Due to the lack of rain and grass growth, we are wanting to temporarily move our cattle around to harvested hay fields. What do you recommend for electric fencing? Poly rope or regular wire? What chargers seem to be best? We've never used electric fences before so any suggestions are appreciated. Thank you.
Electric Fence Suggestions?
- Thread starter JenLamb35
- Start date
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Are they trained to hotwire? If they are I would just go with the 9 conductor polywire if not I would go with the poly rope or HT wire strictly for the visibility issues.
For chargers my preference is ParMak or Gallagher. The single most important part of the fence is the ground. If it's been really dry use at least 6 ground rods preferably 5-6 feet in the ground
For chargers my preference is ParMak or Gallagher. The single most important part of the fence is the ground. If it's been really dry use at least 6 ground rods preferably 5-6 feet in the ground
jerry27150
Well-known member
i prefer red snapper 50 miler, parmac has a lot of trouble with lightning. i have one ground rod & hook ground to corral also, have never had a ground problem.
Caustic Burno
Well-known member
I am running 3 Parmak solar unit's and have been for year's. I know one is over ten year's old, only thing I have ever done is changed out batteries.
Douglas
Well-known member
Like Dun mentioned you need them trained first. Put a hot wire inside your existing fence for training purposes for a few days. Tie some red flagging tape to the inside and then when they see the flag around the new hay field they will know the deal.
salebarn junkie
Well-known member
I hook a couple of coke cans to the fence they usually come over and touch there nose to it and there trained, works really good on calves.
Possible stupid questions here - I am reading that you want to put some wooden posts throughout the fence for support. Our span is about 1/4 mile on side and 1/2 mile on another corner and the rest is good permanent fence. Do we need wooden posts in that small of a span? About how far apart should we set the posts?
Texas PaPaw
Well-known member
JenLamb35":3rlv6s0x said:
For polywire, I use 1/2 inch fiberglass rod for corners and 3/8 inch fg or stepins for line posts. I avoid steel posts as they are a short looking for a place to happen. If running alongside an existing barbed wire fence you can also use standoffs instead of line posts. No wood is needed. Spacing should be whatever is necessary to maintain the desired height. In some cases that may be 50-60 ft and in rolling terrain, gullies etc it may be only a few feet. Would recommend keeping it simple.
Remember e-fence is a mental barrier not a physical barrier. It only needs to be hot and at a reasonable height to retain trained cattle. Don't over complicate it.
Caustic Burno
Well-known member
W-5":1ef8hurj said:
About 6,000 volt's once on the smart one's two or three times on the dumb one's.
Texas PaPaw
Well-known member
W-5":2rlfuazo said:
Mine are trained in my receiving corral that is about 50 x 150 ft. Have a hot wire that runs perpendicular from one of the long sides. It only reaches about 15ft into the pen and is between the water trough and the feed bunk. When they are walking the fence they will encounter it and have to go around the end to get from water to feed. As CB said, it only takes once for the smart ones and 2-3 times for the dumber ones. Now the really smart ones will never touch it after seeing their buddy jump and bawl when it touches the wire. Just put the training wire somewhere they are sure to encounter it. Place it where it partially blocks the path to water and they have to detour around the end of the wire to get a drink.
One day will usually do the job but 2-3 days are plenty for small groups. The key is to make their first experience very painful.
J&D Cattle
Well-known member
Texas PaPaw":jpy4lltt said:
Our local NRCS guy says you want to "buckle their knees and water their eyes".
HammondCreekRanch
Member
How about when looking to buy a charger does the number of joules have a big factor in how well it will shock? I look for a charger with at least 15 joules.
J&D Cattle
Well-known member
I have a couple AC Parmak SE-5 that do real well. One is setup with good soil and a good ground and will knock your butt off. The other is in poor soil and the ground isn't near as good but still powers over 2.5 miles of high tensile well. I have a third solar Parmak Mag 12 that does a good job on some high tensile and a mile or so of polywire. Got my ungloved hand between the polywire and a T-post the other day and it made me tingle for quite a while.
