Crossfencing electric or barb wire

[Central Fl Cracker]

After an earlier post and some great answers I have decided to cross fence with 2 strands of electric fence. Will this be suitable for calves and bulls. Also I can't imagine a bull slowly approaching an electric fence would it be wise to attach some sort of aluminum pie pan every so many feet to get his attention? I am sure a sign want do it. What height would you set the low wire and the high wire? Any ideas on cost per foot installed I am not sure I have the time to install myself being a hobby rancher and all?

 

[randiliana]

After an earlier post and some great answers I have decided to cross fence with 2 strands of electric fence. Will this be suitable for calves and bulls. Also I can't imagine a bull slowly approaching an electric fence would it be wise to attach some sort of aluminum pie pan every so many feet to get his attention? I am sure a sign want do it. What height would you set the low wire and the high wire? Any ideas on cost per foot installed I am not sure I have the time to install myself being a hobby rancher and all?

Once they are "trained", they will NOT cross that wire. Bull, cow or calf. As long as they are not being chased, and have no other reason to run, they will most likely walk up to a new fence and sniff it. I have seen calves do that, and they get a shock, and that is that. They don't come back for more. If you are using 2 strands, then it should be visible enough, but if you are going to tie anything to it use plastic bags (cut in strips) or that colored tape.

 

[Texas PaPaw]

FL Cracker

For 1 wire electric, I place the wire at 30". If I were building a 2 wire, probably 34" & 18". IMO-1 wire is adquate for cross fence & it allows small calves to creep graze the greener grass across the fence.

Key items:

1. Powerful charger-6 joule output minimum
2. Adequate grounding-use at least 3-6 ft ground rods.
3. Electric fence training area. At my home place, there was a 1/4 acre trap with a five wire barbed wire fence. I added an offset hot wire to make a training area. On another place I built a trap with a 4 wire high-tensile electric with an electric offset wire. By having the hot wire backed up with a visible multiwire fence, most animals will not run into the fence but approach it slowly. Some of the offset wire is steel, some poly tape & some polywire. This gives the animals exposure to all kinds of hot wire. Poly tape is the most visible & flutters with a breeze. Also you can tie small strips of aluminum foil to the wire for more visibility. These training areas are attached to my corrals. After unloading into the corral, I open the gate into the training area and walk away, not pushing them out. By letting the cattle go out on their on they usually walk or trot slowly & check out the hot wire by sniffing with their nose. One zap on the nose and they are usually trained. If possible, I like to leave the animals in the training area for at least 12 hours overnite, but have turned out after 2-3 hours when rushed for time.

As far as cost, 1 wire 14 ga soft steel wire with 3/8 in fiberglass line post and steel t post or 5/8 in fg corner post would cost about $.05/ft for materials, the 2nd wire would cost less than $.02/ft. Don't have a clue on labor cost as I build them myself. Until I'm sure I have the correct layout, I use poliwire, after 2-3 yrs I will replace with steel. Goes up pretty fast compared to barbed wire. I don't use high tensile for cross fences, only for perimeter or training area fences. High tensile is very stiff and some what difficult to work with.

The link below has a free catalog with good fence building tips. A very good company to do business with & price competitive.
http://www.kencove.com/

Hope this is helpful. Just my 2 cents worth.

Good luck & happy trails.

Brock