A Bad Scare!

[aggieterpkatie]

Today I got home and took the dogs out first thing like I normally do. All the animals looked fine, everything was normal. I went inside and ate a Rita's mango ice that my wonderful DH brought home. Then we both fell asleep on the couch. I woke up about 30 minutes later and figured it was time to feed the animals. I was at the kitchen sink washing something when I glanced out and saw the white electric netting moving. I thought maybe a chicken was trying to sneak through it, but I looked and saw one of my ewe lambs tangled up! I ran outside and hopped over the fence and was scared to death.

This ewe lamb was tangled SO badly. She was on her back almost, with one of her legs wrapped behind her head. Her leg and her neck were tangled in separate spots in the fence. She had froth and a bit of blood coming from her mouth. I tried desperately to hurry and untangle her as fast as I could, but I started to panic a bit because I didn't see her breathing at all. I thought about trying to call for DH, but he was still asleep on the couch and I didn't have time to waste running inside to wake him up. I finally was able to free her, and she just laid there, I thought for sure it was too late. I pounded on her chest a bit and shook her, and finally she started gasping. She laid on her side for several minutes before she was "with it" enough to stand up. Then she stood there for several more minutes just panting as hard as she could.

For some reason my fence charger is not putting out a charge, but I'm not sure if it's because the ground is so dry or what. It's clicking, but there's no juice to the fence. I guess she figured the fence wasn't hot and stuck her head through the small holes at the bottom. I can't tell you how scary it was, and when I think about how even *1 minute* later and she probably would have been dead just freaks me out! I even remember thinking to myself, just after I untangled her "How am I going to dig a hole big enough for her?" Thank goodness I got there in time!!

 

[rockdoveranch]

OMG! What a terrifying story. Poor little lamb! Poor you!

I am so glad that the lamb recovered.

Go rest and enjoy the rest of your evening.

 

[goodhors]

Try watering the ground rods if it is dry in your area. Seems to be common problem that fences are not hot, if the dirt around the ground rods is not damp. So dumping a bucket of water on the ground rod, watering it with a hose, just so you do it regularly to keep the dirt wet, allowing the rod to work as expected.

 

[carolinagirl]

Oh no!! How terrifying for you both! I am glad she is OK.

If the fence is clicking good but not shocking, the ground is probably fine. Check and make sure the wires are connected good to the terminals. I had a problem with my fence the other day so I called the mfg. He said to disconnect both wires and put a screwdriver across them...not quite touching the hot end, leave about a 1/16 gap. See if a nice blue spark jumps the gap. If so....charger is fine. So make sure your terminals are screwed down tight, wet the ground good around the ground rod, possibly add a second or 3rd ground rod. Electric fences are SUCH a pain!

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Thanks for the tips on the electric fence. I dumped a bucket of water on the grounding rod last night, and I'll do that again for the next few days because it has been really dry here. I'm also going to get DH's voltage meter to see if the fence is putting out juice. The charger is probably 6 years old, so I'm hoping it's not going dead. I also may have to add another grounding rod. There's only one copper ground rod right now, but it's at least in the ground 6' or so.

 

[carolinagirl]

My fence is driving me nuts right now. I am so glad it's only there to keep the sheep on one side of fully fenced pasture and to protect the pine trees, because it's not charging worth a crap again. I'd hate to be relying on this thing to keep the sheep at home! The hot termimal was loose (and then tightened) and then it was charging great....for about a day. Now it's hardly charging again. Mine is old....it was in the barn unused for probably the last 10 years. The terminals are slightly rusty so I think tonight I am going to take it down and sand the crap out of those terminals to get them back to bright metal. I already have two ground rods down and soaked them both well, I may add a third.

 

[rockdoveranch]

I am SO glad posters jumped in here to talk about making sure your ground rod had a good connection to good ole Mother Earth as there must be some moisture in the soil for the connection to work.

Frankly, this is a bit of science I do not completely understand, but apparently it is true.

 

[goodhors]

Another idea is to check that the ground rod clamp is not causing a corrosion problem with the wires. With various metals used in fencers installations, bronzish, copper, galvanized, often there is a chemical reaction between them. This reaction will cause corrosion, which creates a physical barrier to the power flow. So this problem makes a new ground rod clamp needed, to get the power actually able to reach the ground rod.

From my experience, older installations will have this kind of problem because time allows the corrosion to build between metals until it blocks any power flow to the ground rod/s

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Another idea is to check that the ground rod clamp is not causing a corrosion problem with the wires. With various metals used in fencers installations, bronzish, copper, galvanized, often there is a chemical reaction between them. This reaction will cause corrosion, which creates a physical barrier to the power flow. So this problem makes a new ground rod clamp needed, to get the power actually able to reach the ground rod.

From my experience, older installations will have this kind of problem because time allows the corrosion to build between metals until it blocks any power flow to the ground rod/s

Would it be silly of me to say there might not be an actual ground rod clamp? Someone may have gotten lazy and just wrapped the wire around the rod?

 

[carolinagirl]

Another thing that helps make a good connection is using a dab of silicone grease on the connections. It's electricians grease and it conducts electricity really well. Electricians use it whenever they splice wires and on terminal blocks.