We have been using electric fencing for about 3 1/2 years now and wouldn't be able to do without it. It has enabled us to make an interstate move with all our animals, intensively pasture them, and protect them from predators. If used properly, it can be one of the most helpful things you can purchase for your farm, but we have learned several things that we would like to share about it.
#1 Always Keep Your Electric Fences Energized to at Least 3000 Volts
The most important thing to remember about electric fences is that they must ALWAYS be energized to at least 3000 volts if they are to safely contain your animals and protect them from predators. This means testing them every day. The only exception would be if you were using it to fence chickens or ducks and predators were not a concern, these animals can be physically contained by the netting for the most part.
We learned the hard way why Premier stresses the importance of always having your fences energized. Last time our goats kidded we had them in a big permanent pen. Most of it was fenced with field fencing, but the far end was fenced with electric fencing.
Our goats had never really tried to get through the electric fencing, so we thought it would be okay if it wasn't energized. Well, after a while, they learned it wasn't on and started escaping, and one night we came out to find one of Rose's (one of our Nigerian does) kids strangled in the fence. Had the fence been on, she would have been shocked before she got her head through. Obviously, that was a very upsetting event, but we share the story so hopefully no one who reads this will have to go through it themselves.
That was the only animal we lost to unenergized (or energized but low voltage) fences. Since we have moved though, we have had to deal with two animals that decided to disregard their fences. Blaise (our Nigerian buck) was our worst, we have a whole blog on that. See Finding Effective Male Goat Fencing Through Trial and Error (longcreekfarm.net).
Fudge (a Kune male) wasn't as bad, but we spent plenty of time chasing him back to his pen. Once we started keeping his fence consistently (as far as we can) energized, he stopped escaping. So, keep your fences high voltage and you should be happy with them.
If you test the fence and it is lower than 3000 volts the first thing to do is to make sure the fence isn't touching anything that could ground it out. That would be anything metal or wet, including green vegetation over 6-8 inches.
If the voltage is very low or nothing, the fence is probably touching something metal or part of it is under water. Below is a list of things you can check if the voltage is too low.
Is any part of the fence under water?
Is the cord going from the energizer to the fence actually attached to both things?
Has one of the lower energized (horizontal but not the lowest black one) strands slipped off the plastic of the post and onto the metal (most common on end posts)
Is the fence sagging onto the ground?
Is the fence touching green vegetation taller than 6-8 inches?
Usually, you can tell where the fence is being grounded by listening for a loud snapping sound.
If the soil is very dry you may need to water around your grounding rod to keep the fence working properly.
#2 Straighten Your Fences as Soon as You Notice Them Leaning or Sagging
Straightening your fences as soon as you notice them sagging or leaning over is very important too, and for many of the same reasons. If the leans over enough for your animals to escape, and it happens more than once, they may start to get persistent about attempting to jump it, even if it's fully upright.
#3 Get the Right Fence for Your Situation
When we first started with electric fencing from Premier, we knew hardly anything about it. We had learned about it from someone who rented out goats for brush clearing and it sounded like a good idea. We ordered the four-foot double spike temporary poultry netting for our goats.
While it worked to keep the goats in, it was IMPOSSIBLE to install. We had super rocky soil (more like rock with a little sprinkling of soil in most places) and you can’t just step posts into that! So, we ended up using sledgehammers to install it. Needless to say, that made pasture rotation very difficult and far more work that it should have been.
Pounding the posts in also bent the spikes in every direction, making each fence move harder than the last. Well, come to find out, Premier sells fencing designed for being pounded into rocky soil. And you can use a dead blow mallet, way lighter than a sledgehammer! We really wish someone had told us about the different types of electric net before we started.
When you go to order your net, I would recommend that you call premier (they have really helpful customer service representatives) and explain exactly what you want to do with the fence (daily moves, seasonal moves, permanent etc.) the type of soil and weather you usually deal with (windy, wet, dry etc.) and what animals you will be fencing.
Currently we have most of our animals in temporary electric netting (meant to be moved often) and we are finding out why Premier sells sturdier netting for long term fences. Our fences keep falling over in the wind and sagging from the posts moving around in the ground. This wouldn’t be a problem in the summer because we would be moving the pens frequently, thus continually straightening them.
We only plan to use the electric netting for pasturing our animals during the grazing season. During the winter we plan to build permanent pens for them with electric strands on the inside to keep them from attempting to escape. If you wanted to use the netting during the winter than I would recommend that you get a net designed to stay in one place for a while.
The other problem we have delt with, as far as incorrect fencing, is our pigs jumping it.
Who would have thought a pig would learn to jump fences?! But that's exactly what both of our Kune sows would do. Again, I think the problem was at least made worse by not always having the fence energized. I would recommend that you get a fence no shorter than two feet for pigs, and four for goats and chickens.
Some of our chickens would still fly over a four-foot fence, (clipping their wings was useless), so I would recommend heavy breeds of chickens if you're concerned about them escaping. Our chickens were also free ranged prior to fencing them, so that was probably why they were so persistent about escaping.
Hopefully this blog was helpful, if you have any questions, suggestions, or comments we would love to hear them!
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