Creep Grazing Question

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Jogeephus

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OK, I'm trying something new this year and trying to get into the 20 century by using some creep grazing and was wondering if any of you use rubber gloves to move poly fence. If so, what thickness of rubber do you look for in the gloves? I'm sure it matters a lot on the type charger but just assume its one that will knock you on the dirt if you don't have gloves on. I used two pair yesterday but found it awefully difficult to handle the rope when it came to a tie off spot. Was wondering if I dropped back to a thinner pair but then again I don't want to get lit up.
 
I do it bare handed. But I'm smart enough to insulate the feed end before I start messing with the wire.
 
I do it barehanded to, :shock: but I have a disconnect in the line and do it without the fence energized. Don't like getting tickled, bit, or knocked on my keister.
 
I'm basing this comment off using poly wire. I know there are other types of poly fence…

Most spools have insolated handles that work well. If I'm spooling or unspooling I don't have to touch the wire to get it on or off the posts. I almost always move the fences by the spools because it's hard to keep the fence tight without using the spools. If I need to tie something it's because to much of the wire is broke and I'm cutting off a section and tying the handle onto the end.

I have used thick disposable latex under leather and this works well. Just remember the word disposable and what it means; if you don't know you will learn fast if you use them.

Jogeephus":zydpi4xu said:
OK, I'm trying something new this year and trying to get into the 20 century by using some creep grazing and was wondering if any of you use rubber gloves to move poly fence.
They make spools that hold the poly wire so you don't have to touch it.
 
grannysoo":7b4rjhir said:
My way is foolproof. I turn off the power...... :lol:
That's what I usually do too. However, if I'm down under that hiiiiiillllll and find a short, I'm not walking up, down and back up again. I'd rather take the jolt.
 
The next time your in the field with someone and need to move the fence grab the back of there neck and then grab the wire. Ok this is fun to do even if you don't have to move the fence.

I know they make energizers that have remote controllers.
 
1982vett":x2b5asgj said:
I do it barehanded to, :shock: but I have a disconnect in the line and do it without the fence energized. Don't like getting tickled, bit, or knocked on my keister.

You mean you can turn off an electric fence once its soldered to big copper wire in the breaker box!?!

Just kidding. I guess I should have explained it a little better. I have a pasture that is roughly 1/4 mile from the box. What I've done is to run steel electiric fence wire out to this area. This steel wire is my supply line so to speak. From this I'm using poly wire to form a line across the field to limit graze them. My plan is to run this steel wire around the whole field so I can have to hot parallel lines and use poly wire hooked to this metal wire with those gate handles you can get for electric fence gaps. So as I envision this, all I'll have to do is grab the insulated handled and move it down the fence a bit. Once I do this, all I need to do is move the little plastic fence posts. Unfortunately, I got ahead of myself and I only have this setup on one side of the field and the other is still only barbed wire and I'm having to handle the polywire more than I planned and its hotter than ... well. While I can flip a breaker that controls this section to turn off the power, this isn't practical since the cows have gotten wise to this. (See Cypressfarms post. Mine are either smart or hungry for green)

I'll try those disposable gloves but I was hoping for some idea of where the minimum thickness lies. I'm sure the lightbulb will go off in my head and I'll get a tingly feeling when I discover this for myself.
 
I think I would get a pair of the heavier industrial rubber gloves or a pair if the kind you use for household type cleaning.
I don't think the thickness matters for insulation, but you need something that won't get a hole in it. ( thats what would get you. )
 
Jo- I found out last summer that the regular insulated leather gloves I use in the winter worked well for working with the electric fence. You probably don't have them laying around as I do because I really need them for the cold in the winter.

As a side note instead of fastening the end of the of the poly to the barbed wire with insulators I just use old worn v-belts and loop it through itself over the barbed wire and then use a plastic handle insulated handle to hook up the crosswire.

Maybe the rubber gloves we use for anhydrous and chemicals would work as an insulator for your hands. Good Luck-JLP
 
Jalopy":14cqgtbc said:
plastic handle insulated handle to hook up the crosswire

Thanks. This plastic handle is what I'm wanting to hook to the electric wire that is attached to the T posts the barbed wire is hooked to. This will allow easy movement of the poly across the field. My hope is to rig a forward wire and a backing wire to keep them from overgrazing it. (Haven't exactly figured the latter part out yet due to water source location and gates.)
 
We have our fence set up similar with a backbone of high tensile that the poly is run off of. To kill the poly I just use one of the all plastic handles on the high tensile with the polywire handle hooked to that. The fence still stays fairly tight and the cows won;t mess with it thinking it's still hot. Other then in the winter I use the previous poly as a back fence and run a new piece of poly, open the old and let the cows through then put it back up. In the winter I just put up a new section and take down the old.
 
I hope I can get this system sorted our soon. I'm getting on the learning curve but I see a lot of potential. I really like the poly fence and would like to shake the hand of the person who invented it.
 
Just participated in some research with the Southern Herdsman Insitute of Technology and discovered that those cheap rubber gloves you wash dishes with work pretty well for a short period of time. The key is to take them off frequently and do not - I repeat - DO NOT, let your fingers sweat in the gloves. If you do you will get a tingly feeling all over and I assure you it ain't love. :nod:
 
I'm not sure I completely understand your situation but it does sound similar to what I do - I have a non- electrified older 5 wire barb fence on one side and a hot wire running parallel to it that I use as a side fence and feed from the charger.

I use a Gallagher reel for aluminum wire (but it could be polywire) with a conductive metal hook/plastic covered gate handle on the end of the wire.

Gallagher also makes a non conductive plastic gate handle. When I go to setup a new front cross wire I hook the nonconductive plastic handle over the hot feed wire, then the conductive gate handle into the nonconductive gate handle just to hold the end and I can then walk to the barb wire fence, feeding out wire from the reel. I hook the reel over a barb wire near a post and tighten the crank a bit. I walk back along inserting the step in wire posts all the time working with a cold wire.

When I get back to the hot wire end I just slip the conducive handle out of the non conductive handle and over the hot wire and you're done never having to handle a hot wire with gloves or anything else other than an insulated gate handle.

I brushed into one of my hot wires with a damp leather glove on not too long ago and still got a shock. Handling a real hot wire even with gloves is not something I would look forward to.

If you move a wire often as in MIG it seems to me to be worth the investment in a good Gallagher reel. By the way the reel hook (to hang the reel over the barb wire near a tee post) is electrically isolated from the wire. With two setups like this you can put up the new one and use the nonconductive handle on the first one and go back and reel up the older wire when its cold but still held in tension.

Using an isolated reel allows for differences in length required from day to day if the fences are not exactly parallel.

Sorry if I'm not being clear or overstating the obvious.
 
SRBeef":2t94o817 said:
When I get back to the hot wire end I just slip the conducive handle out of the non conductive handle and over the hot wire and you're done never having to handle a hot wire with gloves or anything else other than an insulated gate handle.

This is about what I'm doing but I have cows in the field and they are extremely anxious to get to the other side. Turning the power off - I've already learned - is not an option in my situation. On top of this, I'm trying to make this as efficient as I can cause I have to do this either in the wee hours of the morning or well after the sun goes down. Basically what I want to do is have to hot leads running alongside the non-electrified barbed wire fence so I can slide the hooks down the electrified feed line.(barbed wire fences are nearly parallel) So if I go to one end and slide it to the south say 10 feet, I can simply walk the poly line moving the posts 10 feet to the south each time until I get to the other end then slide the handle down 10 feet which will give me a straight line and about two days grazing. However, I put the cart before the horse and don't have everything as it needs to be so I'm having to handle the hot poly wire a little more than I had planned. But the rubber gloves do work for a short period. I'm going to try wearing two pair and see if this doesn't work.
 
Jogeephus":2x20zgga said:
This is about what I'm doing but I have cows in the field and they are extremely anxious to get to the other side. Turning the power off - I've already learned - is not an option in my situation. On top of this, I'm trying to make this as efficient as I can cause I have to do this either in the wee hours of the morning or well after the sun goes down. Basically what I want to do is have to hot leads running alongside the non-electrified barbed wire fence so I can slide the hooks down the electrified feed line.(barbed wire fences are nearly parallel) So if I go to one end and slide it to the south say 10 feet, I can simply walk the poly line moving the posts 10 feet to the south each time until I get to the other end then slide the handle down 10 feet which will give me a straight line and about two days grazing. However, I put the cart before the horse and don't have everything as it needs to be so I'm having to handle the hot poly wire a little more than I had planned. But the rubber gloves do work for a short period. I'm going to try wearing two pair and see if this doesn't work.

I am basically in the same situation - limited time and cows that have figured out what's coming. My fencer is a LONG ways from this moving fence so turning it off is not an answer as well as them pushing thru a cold wire to get to new grass.

Moving the front fence will really go much faster with fewer headaches if oyu have two reel setups as I described above. Put the second/new one up first then reel up the old one as the cows come around the end. I may be wrong in your situation but I tried moving one wire ahead of me and that did not work well and took about twice as long as just putting up a separate one behind then reeling up the first. I then just toss the one reel and step in posts and non conductive handle on the grass over the new fence and its there for the next move.

While poly wire is stretchy I don't think the lengths will be consistent enough to use a fixed length wire. i also only use a hot wire feed down the one side, the reel hooks to the old but tight 5 wire barb. Good luck.
 
SRBeef":215k8g6f said:
i also only use a hot wire feed down the one side, the reel hooks to the old but tight 5 wire barb. Good luck.

I can see where that would work well. I'm going to look for one of those non-conductive handles or possibly make one. I jury rig a bunch of stuff and have found some pretty good uses for all that extra PVC pipe I got laying around. This stuff can be fabricated into some pretty good contraptions for electric work. I made some post connectors with it already by drilling a hole in each end of a short piece of pvc then running a bolt thru each end. This bolt holds some dog chain in place that can be wrapped around the post to secure it. the hot wire can be hooked to the other end of the pvc in the other bolt. Works good.
 
Sounds like you want to cell graze your paddock, which is how I feed of my paddocks off. What I've found to be the easiest way for 1 person to shift the electric tape with cattle in the same paddock with you is have another strip ready for the next feed than all you have to do is drop the first wire & the cows can be eating while you set up the fence for the next feed. To stop them backgrazing you will need to run out a "L" shaped fence making a laneway into the new cell going back to the gate & or water source, while coming in behind the cows & fencing off what they had the day before. if that makes sense?
 

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