# Goat joules



## Buster

Okay, I have read that the kick for an electric fence needs to be stronger for goats than for many other critters and that solar just won't cut it (I have a solar energizer that just went down). I have also read that kick is measured in joules.

So, the question is, how many joules should I be looking for in an energizer for an electric fence meant for goats? I have an electric fence currently surrounding most of my property with no working energizer and need to pick one up ASAP.


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## cmjust0

I use a 50mi Zareba charger from TSC...I think it's 2 joules.  Puts out 5000+ volts across a few miles worth of hot wire.  Grounding is the key...even the best of chargers won't perform well unless they're grounded properly.  I buried four 8' rods and connected them to the cold wires on the fence, then connected the cold wires back to the charger.  That way, they can either go soil to hot wire or ground wire to hot wire and complete the circuit.  Doing it this way also allows you to put the rods wherever's best along the fence line...mine, for instance, are buried in perpetually-moist soil at the mouth of a little draw about 1/4mi from the charger.


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## Buster

Thanks for the quick reply. The way you suggest doing the ground, does that make the wire hot whether you are grounded or not? I'm interested in that because it seems it would keep my turkeys off it, as well.

And 2 joules keeps your goats in, I guess?  And you are sure it is 2?


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## cmjust0

You still have to complete the circuit, but you can either complete it through the soil or through the 'cold' wire.  It's especially helpful if the soil's too dry to conduct well, because if the animal touches the hot wire, doesn't get a shock, and decides to try and go through...it'll eventually get between a hot and a cold and have its mind changed.  

Yeah, it's 2j, and it keeps the goats in..  It's hi-tensile, so it's not a physical boundary at all...very, very occasionally someone will get _pushed_ through a fence or something like that, but rarely do we have anyone brave enough to go through it willingly.  We actually lost power for 6 days around this time last year, and only on the morning of day 6 did someone decide to test the fence.

I spun off a little run for the chickens using some polystrand off the hi-tensile..  Chickens, for the most part, will walk right through it -- even at 5,000+V.  The 'run' is mostly there to keep goats and predators away from the pop door...but mostly goats.  

Our LGD keeps the predators away.


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## lupinfarm

You MUST have a ground for your system to work. I have a 50 mile plug-in fencer rated for sheep. I'm using this with a my horse right now but's going on my goat fence too (although I have a double fenceline... wood and electric.)


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## helmstead

Mine hit our 1.5 joule and didn't even flinch...at which point we nixed the idea of electric for the goaties.


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## jlbpooh

I have this energizer: 

http://www.fleetfarm.com/catalog/pr...armak-30-mile-battery-operated-fencer-12-volt

It is 2 joules, 30 mile capacity, is low impedance and is battery operated. My husband got me a solar trickle charger to keep the deep cycle marine battery charged up. It is a 30 mile fencer and has a 9500 volt output. We have 3-8 foot ground rods put in 10 feet apart each. This thing can kick butt if you accidentally touch it. The goats don't like it either, lol.


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## currycomb

electric fence can be deadly for poultry. have a little honey bee charger i got at tractor supply, a continous current. lost a guiena and a goose when they touched it. now have a pulsating one where the fowl might wander.


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## cmjust0

helmstead said:
			
		

> Mine hit our 1.5 joule and didn't even flinch...at which point we nixed the idea of electric for the goaties.


How many volts was it putting out?


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## Buster

lupinfarm said:
			
		

> You MUST have a ground for your system to work.


I knew that. I was talking about whether or not the critter touching it needed to be in contact with the ground. I have read of a way to set up a fence so that it shocks whether there is ground contact or not.

I bought a low impedance 30 mile Parmak Mark7. It' has a capacity of up to 3 joules and up to 14,000 volts. Let's see if that does the trick.

Thanks for all the help.


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## cmjust0

Buster said:
			
		

> lupinfarm said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You MUST have a ground for your system to work.
> 
> 
> 
> I knew that. I was talking about whether or not the critter touching it needed to be in contact with the ground. I have read of a way to set up a fence so that it shocks whether there is ground contact or not.
Click to expand...

In order to receive a shock, the critter somehow has to complete the circuit between the two lugs on the charger.  There are no two ways about that.  

Now, in your typical electric fence setup, the circuit goes hot lug to hot wire to animal to earth to ground rod to ground wire to ground lug and BAM...but that's not the only way to do it. 

If you hook your 'cold' wires up to the ground lug of the charger, they become the ground wire, so the circuit goes hot lug to hot wire to animal to ground wire to ground lug, with the animal completing the circuit directly between the hot and ground wires.  If you've got bare cold wires against t-posts in your fence line,  you may get a weak shock from earth-to-hot contact, as the t-posts will most likely act as makeshift ground rods...but I wouldn't necessarily depend on it working that way, as t-posts are painted and therefore somewhat insulated, plus they're not buried so deeply that the ground won't ever completely dry up around them..

Now...  ...if you hook your 'cold' wires up to true ground rods AND the ground lug on the charger, the animal can complete the circuit either way.  For instance...if they touch a cold wire and a hot wire simultaneously, the circuit is completed directly through the wires and there's no 'earth' involvement.  If, however, they only touch a hot wire and the earth, the circuit is completed through the earth to the ground rods, then follows the cold wires back around to the charger.

That's how mine's hooked up.  I can test voltage by putting the tester on the hot wire and either poking the ground probe into the earth, or touching it to one of the cold wires.  It's the same shock either way...just uses a different circuit.  



			
				Buster said:
			
		

> I bought a low impedance 30 mile Parmak Mark7. It' has a capacity of up to 3 joules and up to 14,000 volts. Let's see if that does the trick.
> 
> Thanks for all the help.


That should work.


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## Rock Farmer

Well, I am not sure how powerful my fence is, but when you are putting feed into a trough and stick the top of your bald head on it, it *hurts.*  I think I almost bit through my tongue.  My wife got a good laugh though.


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## cmjust0




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