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Electric fence how to?
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<blockquote data-quote="RDFF" data-source="post: 1718568" data-attributes="member: 39018"><p>I'm adaptive grazing 150 head of custom and another 85 head of my own cattle. All electric 3 wire HT for perimeter, single wire HT for subdivision, and single strand of polywire for breaks. Cattle are very well controlled by the electric fence... however, with maybe 20 miles of fenceline, my 15 joule fencer was limited when "wet conditions" with tall pastures existed... and I had some issues with animals getting through/under the single wire fence at times, mostly calves. Was down to about 1500V in those conditions. Upgraded to a Gallagher 5800i, and I'm carrying upwards of 6000V, even when running over 100 amps of draw on the fence... which I wouldn't have believed would be the case JUST from wet vegetation, but it definitely is! Point here is, <strong>use a big charger</strong>, and a lot of your issues will be eliminated (assuming you've got a decent fence to start with... good insulators, no opportunity for "grounding", etc...... I use ALL fiberglass posts, for ends and line posts, <strong>HATE, HATE, HATE</strong> T posts, and refuse to put in another one!). Set a gate on the ground and watch it light up and hear it snap, and you'll gain a whole lot of respect for it, just like the cows do. Touch it once and get knocked to the ground, and it'll be the last time you ever want to touch it hot... and it will be for the cows too.</p><p></p><p>Biggest thing I've learned is that the cattle generally won't go OVER the wire, but they will go under it, if given the opportunity. Calves in particular will learn pretty quickly how to duck their backs under the wire. Cows can be controlled pretty easily with a single wire literally at their knees... no kidding... and calves won't go under it when it's low enough. I used to be in dairy with some tall Holstiens, and was taught by my Dad to build a single wire fence up at about crotch height (and I'm 6'3"). They never bothered it, even along a corn field (they were fed silage at home along with the pasture though). That's way too high for beef cattle, and especially with calves. I now put a singe wire (poly or HT), at about 26", and my 3 wire fences are at about 17", 27" and 37". I would never trust a single wire for cattle now along a corn field... I expect part of their contentment was because they were being fed at home at each milking before being turned out onto the pasture. I'd keep that corn AT LEAST the cows neck and head length away from the fence too.... don't want to be tempting them.</p><p></p><p>I graze some really lush stuff through the growing season, lots of clover and alfalfa, all year long. Did lose one calf to bloat on some really lush clover new seeding (almost pure clover in the stand, as the grasses are slower to develop to heavy tonnage), even after they'd been on it for a week, but I'm confident that was because it was on a night when it was raining all night... just too much wet in the gut. Biggest thing is to get them used to it and then don't switch them off. Hard to account for that "rain all night long" though, when it's been dry otherwise, so it'd be best to graze supplement or them with some dryer stuff or bales, along with that lush stuff, when those conditions <u>are expected</u>. Didn't use any bloat blocks or additives... just managed them into it slowly enough to let them adapt before leaving them there full time.</p><p></p><p>On DORMANT alfalfa, you shouldn't have to worry at all, IMO. It's already browned out and has plenty of dry matter so that they can handle it just fine. It's the really high moisture in the gut, along with that really high protein, that gets 'em. Just not enough dry matter to prevent the gas from building and the gut from frothing.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RDFF, post: 1718568, member: 39018"] I'm adaptive grazing 150 head of custom and another 85 head of my own cattle. All electric 3 wire HT for perimeter, single wire HT for subdivision, and single strand of polywire for breaks. Cattle are very well controlled by the electric fence... however, with maybe 20 miles of fenceline, my 15 joule fencer was limited when "wet conditions" with tall pastures existed... and I had some issues with animals getting through/under the single wire fence at times, mostly calves. Was down to about 1500V in those conditions. Upgraded to a Gallagher 5800i, and I'm carrying upwards of 6000V, even when running over 100 amps of draw on the fence... which I wouldn't have believed would be the case JUST from wet vegetation, but it definitely is! Point here is, [B]use a big charger[/B], and a lot of your issues will be eliminated (assuming you've got a decent fence to start with... good insulators, no opportunity for "grounding", etc...... I use ALL fiberglass posts, for ends and line posts, [B]HATE, HATE, HATE[/B] T posts, and refuse to put in another one!). Set a gate on the ground and watch it light up and hear it snap, and you'll gain a whole lot of respect for it, just like the cows do. Touch it once and get knocked to the ground, and it'll be the last time you ever want to touch it hot... and it will be for the cows too. Biggest thing I've learned is that the cattle generally won't go OVER the wire, but they will go under it, if given the opportunity. Calves in particular will learn pretty quickly how to duck their backs under the wire. Cows can be controlled pretty easily with a single wire literally at their knees... no kidding... and calves won't go under it when it's low enough. I used to be in dairy with some tall Holstiens, and was taught by my Dad to build a single wire fence up at about crotch height (and I'm 6'3"). They never bothered it, even along a corn field (they were fed silage at home along with the pasture though). That's way too high for beef cattle, and especially with calves. I now put a singe wire (poly or HT), at about 26", and my 3 wire fences are at about 17", 27" and 37". I would never trust a single wire for cattle now along a corn field... I expect part of their contentment was because they were being fed at home at each milking before being turned out onto the pasture. I'd keep that corn AT LEAST the cows neck and head length away from the fence too.... don't want to be tempting them. I graze some really lush stuff through the growing season, lots of clover and alfalfa, all year long. Did lose one calf to bloat on some really lush clover new seeding (almost pure clover in the stand, as the grasses are slower to develop to heavy tonnage), even after they'd been on it for a week, but I'm confident that was because it was on a night when it was raining all night... just too much wet in the gut. Biggest thing is to get them used to it and then don't switch them off. Hard to account for that "rain all night long" though, when it's been dry otherwise, so it'd be best to graze supplement or them with some dryer stuff or bales, along with that lush stuff, when those conditions [U]are expected[/U]. Didn't use any bloat blocks or additives... just managed them into it slowly enough to let them adapt before leaving them there full time. On DORMANT alfalfa, you shouldn't have to worry at all, IMO. It's already browned out and has plenty of dry matter so that they can handle it just fine. It's the really high moisture in the gut, along with that really high protein, that gets 'em. Just not enough dry matter to prevent the gas from building and the gut from frothing. [/QUOTE]
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