# New to electric fencing



## CountryDreaming (Nov 28, 2013)

Hello all,

I've been using electric netting for a bit now, but I want to move up to larger paddocks for my rotational grazing of my heard (3 sheep, 2 alpacas, and 3 pigs).

I've purchased polywire to start with, and a 3 joule duel purpose energizer.  I already have the posts and extras.

My goal is to have semi permanent paddocks using at least 4 hot wires - I'm sure there are different methods for different uses, however the more I research the more confused I become -

At first I pictured the wire would run continuously turning at the ends to start the next level, but saw on a video that it's best to run separate levels for tightness, and then connect them using hot-wire jump leads.  Okay I can do this.....but 
1.  Why do I see people hanging up their wire reals with wire left over on them and electrifying the whole thing?
2.  How does one take down and re-set up cut wire, jump leads, etc.
3.  Does anyone know of good info and videos showing how to set up & move sheep paddocks?  Horse examples are just to simplistic for my needs.

Any other tips or wisdom is greatly appreciated ~ thank you


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## MDres (Nov 29, 2013)

What is your current perimeter fence? If it has wooden posts, you can use it to your advantage to make paddocks.

I don't have sheep, I have horses, so I'm not going to advise you on how many strands of fencing or line spacing, but...

I have 5 acres that I keep 3 horses on. It has wooden posts and no-climb 2x4 woven wire as a perimeter fence. I cross fenced it into multiple 1/2 acre paddocks by running my lines from wooden post on one side of the pasture to wooden post on the other (so I have a bunch of long narrow rectangles). Each line is about 300' long, and having a wooden post at each end allows me to tension the lines tightly, and they are straight as an arrow. I have aerial photos to prove it! No sagging or flopping. My line posts are step-in plastic posts.

All the fence dead-ends, none of it is continuous, but it is set up so all the lines are powered all the time by a solar charger. I never have to move a charger or connect fence. The charger is constantly pegged out at max power, I have not caused any drop in power with all my connections/intersections. I've touched the fence, and it literally knocks you back. It HURTS!

In areas where I need a gate along the line, I used the T-post H-brace kits you can buy at TSC. Very easy to work with. In addition to the kits, I use cables and clamps in an X-pattern on the H-brace for additional stabilization. This allows me to have a gate without needing to sink a large wooden post. Everything is "temporary" in that it will all be removed and taken with us when we move (we move about every 2-3 years) but it is also sturdy enough to withstand weather, deer and horses and also LOOK GOOD. I'm proud of the number of people who stop as they pass by and compliment me on having my fences done right. So many around here look like crap and don't hold animals.


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## CountryDreaming (Nov 29, 2013)

Sadly the perimeter fence is missing or falling down in many places, and it only uses T-posts.  It was good enough for horses, but would never hold a pig.  It worked fine in sections for my tame sheep.

My future goals are to have it replaced, and for me to set up a system of cross fencing much as you have done.  I love the idea of intensive rotational grazing.

How have you connected your separate runs of electric fence?
How many joules is your energizer?
Do you have any pictures?

This land I just purchased had not been used for anything in over ten years (extreme poison oak, blackberries, dead wood, trees and lumpy ground - holes and voles).  Before that horses were run in about a one acre area, before that it was wild.  I have used cattle panels, moving the animals to help clear small areas, and then coming in with loppers and a chain saw.  I have a couple acres cleared now with a few larger trees left for shade.  And using electric fencing in cleared areas would be soooooo much easier on me and my daughter, but we are still working on pushing back the wild to gain more land.

Thanks for the info


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## MDres (Nov 29, 2013)

This is one section of it where I ended the electric fence lines at T-post H braces. The way it is set up, all of the sections come off a pipe panel dry-lot/arena or the lean-to, and each of those sections has it's own metal pipe gate to access the pasture. That arena is connected to my barn via a lean-to off the stalls. Makes turnout SUPER simple, I just rotate which gate is open off the arena/lean-to. I wanted it set up so that I didn't have to move animals by hand from one section to another. They are free to come and go as they please into the section being rotated, and if I want to lock them in the arena, all I do is shut the gate.





Picture above was taken on May 5th, right after completing the fencing. I have since changed the set up so it connects directly to the lean-to vs. ending at the tape gates seen in this photo.




Picture above is one of those same sections on May 25th.... after lots of rain! Those are 15H tall horses, and you can't see their legs - the grass was well over 3' tall.




Aerial picture - hard to tell what is what, but the dirt brown rectangle is my tiny dry-lot/arena. If you look close, you can see the faint white lines that are the white tape fencelines. There are green tape fencelines in the pasture that don't show up in the aerial photo. Each section is ~1/2 acre in size.

I don't have any close ups of the H-braces, but I can get some if you need to see how they are set up.

The solar charger I have is a ParMak Deluxe Field Solar-Pak 6: http://parmakusa.com/product_details.php?PId=3  It has been in use every day since Jan 11th 2012 and has never had an issue. Keeps a wicked charge even through spells of multiple cloudy days.


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## MDres (Nov 29, 2013)

Forgot to add, you could still use T-posts as ends to you lines if all the ends were set up as H-braces so they don't lean in. The only advantage to ending at wood posts is you have more choices for end tensioners that screw into the wood. But if you are not using wide tape like I use, then you could use donut insulators on your ends. Like these: http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=488&cat_id=46 ( I call them donuts because they used to be plain old circles like donuts, and they were ceramic. Not anymore...)


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## kateseidel (Dec 17, 2013)

We have ... assorted ... livestock.  The entire property (approx. 7 acres) is fenced with wood posts and T-posts, using 4' hog wire.  The horse section has 2x3 woven fence with a hot wire on the top, and cross fenced with 5 strand wire, only hot on the top wire.  The sheep section I tend to move around a bit - so we use the semi-permanent electric mesh from Premier - PermaNet® 10/48/6 Electric Netting.  I love this stuff, it is holding up very well, I move it around a few times a year to shift their grazing area, and now have expanded to using it around my gardens to keep the dogs out.

I am not especially a fan of hot wire fencing for the smaller livestock (pigs, sheep, goats).  They will know MUCH sooner than you do when the wire has shorted out, or electricity has failed (my electric netting is solar, but it will lose its punch if too much brush grows around it), and they are through that wire in a flash.  And I am convinced they will get hung up on wire strand fencing at some point, so I stick with the mesh.  It only took one nose bump for them to figure out they needed to give it a respectful distance.

In this photo, the horse pasture is on the right (the round pen is at the top, little grey square building marks the cross fenced 5-strand wire fence.

On the left, small red roofs are the sheep pens, the big rectangle was built as a dog park, but now it is the sheep park...  I move the Electro-Netting around various places to fence off a new area for the sheep to graze and fertilize.


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