grounding hi tensile fence question

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plbcattle

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I have 3-5 strand hi tensile fences around my farm and am converting a lot of old fences into high tensile. Everyone you talk to has a different idea of grounding which wires. I have read on a 5 strand ground bottom,middle and top. Others only make 1 wire hot. I use a lot of 3 strand and make all 3 hot. What is the reasoning in having a couple of ground wires. My thought is if the ground wire helps get a better ground and shock, the animal must be pushing on the fence and touch more than 1 wire anyway. if they are trained they won't go near the fence. Any thoughts
 
plbcattle":8ck7w5f6 said:
I have 3-5 strand hi tensile fences around my farm and am converting a lot of old fences into high tensile. Everyone you talk to has a different idea of grounding which wires. I have read on a 5 strand ground bottom,middle and top. Others only make 1 wire hot. I use a lot of 3 strand and make all 3 hot. What is the reasoning in having a couple of ground wires. My thought is if the ground wire helps get a better ground and shock, the animal must be pushing on the fence and touch more than 1 wire anyway. if they are trained they won't go near the fence. Any thoughts

I run all wires hot. I think in drier climates some of the fence wires are used as grounds because the soil may be so dry the livestock won't feel a shock from just stanind on the ground. I was concerned when we had drought but never had any cattle to get out. But I did add ground rods at or near the fence charger to unsure the voltage stayed at it's peak.

After testing myself I found that I needed 1 ground rod per 1,000 volts to keep the voltage up in dry conditions. And I think like you on the fact I want to cow/calf to respect the fence and never touch it.
 
I got started with HT about 3 years ago.. I think the idea behind grounding a wire or two up here is if we get enough snow the cows arent grounded and they walk right through it, one of my neighbors had this happen back in 2000. You probably dont need to worry about that much snow, but I would think that dry conditions may be a similar situation. I put 4 or 5 ground rods near the energizer and a few here and there in the far corners of the fence and run them to the grounded wires.

In regards to number of wires... the first fence i did was 5 strand.... 2nd from the top and bottom are dead.... the bottom wire dead is nice when i run the mower around and get hooked on it, i can just pull it off the mower... but thats about it... if we get enough snow for the cows not to be grounded, that wire will be buried anyway...

Since then I have gone with 4 wire on perimiter fences with the 2nd from the top being grounded...

Having one ground wire makes it easy for rolling out polywire for rotational grazing.... you can work the fence without killing the juice. hook a gate handle onto the ground wire while unrolling, and then hook it to the hot when you are ready.

They always say that the wire is the least expensive part of HT fence, and I would agree, but it doesnt matter to calves how many wires they go right through it anyway. Had one the other day go right through a run of fence that I have 6 wires 7" apart (keeps hogs in) with 9800 volts going to the hot wires... barely slowed her down... I can keep the cows away by stringing a polywire with no juice to it though...

probably way more than you were looking for...
 
lukem86":2pdsuuio said:
Since then I have gone with 4 wire on perimiter fences with the 2nd from the top being grounded...

They always say that the wire is the least expensive part of HT fence, and I would agree, but it doesnt matter to calves how many wires they go right through it anyway.

Do calves get through 5 or 6 wires by slipping under it or are they just not trained yet?
 
plbcattle":2hwp93kg said:
My thought is if the ground wire helps get a better ground and shock, the animal must be pushing on the fence and touch more than 1 wire anyway. if they are trained they won't go near the fence. Any thoughts

I measure the voltage on my fences one in a while. Dry weather can really drop the voltage. I have added additional grounding rods at the energizer. I have also let a garden hose run next to the grounding rods.

Since most of my fence is single strand there is not another wire to ground... The only wire I ground is where a portion of the perimeter where a neigbor has trained his cattle to push on the fence by feeding them poorly.
 
Do calves get through 5 or 6 wires by slipping under it or are they just not trained yet?

They are less than a month old, that have touched it a few times, but if momma is on the other side I have seen them run right between the 2nd and 3rd wires from the bottom a couple of times... happens so quick Im not sure they even get zapped when they do it..
 

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