Re: Electric fencing
This message is from: jerry friz jf...@com-pair.net Hi Folks, I learned about a type of fencing called New Zeeland Do a Google search and get the details. I have used it for 8 years in Ca. where it is bone dry in the Summer. It is the safest, strongest, and most cost effective that I know of. It only requires a small charger. You use up to nine wires, five that are hot, the rest are grounds.[every other wire is hot] I place my main ground near a water tank, where the ground is always wet from over flowing water, etc. I use one stand of the 1 white electro-tape at the top for visibility, to stop a jumper. The bottom wire should be about 18-20 inches off the ground for a 14-15h horse. As this is where most horses have a problem, getting their leg caught in the low wire/rail Same thing applies to round pens. Questions Email me off list Jerry in N. Ca. Important FjordHorse List Links: Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw Classified Ads: http://tinyurl.com/5b5g2f
Re: electric fencing
This message is from: Eileen Perry [EMAIL PROTECTED] I'm impressed with the number of folks on the list that are using electric fencing. I used it successfully with my Appaloosas who were easily deterred, but with my Fjord mare, I've given up. I can seem to keep it hot enough consistently to convince her. FWIW, our soils are sand (hard to make a great ground) and she's always been barefoot. (I used Premier 1 supplies for years too, great company). Eileen in eastern WA The FjordHorse List archives can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw
electric fencing
This message is from: Janet [EMAIL PROTECTED] Actually, it was precisely the deer problem that made me switch to wood and fiberglass and yes, I do buy my supplies from Premier. As to the sliver problem, purchase only fiberglass posts treated with suncoat (all of Premier's are treated). I have fiber rods here that are 15 yrs old and no slivers. Yes it is indeed the mileage that varies! Steel posts are not a difficult problem with small paddocks, but with 8.5 miles of electric fenceline to manage, I learned real quick to eliminate all steel from the fenceline! Janet The FjordHorse List archives can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw
electric fencing
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This is from Joel Harman. ALL horses need to be educated when being introduced to electric fencing. Put the horse on the other side of the fence from the human. offer some treat to the horse so that by reaching for the treat the horse will come into contact with the fence. IF your horse has enough respect for you that it will not go through you to get away from the shock then it will back up or go sideways to escape. Seems that horses can sense when they are near an electric fence that is charged. Best if the horse gets it's first shock on the nose. No hair to absorb the shock. Sign Up for Juno Platinum Internet Access Today Only $9.95 per month! Visit www.juno.com
Re: electric fencing
This message is from: Jean Gayle [EMAIL PROTECTED] Brian, Just misspelled your name and came up with a good horse name!!! Brina. I use the inexpensive graduated fencing and have in 22 years never had a problem. Every young horse has rolled into it and extracted themselves without a mark. They never do it again. When my huge Charlie was young, a yearling, he was frightened by a bird that fell out of its nest one night. All I heard after the cheep was a freight train coming up the hill, through the metal gate and through as he squashed it, the graduated fencing in the next field. He finally stopped at the far fence line where there was a light. I was sure he was injured but not a mark. That bird was about as big as his eye. at any rate this fencing is certainly much cheaper than the no climb horse fencing. Gunnar may have contacted the new electric fencing as he has not escaped today. Jean Gayle Aberdeen, WA [Authoress of The Colonel's Daughter ] http://www.techline.com/~jgayle -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Monday, June 21, 1999 9:14 PM Subject: Re: electric fencing This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hi Pam, but how about post and rail fence with the no climb woven wire and two electric wires on the horse side - one at nose level and one at upper leg level? The woven wire would keep little hands and bodies away
Re: electric fencing
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] In a message dated 6/21/99 21:17:24 Pacific Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I repeat that I know this fence would be terribly expensive. But it should look good and work well for years and years with few repairs or vet bills. I don't think you would ever be sorry you built it this way. That's pretty close to what we've decided to do. But without the electric. We had the 2x4 no-climb wire with just a top rail and a post every 8 feet or so. It worked sufficiently well. But I prefer a good, solid 3 rail fence. We've decided on the no-climb wire on our perimeter fencing in order to keep our dogs from running off the property and getting into trouble with our neighbors sheep, or getting squished on a road. I guess we're lucky with the horses we have now. They're sufficiently happy with the Oregon pastures that they've not tried to escape. Or rub the fences down. I'm still nervous about putting the electric up, even in the manner you suggested. My son goes pretty much all over the property with me, and there would still be that jolt possibility to him. Plus, I've seen enough cases that electric just didn't mean anything to the horse. Even an old grade mare pony, when I was bringing her pasture mate in, got so mad at being left alone for two minutes that she just broke through the hot wire (all my ex-trainer had as a fence) and came galloping up to her buddy and I. Sigh. Pamela
Re: electric fencing
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hi Pam, For your situation with your son I certainly understand your sentiments about not using electrified wires. I can also see, though, as a veterinarian, the tremendous benefit of keeping horses completely away from the fence. I know this would be expensive, so understand that, but how about post and rail fence with the no climb woven wire and two electric wires on the horse side - one at nose level and one at upper leg level? The woven wire would keep little hands and bodies away from electric wires, and it would also help keep unwanted animals (and neighbors) out of your pastures. The electric wires would keep the horses from messing up the woven wire by rubbing on it, etc. I repeat that I know this fence would be terribly expensive. But it should look good and work well for years and years with few repairs or vet bills. I don't think you would ever be sorry you built it this way. Good luck with whatever you decide! Brian
Re: electric fencing
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED] A late reply to Brian's post about electric fencing. Used properly, electric fencing CAN be a wonderful thing. BUT... I need an alternate way of keeping my fjords safely contained. Having a son with special needs, I don't really feel comfortable with him being zapped whenever he may touch a fence. He's tactile defensive ENOUGH without getting zinged! In our back pastures, we have the vinyl fence. Since our grass is so good we've had no problem with the horses trying to escape. The babies, however, will lean their little rear ends on the rails and pop them out (never onto the neighbors property, just the fenceline between the two pastures. These two pastures will be just for the older horses, once we get everything put in. We're doing good old wood post and rail for the rest of the property. Maybe we've been lucky, but they haven't even THOUGHT of testing/chewing/crashikng through these fences. However, if you can come up with any other, better ideas for my situation, I'd be glad to hear them! Pamela
electric fencing
This message is from: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Hi Peg,
Glad you liked my thoughts on Fjord gaits. Can't think of any snappy
comebacks to your worse-than-mine puns, so I'll just mention how honored
I am that the Queen of Fjord Comedy would even deign to reply to a weak
attempt at humor from a neophyte such as I!
When you ask about fences, though, I have planned, built, repaired, and
watched Fjords test quite a bit of fence in my day, so thought I would
offer some comments in reply to your post. In fact, the education
article in the soon-to-be-released Herald is about fencing. These
comments I'm making will be mostly in addition to the Herald article,
i.e. not in the article.
I have another question {and another loose association] - what model
fence charger produces the most bang for your buck? And with what kind
of wire? Super Grunt has been recommended. Is this the noise the
installer makes when he/she encounters the hard-pan soil? All
suggestions [about fence chargers and hot wires] appreciated.
You will save yourself untold amounts of horse chasing, fence repairing,
and vet paying if you buy the best fence charger you can afford. Like
Marsha Jo, I have used a solar charger, but my 6-volt solar charger just
did not have enough oomph. Just one short in the fence and the shock
would decrease to a tickle. I'm sure a 12-volt solar unit would have
performed better, but I finally ran an electric line underground and put
an outlet at the fence. If you can go electric, do it; The solars don't
even compare.
The newer chargers have a plug-in module that can be replaced when the
unit goes bad or gets hit by lightning (which is covered by the
warranty). They put out around 7000-9000 volts. That's what it takes to
keep a goat from getting through it, and if it will stop a goat, it will
stop a horse. That may sound like alot, but remember - It's the amps
that kill you. The volts just make you wish you were dead. : )
We're all tempted to skimp on the grounding system, because that seems to
be the most difficult part (driving in all the ground rods, etc). But
that is also the most important part to your fence. Put it in the
wettest area possible, and if the manual says put in two ground rods, put
in two. If it says put in three, put in three.
In very dry weather, the shock is not as good. Especially if the horse
is standing on bare dirt, not in deep grass etc. To help with this, you
can connect some of the wires to the ground system. If the horse just
hits the hot wire, doing this does not have any effect. But if he hits a
ground wire and an earth wire (one that's been attached to the grounding
system), he gets a jolt like he's standing in water.
Put in lots of cut-out switches. These are the switches that let you
turn off electricity to different parts of the fence. They're very nice
for tracking down shorts and for allowing you to work on one part of the
fence without turning the whole thing off. Also nice if you want to tie
a horse to the fence to trim a mane or something; It's not very fun when
they hit the electricity when you are doing that.
The bigger diameter wire you use, the easier the electricity flows
through it. This means that high tensile wire or aluminum wire is the
best to use. Yes, the electric tapes are useful, but just remember it's
harder for the fence charger to push the electricity through those tiny
wires. Electricity is like water; At the end of the line you will have
less pressure (less voltage) than you did at the beginning. The bigger
the pipe (wire) though, the more water (shock) you will get at the end.
If possible, have empty lanes between your corrals. The biggest reason
horses get tangled up in the wire is that they're fighting with or
fooling around with another horse across the fence. I'm a big proponent
of high tensile wire with two caveats: 1) ALWAYS keep the electricity on
(so the horses are never tempted to mess with it), and 2)don't have
horses right across the fence from each other. Keep an empty lane in
between. Yes I know that means more fencing, but it's well worth it. We
are seeing more sliced tendons from horses kicking at each other through
the wire than ever before.
Brian Jacobsen, DVM
Norwegian Fjordhest Ranch
Salisbury, North Carolina
