Pasture Fence Height

[skyhightree1]

I am putting up temporary fencing in a pasture I recently leased and will be using a solar electric fence set up with 2 strands of wire. What is the proper height for both strands I use high tensile wire and barb wire in intervals of 12 24 36 48 inches so was thinking of putting them 18 and 36 inches. I will be keeping young calves next to a road and dont want them to get out. What do you all suggest?

 

[Kingfisher]

I am putting up temporary fencing in a pasture I recently leased and will be using a solar electric fence set up with 2 strands of wire. What is the proper height for both strands I use high tensile wire and barb wire in intervals of 12 24 36 48 inches so was thinking of putting them 18 and 36 inches. I will be keeping young calves next to a road and dont want them to get out. What do you all suggest?

I have some " young calves" next to the road too. My suggestion is to not trust young calves next to the road
with a hot wire.............I dont know what you paid for yours but mine are worth 7 strands of barb wire. I
dont trust them any more than a cheap dog or a rented mule....

 

[skyhightree1]

Gotcha but I don't want to put up that much fence on something I don't own ya know.

 

[gonzo]

KF is right acouple hot wires is fine inside a permanant fence. Stinks to put the money out but it could be worse, alot worse . :deadhorse:

 

[highgrit]

Might as well just put 1 wire at 24". Hot wires don't mean nothing to a calf till their 3 months old. I run 2 wires like your thinking and their out all the time. Field fence would be my choice, if you want to keep them off the road.

 

[cross_7]

i wouldn't waste the time or money on barbed wire if your going to have it electrified, the barbs aren't going give it any extra bite.
you can put up a couple extra 14 guage smooth electric wires for the same money and lots easier to work with, just my 2 cents

 

[agmantoo]

I have high tensile at 10" 20" 30" 40" and I still have calves that get out. My fence charger has a higher output than any solar unit on the market. I monitor the performance of the charger with a Stafix fence compass, no guesswork. With highway exposure a better retaining method is essential or you need to up your liability insurance. My animals are not getting out for lack of feed either!

 

[heath]

We run ours at hip and just below knee( on me), not sure what it measures. We had the lighter wgt hot wire, but changed it out for barb wire. The deer would run through the lighter stuff and make a mess of it.

 

[heath]

I am putting up temporary fencing in a pasture I recently leased and will be using a solar electric fence set up with 2 strands of wire. What is the proper height for both strands I use high tensile wire and barb wire in intervals of 12 24 36 48 inches so was thinking of putting them 18 and 36 inches. I will be keeping young calves next to a road and dont want them to get out. What do you all suggest?

I have some " young calves" next to the road too. My suggestion is to not trust young calves next to the road
with a hot wire.............I dont know what you paid for yours but mine are worth 7 strands of barb wire. I
dont trust them any more than a cheap dog or a rented mule....

Heck, 7 strands will keep goats in, sounds like overkill and a waste of money. :2cents:

 

[skyhightree1]

i wouldn't waste the time or money on barbed wire if your going to have it electrified, the barbs aren't going give it any extra bite.
you can put up a couple extra 14 guage smooth electric wires for the same money and lots easier to work with, just my 2 cents

great point... I think thats what I will do.

 

[cross_7]

i wouldn't waste the time or money on barbed wire if your going to have it electrified, the barbs aren't going give it any extra bite.
you can put up a couple extra 14 guage smooth electric wires for the same money and lots easier to work with, just my 2 cents

great point... I think thats what I will do.

heath made a good point about the deer that i hadn't thought of since we don't have that problem

 

[skyhightree1]

Heath is right

 

[JSCATTLE]

In my opinion solar chargers are junk . Get you a PAC mar and plug it into the wall . They put off 3 times as much as solar . Ive had cows standing at the fence with it 4 inches off the ground and they won't step over it . When it hits them you can hear it pop 75 yds away . I've had calves get out of 7 stand barb wire before . Field fence is your safest bet .

 

[skyhightree1]

In my opinion solar chargers are junk . Get you a PAC mar and plug it into the wall . They put off 3 times as much as solar . Ive had cows standing at the fence with it 4 inches off the ground and they won't step over it . When it hits them you can hear it pop 75 yds away . I've had calves get out of 7 stand barb wire before . Field fence is your safest bet .

unfortunately when there is no power where your pasture is gonna be unless you want to put a big generator out there with a huge tank ... the sun will have to provide the power to charge the fence I have this model listed below in my pastures with no power source and thing thing will make a pop too a loud one. The other part to having a strong charger besides buying a good one is to make sure you have good grounding on them. I use 3 6 foot grounding rods on each of my solar chargers.

http://www.southernstates.com/catalog/p ... r-30m.aspx

 

[dun]

Something else to keep it ind that some insurance companys don;t consider it a fence unless it is a minimum height. Neigbor found ou the hard way where his was only 46 inches and the law saws 48 is the minimum.

 

[SRBeef]

Might as well just put 1 wire at 24". Hot wires don't mean nothing to a calf till their 3 months old. I run 2 wires like your thinking and their out all the time. Field fence would be my choice, if you want to keep them off the road.

I would strongly second highgrit's post. I would never rely solely on electric wire to contain calves especially next to a road. Just yesterday I had a young calf get on the wrong side of a very hot wire from it's dam and he went thru that wire, shock and all, like it wasn't even there.

You may not want to spend the money on a good fence but the costs of a driver hitting one of your calves on the road may not be to cheap either.

A good point highgrit makes is about "calves under 3 months old" not really being sensitive/respectful of electric wires. That is an important point and accurate from what I have seen.

Under 3 months your best bet is a 5 or 6 barb wire regular fence with the bottom one 12" off of the ground. If the dam is on the same side of this type fence along with sufficient grazing there is not much incentive for the calves to go through the fence. A 2 or 3 wire high tensile leaves a lot of spaces to get thru and calves just don't seem to pay much attention to the shock under 3 months old. just my experience so far and agrees with highgrit.

Jim

 

[skyhightree1]

Something else to keep it ind that some insurance companys don;t consider it a fence unless it is a minimum height. Neigbor found ou the hard way where his was only 46 inches and the law saws 48 is the minimum.

ouch....

 

[Massey135]

In TX cattle have the right away

 

[Stocker Steve]

I am putting up temporary fencing in a pasture I recently leased and will be using a solar electric fence set up with 2 strands of wire. What is the proper height for both strands I use high tensile wire and barb wire in intervals of 12 24 36 48 inches so was thinking of putting them 18 and 36 inches. I will be keeping young calves next to a road and don't want them to get out. What do you all suggest?

I like the bottom and top strands grounded by clipping to a tee post, wires at 14,24,34,44 inches. I have seen them going through - - very seldom over the top. The few I have seen go over were culls that you would only stop with chain link or a rifle :cowboy:

Single strand works if they are well trained, but calves and stocker will duck under in some cases, especially if you have roll to the land.. I would go 24 and 36 inches for two strand and ground the bottom wire. Keep the voltage in 5000 to 9000 range.

 

[skyhightree1]

I am putting up temporary fencing in a pasture I recently leased and will be using a solar electric fence set up with 2 strands of wire. What is the proper height for both strands I use high tensile wire and barb wire in intervals of 12 24 36 48 inches so was thinking of putting them 18 and 36 inches. I will be keeping young calves next to a road and don't want them to get out. What do you all suggest?

I like the bottom and top strands grounded by clipping to a tee post, wires at 14,24,34,44 inches. I have seen them going through - - very seldom over the top. The few I have seen go over were culls that you would only stop with chain link or a rifle :cowboy:

Single strand works if they are well trained, but calves and stocker will duck under in some cases, especially if you have roll to the land.. I would go 24 and 36 inches for two strand and ground the bottom wire. Keep the voltage in 5000 to 9000 range.

Thanks stocker