New fence project (one of many)

[patrick_g]

Easy, There are electric fence trouble shooting instruments that can tell you the direction to a short or open so finding the "bad" spot is not so tough.

Curious why you like high impedance fence chargers when everyone selling chargers is bragging on LOW IMPEDANCE.

High impedance can't put put much power and a blade of grass on the fence will siphon off most of the jolts.

A good low impedance charger has much more "AUTHORITY."

Pat

 

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

Patrick I was thinking that if you have an all smoothwire electric boundary fence and the power goes off the whole fence is a sieve - so where is the hole? That is why I use barb as I've seen what I just described happen. As a result over 100 cows were loose on the road where it is the responsibility of the owner to keep them fenced in (i.e. not open range).

I did mean low impedance! I was typing fast and couldn't decide whether to type low impedance or high voltage. I split the difference! Wrong either way!

-Ed-

 

[patrick_g]

Ed, I don't use and don't recommend electric fence as a stand alone boundary system. Oklahoma is a "fence in" state and there are even regs spelling out what constitutes "due diligence" such that if you comply you are not in a big liability situation. To be sued the plaintiff has to prove your negligence but if you comply with the state standard as provided you are not negligent.

The above is theory. In practice it might be smart to have insurance as juries don't always follow common sense or the law.

I always have better boundary fences than the minimum by quite a margin. I personally don't electrify barbed wire but a smooth wire on standoff insulators sharing posts with barbed wire is a good system.

I have a couple hot wire installations coming up. One will bolster a "neighbor fence" that is in sad shape and the other will be a couple strands of smooth wire in between the rails of a 3 rail vinyl fence so the stock will not push on it. It is just about invisible (at a distance) so the white vinyl fence still looks really neat but with a good "bull rated" charger the stock will soon learn to avoid trying to stick their heads through to get the greener grass on the other side or lean or rub on it.

Pat

 

[marimus]

Well I've just finished adding 2500` of barb to the fence. We just recieved 4" of rain (which is a record for august, the highest in 130 years!) so that slowed me down a bit.

I have two rows (top/bottom) barb, with the electric in the middle. The barb is earthed, so they get a real good shock when they hit the electric.

This is a cross fence, splitting off about 80 acres. We use 4 barb fences for boundary, and use an electric standoff to keep the cattle from pushing on it.

If you've ever seen bulls walking the fenceline and testing every wire and every post, you will understand why we use electric. Fences last years longer!



Cran

 

[patrick_g]

We just recieved 4" of rain (which is a record for august, the highest in 130 years!) so that slowed me down a bit.

If you've ever seen bulls walking the fenceline and testing every wire and every post, you will understand why we use electric. Fences last years longer!



Cran

Cran, Historically we don't get much rain in Oklahoma in August but I got 2 1/2 the other day and a buddy 18 miles west of me got 5-6 inches. Last year was a record drought and this year is setting water records and flooding.

I just recently had a company here in Oklahoma build me a custom 12 volt powered charger which they claim is the equivalent of their plug in the wall guaranteed BULL STOPPER. I will be setting it up with a deep cycle 100 AH battery and solar panels as it is too far from the grid to power with AC. It only cost $20 extra for the custom work. I powered it up and was impressed with the arc I drew. Nasty knarly spark, it should make quite an impression on a curious nose. I will be interested to see the performance at a good distance through the wire. On the bench it goes off the scale on my fence checker.

Pat