Drought and electricity.

[backhoeboogie]

It seems there are many ground problems being experienced right now. Electric fencing is not working either.

The problem is moisture. Last years extreme drought and not much rain this year has taken all deep moisture out of the earth. Without moist earth you cannot attain a good ground. It is a good idea to trickle a hose on your grounding systems.

 

[dun]

It seems there are many ground problems being experienced right now. Electric fencing is not working either.

The problem is moisture. Last years extreme drought and not much rain this year has taken all deep moisture out of the earth. Without moist earth you cannot attain a good ground. It is a good idea to trickle a hose on your grounding systems.

That might help the ground close to the rods, but it isn;t going to do squat for a half mile away. More ground rods does help. The current type of powered fencing works well even in dert regions if you have a good ground system. Maybe not great, but once they animals are used to it I don;t think it takes near as much voltage to keep them in.

dun

 

[backhoeboogie]

That might help the ground close to the rods, but it isn;t going to do squat for a half mile away. More ground rods does help. The current type of powered fencing works well even in dert regions if you have a good ground system. Maybe not great, but once they animals are used to it I don;t think it takes near as much voltage to keep them in.

dun

Industrial plants are losing grounding systems on protection sets. There are Operating Experience reports left and right. During a meeting this morning a lady discussed how she had to put water on her ground rod for her fencing and several others chided in. I have no idea how their systems work. Just trying to pass on some thoughts and facts on issues people may not be considering.

 

[cmjust0]

I read in a few different places and have heard a time or two that it's sometimes a good idea to connect your 'cold' wires to your ground rods, and then connect them to the fencer as the ground.. That way, even if the animal is half a mile away from the ground rods, all it's gotta do is touch both a hot and a ground wire to complete the circuit - instead of the circuit being completed through half a mile of powder. Logic tells me that, even if they don't touch both wires, it should still work as though it were rigged normally if the soil is moist enough.

Though my ground isn't particularly dry, I'm going to rig my fence this way. Reason being, there's nowhere I could drive a ground rod more than a few feet deep within a reasonable distance of where my fencer is going to be. There is, however, some fairly deep soil in a valley about a quarter mile of fence away, and it stays moist a lot of the time. I'm gonna shoot for five rods, 10' apart each, driven six feet deep..

 

[backhoeboogie]

I read in a few different places and have heard a time or two that it's sometimes a good idea to connect your 'cold' wires to your ground rods, and then connect them to the fencer as the ground.. That way, even if the animal is half a mile away from the ground rods, all it's gotta do is touch both a hot and a ground wire to complete the circuit - instead of the circuit being completed through half a mile of powder. Logic tells me that, even if they don't touch both wires, it should still work as though it were rigged normally if the soil is moist enough.

That is how I rig mine, when I use it. Ground wire is bare landed to all Tee posts about 16 inches up. Two hot wires are above it. Ground wire is grounded and tied to the charger, and extended down the posts. If the wire is broken, the charger is still grounded in paralel. It is more time and trouble, but it works well. I am getting ready to run a 1300 foot section across a field to divide it. The charger there is solar powered.

 

[cmjust0]

That is how I rig mine, when I use it. Ground wire is bare landed to all Tee posts about 16 inches up.

Hmm... You bring up an interesting issue that I hadn't really thought about. If you connect your cold wire to the ground rods and box, AND short it against the posts, does the post shorting enhance or dilute the ground?????

Or would it even matter??

Either I'm a total idiot, or that's a real thinker -- or both, since they're actually not mutually exclusive. :lol:

 

[backhoeboogie]

Or would it even matter??

Most of the time it doesn't matter. As dry as it is right now, animals will get a much better charge if they touch the hot and ground wires.

If you are wearing rubber sole shoes and you touch the ground and hot, it matters, a great deal.

My electric fencing is intermittent, so my cows are not well accustom to it. I use it pretty much as a temporary barrier for short periods occasionally.

 

[cmjust0]

My electric fencing is intermittent, so my cows are not well accustom to it. I use it pretty much as a temporary barrier for short periods occasionally.

Mine's going to be for the perimeter, so I've been researching quite a bit to try and figure out what the big problems are BEFORE I have them.. Grounding systems seem to be #1, with heavy weed load being #2. I'm putting up six wires, 9" apart w/ the 9", 27", and 54" wires hot.. The 9" wire will be segregated from the rest, and I'm planning to put a flood-gate controller on it to keep it from shorting the other two if the weed load gets too heavy. Plus, I'm planning on using a so-called "100-mile," low-impedence fencer on only about 2 miles of hot wire.

I'm shooting for five-digit voltage at the back corner. :lol:

Anyway, sorry to threadjack.. Somebody get us back on topic.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Jack threads anytime. That is sort of the way conversation flows. You can always go back to a discussion. All I was trying to do in the original subject was convey something I had not considered during the drought. We have plenty of drought concerns and often overlook things.

 

[Texas PaPaw]

My electric fencing is intermittent, so my cows are not well accustom to it. I use it pretty much as a temporary barrier for short periods occasionally.

Mine's going to be for the perimeter, so I've been researching quite a bit to try and figure out what the big problems are BEFORE I have them.. Grounding systems seem to be #1, with heavy weed load being #2. I'm putting up six wires, 9" apart w/ the 9", 27", and 54" wires hot.. The 9" wire will be segregated from the rest, and I'm planning to put a flood-gate controller on it to keep it from shorting the other two if the weed load gets too heavy. Plus, I'm planning on using a so-called "100-mile," low-impedence fencer on only about 2 miles of hot wire.

I'm shooting for five-digit voltage at the back corner. :lol:

Anyway, sorry to threadjack.. Somebody get us back on topic.

The system you described should work very well with at least 3 six foot ground rods even in dry ground. I have a similar setup with the 6 joule/100 mile fencer & it can handle heavy vegetation loads. They only thing that has ever taken my fence below 5000 volts is a direct short to a metal post or grounded wire. I use a energy limiter (floodgate controller) where I let my neighbor hook his hot wire to my fence. If his fence gets shorted out it won't kill mine. Good hot fences really do make good neighbors & also keeps bulls from fighting thru and tearing up those fences.

I'm only 60-70 miles from backhoeboogie and we are drier than a powdermakers butt. That being said my fences are still functioning well. Saw 2 yearlings pushing each other around & one got into the hot wire. He let out a cry you could have heard a half mile away. Lots of joules & a good ground are the key.

Good luck & happy trails.

Brock

 

[cmjust0]

All I know is that it had better work, or I'll be in trouble! :lol:

I've got three 8' galvanized ground rods ready to be pounded in, but it's pretty dry again.. We got several inches of rain last week, and after that I kept putting it off for "tomorrow" until I totally squandered the window of opportunity I'd been given... :roll:

It seems like I can always find an easy way to make things harder than they should be.

 

[dun]

All I know is that it had better work, or I'll be in trouble! :lol:

I've got three 8' galvanized ground rods ready to be pounded in, but it's pretty dry again.. We got several inches of rain last week, and after that I kept putting it off for "tomorrow" until I totally squandered the window of opportunity I'd been given... :roll:

It seems like I can always find an easy way to make things harder than they should be.

In our soil (laugh here) you can;t drive anything very deep. I use the post hole auger on the tractor to go down as far as it will go, fill the hole with water and when it finally, usually after a couple of days to a week, I drive the ground rod then refill the hole.

dun

 

[cmjust0]

In our soil (laugh here) you can;t drive anything very deep. I use the post hole auger on the tractor to go down as far as it will go, fill the hole with water and when it finally, usually after a couple of days to a week, I drive the ground rod then refill the hole.

I've heard descriptions of Missouri's soil conditions, and they sound eerily similar to mine.. I've been lucky to get 2' down on most of the post holes I've dug by hand, and it usually takes breaking the ends off of several 3-4" thick limestone rocks before you can get that deep.. Eventually, you hit "the big one" that spans the entire hole at the bottom and laughs in your face when you hit it with a spudbar. All you can hope is that you don't it it about 15" down and have to start a new hole. Been there, done that. I say 15" because I've been known to call one good enough at 18" if I had to fight real hard to get that deep.

For the ground rods, I'm really pinning all my hope on that one little patch on my place where I buried a 9" auger bit to the powerhead three times without hitting a rock or otherwise getting hung up -- with an 8N Ford... :shock: It's a strange little flat spot at the end of a shallow holler (or a 'shaller' holla, depending) where the water runs with every rain - but not hard enough to actually cut a channel.. It just sorta fans out over the grass for a while before it collects itself and then goes into a channel on the neighbor's place.

If I can't get them driven, plan B is to plow a few furrows down there and horizontally bury a few 20' sections of galvanized pipe and use those for grounds.. I don't wanna have to do that, but if it comes to it....

 

[backhoeboogie]

If you hapeen to have a well that is cased, the well casing makes an excellent ground. (If of course it is in the right place for access) Just a thought.

 

[dun]

In our soil (laugh here) you can;t drive anything very deep. I use the post hole auger on the tractor to go down as far as it will go, fill the hole with water and when it finally, usually after a couple of days to a week, I drive the ground rod then refill the hole.

I've heard descriptions of Missouri's soil conditions, and they sound eerily similar to mine.. I've been lucky to get 2' down on most of the post holes I've dug by hand, and it usually takes breaking the ends off of several 3-4" thick limestone rocks before you can get that deep.. Eventually, you hit "the big one" that spans the entire hole at the bottom and laughs in your face when you hit it with a spudbar. All you can hope is that you don't it it about 15" down and have to start a new hole. Been there, done that. I say 15" because I've been known to call one good enough at 18" if I had to fight real hard to get that deep.

For the ground rods, I'm really pinning all my hope on that one little patch on my place where I buried a 9" auger bit to the powerhead three times without hitting a rock or otherwise getting hung up -- with an 8N Ford... :shock: It's a strange little flat spot at the end of a shallow holler (or a 'shaller' holla, depending) where the water runs with every rain - but not hard enough to actually cut a channel.. It just sorta fans out over the grass for a while before it collects itself and then goes into a channel on the neighbor's place.

If I can't get them driven, plan B is to plow a few furrows down there and horizontally bury a few 20' sections of galvanized pipe and use those for grounds.. I don't wanna have to do that, but if it comes to it....

We generally call 18 inches 2 feet. With T-posts, if the top of the spade is level with the ground or only an inch or to above the ground, we call that good enough.

dun

 

[cmjust0]

We generally call 18 inches 2 feet. With T-posts, if the top of the spade is level with the ground or only an inch or to above the ground, we call that good enough.

And here I figured I was the only one who considered a 7.5' long post to be a waste of a foot and a half of wood. :lol:

 

[SPRINGER FARMS MURRAY GRE]

It is so rocky here I got tired of replacing shear bolts....spent more time doing that than digging. I finally gave up and started just using my backhoe to dig all of the holes,especially for the corner posts (4 feet deep set in concrete). :shock: :lol: ;-) :cboy:

 

[backhoeboogie]

It is so rocky here I got tired of replacing shear bolts....spent more time doing that than digging. I finally gave up and started just using my backhoe to dig all of the holes,especially for the corner posts (4 feet deep set in concrete). :shock: :lol: ;-) :cboy:

We've been known to do that ourselves. Limestone layer after layer here in places.

 

[Hippie Rancher]

cmjust0, 6 wires AND electric? I have seen 7 wires (non-electric, barbed) around a water lot, 5 in a high traffic area or perimeter, cross fences usually 4. Most folks around here who use electric only use 2 wires. Am I missing something?

 

[cmjust0]

cmjust0, 6 wires AND electric? I have seen 7 wires (non-electric, barbed) around a water lot, 5 in a high traffic area or perimeter, cross fences usually 4. Most folks around here who use electric only use 2 wires. Am I missing something?

It's a smooth wire perimeter fence. Six wires is the most you can go without having to double brace all your corners, and with the wire at $.0175/ft, it only makes sense to go ahead and max it out.. Also, everything I've ever read says they'll walk right through a cold smooth wire fence, so leaving it cold isn't an option for me..

I may be overbuilding it, and I'm perfectly fine with that.. In fact, I'm kinda shooting for it.