Re: Electric fence

[AlchemyAcres]

Grazing cattle is one of my passions! ;D

We use temporary fence all the time.
Polywire on step-ins.
There's lots of decent polywire out there, but I happen to prefer Gallagher's.
It's well made, highly-visible, the wire's are stainless steel (long lasting) and don't loop-out from the poly too far like some polywire where they'll eventually break and be a pain to handle.

http://www.gallagherusa.com/portable.component.aspx?mktprodid=1350

There's lots of fancy schmancy reels available, standard or geared. I don't like the things. They're heavy, expensive and the wire tends to tangle too easily.
I use an electric cord reel.....they're light, fast, relatively cheap and readily available.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=71677-000001373-KW-130&lpage=none

Temporary fence should also be easy and not a pain to mess with.
The t-posts for corners will become a chore (pain in the butt) if you're moving the fence frequently.
I just use a couple step-ins....one at an angle to the other for a brace...secure them together by wrapping polywire around both. It's fast and easy.

~Martin :)

[bookwormom]

thanks Martin, we will be in the temporary fence making ourselves. i think I just will leave corner t-posts where they are til next time.
but for the life of me I have no idea what a "step in" is. can you explain. In Europe they put up deer fencing in the forests around spinnies of young trees and they only have the corner in the ground. all the other posts are placed at a slight angle with another shorter post leaning into it to hold it, there is a notch cut for that. Is that what you mean? what about just using pieces of rebar? Easy to pull out and pound in.

[AlchemyAcres]

I had gotten some poly tape for the wire - any thoughts on that?

Nothing really wrong with polytape....it is highly visible, which is nice. Polywire's big advantage is that it's a lot easier to work with, and once cattle are trained to electric, visibilty isn't all that important, they'll naturally respect the fence.

Do you do the handles with hooks in them for tha gate?

Yes, they work good for a gate handle.

Do you only leave the cows in the temporary structures during the day?

Both night and day.

Will it be OK to put them on the garden once it's done for the year, use them as my clean up crew?

Pull up all members of the nightshade family, even though cattle aren't likely to touch 'em, just to be on the safe side.

What kind of charger do you use? *Battery powered? *I looked at solar powered but seriously don't think we get enough sun to keep them up starting this time of year!

Solar powered, year round.

Sounds like you can just tie the polywire around plastic connectors and not worry about shorting it, is that true?

Yeah *

How many strands and at what height do you use to hold in cattle?

For dairy cattle it's one strand at nose height.
May be a good idea the use 2 strands since the cow a little one.

~Martin :)