HSchiller":3n4ljzah said:
Commercialfarmer:
snake67: I assure you, I'm far from a city person. I'm two generations born and bred in the mountains and I respect ranchers who are trying to make an honest living. There are two other cattle ranchers nearby and their cows get out every now and then, but they pick them up if you call. I love the natural world, but there's nothing natural about a herd of livestock stomping across my property. I'm trying to get as close as self-sustaining as I can on my little piece of land; I have enough trouble fighting back the squirrels and gopher that God put here, I shouldn't have to fight off cows that someone dumps here just so they can to make an easy buck. The cattle ranchers I know shoot dogs who wander onto their land regularly, why am I a whiny "city person" if I expect them to keep their animals off my land? I tried hotwire around a patch of trees I planted on year; they tore it down and ate the trees.
All right smart guy / gal - with all that time in the hills you sure did not learn much.
I never called you a whiny city person - but come to think of it, you are beginning to sound like one.
You want something that works - if you did any research at all you would have discovered a few things - but I will do your thinking for you and you can do the work - if you are not afraid of pinkie blisters.
So ......
Get some fence posts - T-posts, re-bar, wood posts or plastic step in posts - I do not care. Sink them in the ground about one foot outside your existing fence line on 15 foot spacing to 20 foot spacing - you can go more but not for this one - this fence needs to be fairly push proof.
Get the appropriate insulators for those fence posts.
Find enough wire to make three strands - all hot - you can go 5 which is better in my opinion but probably not required. Bottom strand 24 inches off the ground for three strand - lower if more strands but no lower than 12 inches - does not have to be exact as the cows do not carry a measuring tape. Space the next two UP at 12 inch intervals - reduce spacing to 10 inches if going 5 strand. Find yourself some decent 10 - 12 guage wire - personally we use both gauges and we use hi-tensile wire.
Bet you a buck no one complains at you getting an extra foot of land either. If they do tell them to pizz off or bring out their lawyer. By then the animals will be trained and you can just roll up the fence - but I digress, my time is valuable and you need some schooling.
If you get really dry in the summer run a couple of ground wires on the fence posts along the fence line between the hot wires and hook them directly to your ground rods. Lack of moisture can prevent a decent shock. You have taken the need for moisture away by putting a ground on the fence itself - they touch any two wires and they get hit.
Put the insulators and the wire on the OUTSIDE of the posts - facing the cattle.
Find yourself 5 - yes 5 - 6-8 foot long 3/4 inch diametre galvanized rods. Sink them all the way into the ground at 10 - 15 foot spacing and hook them all together with the appropriate hardware and one continuous run of wire - your farm store will have the rigs - all you have to do is ask - you have a sumbitchin ground now - do not cheap out on this - it is vital to have a good ground.
Find a fencer - I do not give a damm how many miles it can do - that is nothing more than hype - get one with as many JOULES as you can find. Red Snapper makes a good one and so do a bunch of others - you do not need to go Cadillac and spend for Gallagher prices - unless you have more money than you care about - but Gallagher do make good ones although over priced in my mind.
Low for low impedence, look for heavy brush capability.
Put the dammed thing up.
Every 40 feet hang two aluminum pie plates from one of the top wires - use wire to do this. Spray those pie plates with lots of sugar syrup.
Turn the frigging power on and let them come to look at the plates - they will lick the dammed plates.
You will see them get zapped - you are now training them to respect an electric fence.
We run miles - literally miles of this stuff over rocks, through heavy brush, through swamps and over dry sand. I guarantee you the cattle you are dealing with are no wilder than some of the cattle we have on the grazing permits.
Anyone says an electric fence does not work, does not understand electric fences and cow training or has not constructed the fence correctly.
I have now solved your problem - if it takes you another 15 years to build it you can say categorically that you learned nothing in the first 15 years you lived there other than to complain and NOT solve your troubles.
Now kwitchyerbichin, build it and be happy
Point to remember - true country folk tend to solver their own problems - quietly and successfully.
If I was the guy running the cows and you sent me a bill - with the relationship you obviously have at present - I would use it for wiping my butt and send it back - so do not give him the pleasure. In fact do not even talk to him - this is YOUR problem - like it or not - and you might as well solve it.
When it is done and it is working you can come back and say thanks. Be sure to take down that ugly barbed wire fence once this is going - those fences only work when done properly - and it sounds like yours is not done properly - otherwise it should stop a bull moose.
Best to all
Bez
I've actually been complaining for about 12 years. I'm all for buried hatchets, but considering he won't ever return my friendly wave when we pass each other on the road, I doubt that's likely to happen. The father is supposedly into marijuana farming and the son into making meth so other than common courtesy, I'd rather steer clear my self.
