty close to the freezer but where they are the grass is sparse and over grazed. Mine is pretty thick and never been grazed on. Also it's not really possible to grain feed just mine to finish him off where they are now.

I'd say there is 3-4 acres MOL and a small pond plus it won't take much to bring water to a trough if I need to.

How close should the metal posts go? Thinking 2 runs of barbed wire and power the bottom one which I suppose will be 18-24 inches off the ground or should I power the top run?

Figure a solar powered box.

This picture is about 1/4 of the area but will give you a idea what it looks like although it has filled in a lot more now. The 2 red cows in the other pix are the ones I will be putting in there.



  

 
The First 70 years of childhood is always the hardest.

clww

I'd go to Tractor Supply and get a solar powered 16-mile box. I'd electrify both strands, and I'd space the posts 8-10 feet apart.
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woodsteach

We run A LOT of electric fence.  For temporary fence we use a high quality polybraid "wire" and "pigtail" posts every 25-30 steps (I'm 6'5" and my kids are... kid height)  we now get all of our fencing at powerflex.com ..or something like that.  it is more $$ but we have done the local tractor/farm stores and that stuff just doesn't hold up for our use.

I wouldn't elec. barbed wire.  why?? just because, no real good reason other than if I'm crossing it and get a leg hooked and zapped ... no thanks.

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WildDog

Bill I second what woodsteach said. I like to educate them to a hot tape/wire for a couple of days before leaving a secure paddock. I am about to do the same for 14hd going into a partly fenced paddock I've got in town, next week.
If you start feeling "Blue" ...breath    JD 5510 86hp 4WD loader Lucas 827, Pair of Husky's 372xp, 261 & Stihl 029

Norm

I go 5 paces or yards for mine, just use regular electric fence wire and make them both hot. No need for a trough if you've got a pond for water. Get the highest rated one for the fencer, bigger is better in this case.

I like my steaks cut 1 1/2" thick.  ;D

Chuck White

I'd suggest you make both wires hot!

If all you have is barbed wire, still make both of them hot!

I think barbed wire may have a little edge over the smooth wire in that current flows on the outside of the wire and there is more surface area on barbed wire than there is on smooth wire, so therefore, more current.
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pigman

Bill, one of your "cows" appears to  not be a cow. I can't see his eyes to tell if he is a bull or steer. Also, I agree not to use barb wire. The barbs are not necessary and can be dangerous for humans. I just put enough posts to keep the wire the correct height.
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hackberry jake

Subscribed, I have a hungry hungry horse that has demolished an acre in a month. I have grass, just not enough fence.
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fishpharmer

Seems like a horse eats more grass than a cow. 
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Al_Smith

Posts are usually about a rod apart ,15 feet more or less .Fire up both strands ,smooth wire .I forget exactly what gauge galvanized fence wire is ,odd like 17 but it's not very expensive .

After they get zapped a couple times even though they are cattle and stupid they get the message .They soon figure out in spite of how green the grass looks on the other side of the fence not to go there .

WildDog

QuoteSeems like a horse eats more grass than a cow.

Fish, about half as much again, cows as ruminents camp and chew their cud, horses just seem to keep eating.
We use a livestock carrying capacity rating called DSE (Dry Sheep Equivellant) a dry sheep being a 40 kilogram wether. Generally 1 cow  = 10 DSE, a lactating heifer still growing = up to 15 DSE.

QuoteAfter they get zapped a couple times even though they are cattle and stupid they get the message .They soon figure out in spite of how green the grass looks on the other side of the fence not to go there .

In 2006 during the drought I issued a permit to a drover for 600 cows on the highway, they had been cell grazed with hot wires and when on the road wouldn't cross the white line on the bitumen for a couple of days.
If you start feeling "Blue" ...breath    JD 5510 86hp 4WD loader Lucas 827, Pair of Husky's 372xp, 261 & Stihl 029

Raider Bill

Cow, steer I'm a city boy......

2 strands of smooth wire both powered up, posts about 15  ft apart thanks!

Not sure I'm going to get it done this trip but now I have a plan.

Any tips on stretching or support?
The First 70 years of childhood is always the hardest.

fishpharmer

Thanks for the info Wilddog, that makes sense.

Me (and my cows) are electric fence believers.  The cows respect two strands of smooth wire on 20 foot spaced posts across flat ground.  May not be necessary, when I first put the electric fences up I put orange flagging on it so the could see it better.  The flagging wasn't my idea, read it somewhere.
Built my own band mill with the help of Forestry Forum. 
Lucas 618 with 50" slabber
WoodmizerLT-40 Super Hydraulic
Deere 5065E mfwd w/553 loader

The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work. --Tom A. Edison

sandhills

If you use the smooth wire and aren't doing that long of runs (anything less than 1/2 a mile) you can pull it tight by hand and it won't take more than a "T" post to tie too on the ends.  If you want it to be permanent you just as well put in good corner posts.  We regularly put in miles of it every fall for grazing corn stalks after harvest and just use a single wire but it also gets picked up every year.

Don_Papenburg

I use  the 3/4 " fiberglass round  post  to make corners . One is driven in upright  and then the brace post on about a 45degree angle and bolted with a U shaped piece of galvenized metal (18 ga.)     Bottom of U goes on the upright  and bolts hold the brace post .   Use one solar unit for each strand .  I need that for keeping the coons out of sweet corn, or one BIG electric on both strands
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DDDfarmer

The best thing to do is build your fence with good quality wire and insulators.  Then a high quality fencer, our main line fencer is a gallager 35 mile high voltage.  If we disconect the long distance runs and just leave the barnyards connected the animals try not to get within 3 feet of the fence.

Ground faults are easy to find, follow your ears the snap can be heard quite a distance.

If you are using a hammer and hit the wrong nail,  touch the wire..... the pain in your thumb is long gone. smiley_thumbsup
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Ernie

Here in NZ we use a lot of electric fencing.  All I use for my cattle is one wire/tape and enough standards to keep the hot wire at about the right height.  The most important thing in electric fencing is to make sure you have a good earth?ground.  I drove 4 6 foot stainless pipes into a damp area about six feet apart hooked them together with stainless wire and connected the earth side of my energizer up to it with stainless wire.  I did that about 30 years ago and have never had an earthing problem.  Do not energize barbed wire, if an animal gets hooked up in it, it is not a pretty sight.  I use a large mains powered unit and have 7500 volts about a mile from the unit.

I prefer electrics as they are fast and easy to erect and take down if I need to drag a log over the fenceline and the stock learn very quickly not to touch.  If you are doing a fair bit, I would recommend as many isolating switches as possible, make tracing faults a lot easier.

You are not building a physical barrier like you would with posts and barbed wire.  Strength is not important, electrical soundness is.

This website has some pretty good information

http://www.gallagher.co.nz/


A very wise man once told me . Grand children are great, we should have had them first

chevytaHOE5674

I run 4 strands of either barbless cable or polyrope, I alternate them (-)(+)(-)(+). Having the ground on every other strand as well as the earth means that the fence will work good no matter what the soil is like.

Ianab

Agree with Ernie here.

We had a BIG Gallager unit powering the fences at our farm, and with those design of the earthing and main feed wires needs to be a bit more scientific. Poor connections on a main feed will start arcing and burn through the wire quite quickly. Ours would sound an alarm if it detected a serious short, but a dead short you could pick up as the main feed wires would pulse with the current going through them.

But to keep a couple of cows in an acre of grazing, a little solar or battery unit will keep plenty of volts on a single wire.

When wintering cows you would run the portable fence across a paddock and break feed a new strip each day. The cows would get quite good at "limbo", and be down on their bellies reaching as far under the fence as they could, to get a head start on next days grass. But they knew exactly how close the could get to the wire before it "bit" them.

Once you get them trained to an electric fence, they wont touch it, even when it's powered off. Or at least it takes a couple of days before one gets brave enough to test if it's still on.

Just don't put a cow and calf on opposite sides of the fence, then they have no respect for it.

Ian
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red oaks lumber

electric fence just helps you sleep at night. if the animals have plenty of food and water your animals wont even test the fence.even during breeding season 1 small wire keeps 2500 lb bulls on their own side of the fence.
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Raider Bill

Quote from: Don_Papenburg on November 04, 2012, 08:37:36 PM
I use  the 3/4 " fiberglass round  post  to make corners . One is driven in upright  and then the brace post on about a 45degree angle and bolted with a U shaped piece of galvenized metal (18 ga.)     Bottom of U goes on the upright  and bolts hold the brace post .   Use one solar unit for each strand .  I need that for keeping the coons out of sweet corn, or one BIG electric on both strands

Don,

Do the 3/4 posts you mention here come with the side supports? I assume you don't pound them in the same as a T-post?
The First 70 years of childhood is always the hardest.

Al_Smith

The funniest thing I ever saw involved my father , a 250 pound hampshire barrow and a hot fence .

Dear old dad used to smack those hogs between  the eyes  with a 4 pound hammer to stun them then slit their throat when they went down .About the time he straddled that hog the pot licker got up and ran the old man ran right into the fence .

He got out of the fence ,went and got a 30:30 and that ended that nonsense . :D

POSTON WIDEHEAD

Quote from: Al_Smith on November 05, 2012, 10:03:13 AM
The funniest thing I ever saw involved my father , a 250 pound hampshire barrow and a hot fence .

Dear old dad used to smack those hogs between  the eyes  with a 4 pound hammer to stun them then slit their throat when they went down .About the time he straddled that hog the pot licker got up and ran the old man ran right into the fence .

He got out of the fence ,went and got a 30:30 and that ended that nonsense . :D

Soooo, that's where the joke came from..."Why did the Framer shoot his Fence?"  :D
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ely

my advice to the electric fence is.... do all stretching and supporting BEFORE you hook up the charger. :o

clww

Many Stihl Saws-16"-60"
"Go Ask The Other Master Chief"
18-Wheeler Driver

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