Techniques used to increase the effectiveness of an Electric Fence

Techniques to Increase the effectiveness of an Electric Fence.

The Energiser.
There is an all too real reason to buy an energiser that just meets your requirements due to price considerations. The majority of figures quoted by manufactures’ capacity are based on a fence of good quality and in perfect condition, often under laboratory conditions. Unfortunately this will leave you with very little capacity when there is a fault, vegetation growth or increased challenge. If at all possible get an energiser that is larger than required. This will allow you plenty of latitude and it will be able to power through most situations as they arise.

The Earth Post.
The ground constitutes 50% of the electrical circuit but 90% of all problems originate at poor earthing, either at the earth stake itself or on the fence. Fortunately this is easy to rectify. Additional earth stakes may be added by driving them into the ground about 2m away from the existing stake and joining them together. Copper, Stainless Steel or Galvanized steel rods are best as mild steel will rust so creating a poor conducting barrier. All rods should be in permanently moist soil, under the building eaves, in a river bed, below a dripping tap or in an irrigated flower bed. In particularly dry weather the soil around the stakes may be watered.
If the fence extends over 500m away from the main earth it will be necessary to add an additional earth line to the bottom of the fence and bury a stake at those intervals. Wire is a better conductor than ground so a ground rod every +/- 500meters will greatly increase the effectiveness of the fence.

In dry climates or where the soil is very sandy resulting in poor conductivity through the soil, it will be necessary to consider an Earth Return fence. This is where the fence is constructed from equal numbers of live and earth wires to remove the ground from the electrical circuit. The animal is required to touch both wires to achieve the desired effect. An earth post is still utilised to cater for current flow through the ground.

Positioning of the Fence Wires.
The first rule of positioning the wires for a particular target is to realise that all animals utilise their noses to investigate a suspicious object. Therefore the object is to make it easy for the target to investigate a live wire by placing it at the resting height of the nose. It is important that the target is not forced to stretch to investigate the fence and encounters it naturally and easily.
Horses are sometimes fitted with blankets. These thick blankets are effective insulators so a second wire must be positioned to miss the blanket. This may be aimed at the knee area below the edge of the blanket so that the knee will make contact with a hot wire when the horse presses forward.

Baiting the Fence
This is the most effective technique to increase the effectiveness of a fence where an animal that simply ignores the pain or where its natural instinct enables it to evade the fence all together. Here we are referring to Springbok, Impala and some species of Deer. These animals simply walk up to a fence and will simply jump over the fence without investigating it. They can all clear well in excess of 2meters (6ft) so a substantial fence must be utilised.
By attaching suitable bait to the fence these animals are encouraged to investigate the wires with their nose and tongue that are packed with sensitive nerve endings so the animal will receive a shock that really re-enforces the psychological imprint of the fence. This should only be done in the initial stages and discontinued when they have achieved their desired effect.

There is no point in baiting a fence for an animal that is naturally curious, that will naturally slowly investigate a fence before trying to make an entrance. They will often sense the electricity as being alien and not try the fence or receive an effective shock anyway. It would be cruel to stimulate them to test the fence if they were going to respect it anyway.

Quality of the Conductors.
There is only one thing to be considered when looking at tapes, rope or twine to use on an Electric Fence:-
The Conductivity (the ability to carry electricity) of the material.
An Elephant or horse will not be fenced in by plain rope or tape but apply an electric current and they are easily contained.
The quality of the Electric "sting" delivered to the target is directly dependant on the quality of the conducting material. This is the "barb" that will keep your target animal where you want him. The conductivity of the material is quoted as Ohms per metre or Ohms/m. (this is a measure of the inline resistance). The higher this figure is - the less of the current that is delivered to that important sting. The lower the Ohms/metre is, the more electricity it will carry and deliver an effective sting. For example:- An energizer capable of energizing 9klm with a 0.05 Ohms/m. conductor will be reduced to just 1.3klm if you use a conductor of over 10 Ohms/m.
Conversely, when an energizer is used to charge 1.3 klm of fence using a good conductor it will use far less energy than using a poor conductor;- your batteries will last far longer.
Generally the conductivity of the electric fencing rope is reflected in the price of the product. There are plenty of un-declared products on the market - make sure you know what you are buying. Caveat emptor - let the buyer beware. Copper or Aluminium is by far the best conductor, but generally more expensive. This may be off-set by having more steel conductors but it is important to compare conductivity (however it is delivered) to get the best return per pound spent. A tape with 6-8 conductors may not be as economical as one with 3-5. There are plenty of un-declared products on the market - make sure you know what you are buying. As a general rule, a product with only steel conductors is normally of a lower conductive quality, normally reflected in the price.
The strength of the conductive material is supplied by the plastic strands, not by the thin stainless steel or copper filaments. Rope is stronger than tape as the strands are closely wound and so combine their strength better than tape.
Life of the conductor is determined by wind action and Ultra Violet rays from sunlight breaking down the polyplastic material. Tape has a greater surface area exposed to sunlight and is more affected by wind action. Because of these two constraints the life of tapes may be substantially shorter than rope. The only advantage tape has over rope is its visibility.

Photography

It is not often that I highlight a photography website but sometimes a series of equestrian photographs will make you pause and take a longer look to appreciate the composition and the unusual style and technique of the photographer. Some are pretty standard but others are taken from unusual angles and the use of black & white highlights the composition.

Electric Fencing for Cattle.

Historically cattle have been fenced by using several lines of barbed wire. This has done the job but has resulted in many maimed, mutilated, ruined and destroyed valuable animals over the years. Fortunately this has being replaced by the use of electric fencing in more and more situations. It is cheap, highly effective and best of all the chances of maiming an animal are negligible.

Dairy cows are typically docile creatures due to the regular close contact with humans and so are easy to fence with Electric Fencing. A single strand of wire at a low voltage (3000v) is frequently used on wetland and irrigated pastures to rotate the animals around the pasture. The portability feature of Electric Fencing permits this function so that the pasture is not permanently divided up by fencing. The overall ease with which a pasture may be managed is a feature of using Electric Fencing.

Beef cattle are not handled on a daily basis so are more intractable than dairy cattle. They may be still fenced by one or two strands of electrified wire but at a higher voltage (6000v). The fencing used for beef cattle is typically of a more permanent nature surrounding larger pastures indicating the more extensive nature of beef raising. This may best be seen in more arid regions where beef is raised in extensive pastures but still rotated to allow the pasture to regenerate such as the High Density, Short Duration techniques. Continuous grazing represents zero grazing management and graziers who do not pro-actively manage their grazing process will unwittingly place themselves in an ongoing confrontation with nature.

Bulls that are separated from cows may try to escape their pasture to breed cows that are in oestrus. Fencing is erected to thwart the targets desire to get where he/she wants to go to and the stronger that desire – the stronger the fence has to be. To keep bulls fenced separately, use up to four strands of wire. Keep the wire energized with a minimum of 1.5 Joules and 6000 volts. If one or more bulls are super-aggressive, you can train them to respect the fence by baiting the line. This entices them to investigate the fence with their noses or tongues. These highly enervated organs are very sensitive and the fence will be reinforced in their brain as something to respect.

The typical reaction of an animal to receiving a shock is to retreat from the fence a short distance and soon recover. They learn the limits of the fence and it is possible to see a line of cows with their heads below the energised line, but not touching, and grazing as close as they can to the fence.

The wire spacing for electric wire can vary, depending on the cattle breed. But typically you'll want at most three strands that are place at the cows' nose height, lower chest height, and knee. For cows with nursing calves, you'll need a strand of electrified wire at the nose level of both.

Traditional rabbit fencing usually consists of expensive wire mesh with half of that buried underground to stop them burrowing under. These had to be substantial constructions as can be seen in the diagram and photo. Luckily, these are no longer necessary.

Effective Electric Fencing can be erected via two methods:-

1. Flexinett Electric Netting. This is highly effective, very portable and very easy to use. All netting systems are resource hungry and do require a larger energizer to run an equal distance.
2. Parallel wire systems. (CSL) These require more precise erection but may still be regarded as temporary. They are cheaper and require fewer resources than a netting system.

The efficacy of the two systems may be judged by the results of a trial carried out by the Central Science Laboratory on behalf of the Horticultural Development Council in Cornwall. As may be seen from the results reproduced here both methods were far more effective than the farmers own fence used to protect his Cauliflowers. No more than a single rabbit was ever seen in either of the two systems, by contrast, up to 20 were seen in the farmers control on any night.

The majority of rabbits touch the live wires of the fence with their noses, receive a shock, and retreat into the harbourage. This created the psychological impression associated with Electric Fences and prevented their return. The number observed testing the fence will also decrease with time with up to 65% fewer observations in weeks of erecting the fence.
Rabbits were not found to have burrowed under the fences at all and a few were seen to jump through. These could have been eliminated by the use of bait caps.
Trials to determine the number of years of useful life of electric netting fences were terminated after seven years at the end of which they were working effectively. However, if maintenance is poor or nets are regularly moved, the useful life of the fence will be considerably shortened because of the damage rabbits will do to it by chewing and mechanical damage to the filaments.

The farmer on whose land the research was conducted estimated that the additional profit arising from subsequent yield increases was sufficient to cover the costs of Electric Fencing in one year and of Electric Netting in two.

Erected Flexinett
Note the angle at which the Flexinett is tilted.

Electric netting is purchased as a stand-alone product as may be found at the top of the screen. Tips on erecting electric netting may be found on this page. These nets are then attached to a suitable energizer. Netting is very resource hungry and require stronger energizers, to see which energizers are suitable to use with netting, use this link;- Electric Fence Energiser selection.

Erected Line Fencing
Note the angle at which the fence is tilted.

Line fences are constructed using standard fencing equipment. Tips on fence erecting are available on this page link. In addition to the four wires suggested, I tend to put a return-earth against the ground. This is connected to the earth stake and is not energized. The function of this is to improve the contact between the rabbit and the ground. The picture shows the attachment of a Bait Cap. Both these techniques will increase the effectiveness of the fence.

The Failure of African Politics.

Reading the outcome of the SADC meeting attempting to resolve the Zimbabwean crisis held on Sunday 9th November leaves far more questions than answers.
The most striking....why on earth the leaders continue to pander to Mugabe?
Here is a person continually dragging the African reputation into the mud. Ian Douglas Smith portrayed the African as being in-capable of governing a nation in any way. To illustrate that he used the host of failures in Africa at that time where none had progressed from where they took over from their colonial masters and most had regressed. Where wealth in the country was present, this was locked into the privileged few, mostly politicians. Furthermore this wealth was exported to safer banking systems so the population was denied twice, firstly by the money not being spread around and then secondly when the internal banking system was denied the currency to use for the advancement of the general public.
Mugabe has continued to prove Ian Smith correct having taken over a country with an efficient civil sector, growing manufacturing base, vibrant agricultural sector and a very diverse and profitable mining sector. The country should not have required international aid AT ALL, ever.

It is clear that African leaders cannot condemn Mugabe because they are actually all in the same boat. Making a mess of their countries on a daily basis. It has become clear that there is no saving Africa. It is only a matter of time before South Africa descends into the same path of oblivion.

Perhaps it is time that the Afroican continent was cut off from aid and told "Sink or Swim"

Using electric fence to protect poultry against fox

In order to test for myself the effectiveness of Electric Fencing in preventing Foxes from predating them, I was able to persuade a farmer to sell me 25 culled hens and let me use a field on his farm for a trial using netting.

The birds were split into 5 lots and housed adjacent to each other in five 150m2 runs (50m net) with an arc in each. The arc was left open so the birds could move at will. The pens were sited in line 5m away from the hedge row and 3m between runs.

Run One.
Control using plain chicken wire 1m tall, no electric fencing.

Run Two.
5 line standard fencing 1m tall and energised, no netting. Bait was used.

Run Three.
Standard Poultry netting 105cm tall with builders’ damp-course below the bottom line. Bait was used.

Run Four.
Livestok Sheep netting 105cm tall with builders’ damp-course below the bottom line. Bait was used.

Run Five.
Wolf netting 120cm tall with builders’ damp-course below the bottom line. Bait was used.

Runs two to five were linked to a 12v hotShock A15 energiser and registered 8000v when running. The bait stations were treated with a proprietary gravy mix twice weekly for three weeks and then left untreated on the fence thereafter. The ground between the runs was cleared by a harrow so that incoming spoor and reactions could be assessed.

The chickens and trials were inspected on a daily basis. The birds were fed and watered daily.

The first fox inspection occurred on night 3 when he tested a bait station on the Wolf net. His tracks indicated he got a shock and departed.

On night 5 a fox visited and walked around without attempting entry.

On night 6, all hens in the control were killed. There were signs that the fence was climbed over to gain entry.

On night 7, the Livestok Net and poultry net were tested in turn by the same fox. He was shocked by both and departed. No attempt was made to jump or climb over the nets despite being low enough for a fox to do so.

Visits from foxes were noted on several nights over the next 11 weeks but neither the nets nor fence was penetrated. Only twice were any of the fences tested again with the fox simply walking around the area. At no stage did the foxes try to jump over, nor to dig under despite they were quite capable of doing so.

The test was closed down 12 weeks after the inception.

This un-replicated and observation test suggests that Electric fencing is very effective in combating the threat of Foxes to free-range poultry. In my opinion the cheaper Sheep netting is as effective as the more expensive marketed poultry netting. That foxes do not jump over or dig under simply reinforces what is already known about animal behaviour regarding the electric field. They are unable to percieve its limits and extent, so do not try to go under or over the known field.