Canesisters 2024 journal

[farmerjan]

It does sound like you are losing some of the "charge" where the wire is going through the hole from the charger to the outside. If you can't get a piece of hose to work... go to TSC or some farm supply.... they make a bendable piece of plastic to run wire through to go around posts... they are used alot here for high tensile wire that is electrified... Not expensive.... The high tensile wire is run through this piece... they are about 4 or 6 inches long... and then the wire is protected as the wire wraps around the post and comes back to be tied back to itsself. They might be thinner so that you can get it through the hole...

 

[canesisters]

I had to use 2 ratchet straps to slowly work one of the round bales a few inches at a time to the front of the trailer.
Neighbors came just before sundown with a pickup... that has a ladder rack . No way a bale is going to fit under that rack. But with 3 of us pushing it didn't take long to move it up the little hill & into the paddock.
She seems happy.
I'll go back out later to check on her again.

 

[farmerjan]

Sorry to be so late to get back... See where you got the grounding/low charge part figured out.
Agree with @Mini Horses ... I have pushed hay rolls with the ranger pickup in the past... unless they have a very flat spot, you can nudge it along and sometimes going at it from a corner, which will get it to turn a bit, but can get it to get past a flat side too....
It is supposed to be cold Friday, then warming Sat... so maybe you will have to carry hay to her for a day or so.... then can go over the pasture fence. I think that you will find a couple of spots that have some old grass or something just grounding it out...

 

[farmerjan]

OOPS late to the plate again... Glad you got it moved to the paddock..... at least she got "bit" by the fence so should respect it.

According to my heifers.... ANY GRASS, green or otherwise... is preferred to hay; so that is part of what she was going gallivanting for...

Hope she settles down.... but I would be careful of when she might be due to come back in heat... at least you can take your time for a day that it is not as blowing cold... to go over the other fence....

 

[Baymule]

No, the budget got blown when I got the mower.

I totally get the budget plan. I have such big ideas for this place, it all comes down to the money. Or the lack thereof.

 

[Mini Horses]

Here too!

 

[canesisters]

Checked at 9: charger & fence reading 7000 & Eva eating hay
Checked at 11: charger & fence reading 7000 & Eva asleep in her stall
Checked at 7am: fence good, Eva chewing cud & excited to get some cubes

I'm not 100% sure the romex wire carrying a charge to the paddock is permanent. I can hear a faint "pop" in the wire. Maybe since it's a 3-wire product it's arcing inside the insulated shell.? The original buried line that failed is also a type of romex. I will try the 'electric fence wire in a garden hose' on my next 2 day break from work.

Does anyone have any preference on electric fence gates? I have loved the spring gates but they have their problems. I'm considering changing the setup & including a permanent gate between the paddock & pasture. It has not been needed enough over the years to make me do any more than splice in a temp line now & then. But I might decide to run the pasture separately from the paddock so that when one goes down I don't lose the whole thing.
There's even the idea rattling around in my head to put in a 2nd charger box in the other corner of the barn (closest to the pasture) after the new year. Advantage: short lead from box to fence & will simplify separating the paddock & pasture.

 

[canesisters]

I'm out of my mind for even considering this..... right????

 

[SageHill]

Jump on it! (says an enabler) will help keep your favorite girl at home (says an enabler), or give her someone to galivant around with (whispers the other one).
<edit> BYH is being weird this morning - double posting things.

 

[farmerjan]

Honestly, yes you are crazy.... I am all for a pet... and yes Eva needs some company... but why add another "pet" that is going to cost more money to keep with nothing to get back out of it. Especially something that is going to cost a fair amount in hay costs... I am not against a pet... but not pets that are exceptionally costly... I have kept a cow til she died rather than just ship her because she was a pet, and for various reasons... BUT.... we do not have the constant battles with the fences that you have either..
I see nothing that suggests this "mini" normande has any electric fence training...
You would need to run at least a 2nd wire down lower than what Eva has... and for pete's sake... NO SHEEP or GOATS with the type fences you have...

Not trying to rain on your parade... but you need to think about having something that will at least pay for its'self by putting meat in your freezer or milk on your table... not adding more cost with no return.

Even @Baymule realized that the mare she had was not going to work out for safety reasons with her grand daughters, and sold her... That was money she could have spent on the sheep... but it was a project she wanted to try and then that she realized was not practical.

@Mini Horses has her old mares that she has retired... and does not replace them as they go but because they were an important part of her past years of showing and breeding, they get to live out their lives. She has pretty good fences for them and plenty of grass. She is constantly repairing and REPLACING fences to keep the goats in.... but they can be sold for a return of investment and hopefully a profit...

I am not trying to be a grinch... but when does putting out constant money reach the "is this smart" level? If you had great fences, and costs for hay were not an issue, and wanted a companion for her, then that would be one thing...I realize you are between a rock and a hard place with her because she obviously means alot to you, has been "through things" with you...then again.....

Maybe this steer would solve some problems for you and her both