drought has hit hard

[Cornish Heritage]

You know its dry when you have to set up a bucket to leak on your grounds so the fence will work

Your pasture looks just like ours! It's BAD! Today we were figuring out how much hay we are going to have to purchase to get us through to spring in case it doesn't rain & that was SCARY!

Our fences are still working but I'm sure they are not giving out the "kick" that they should.

Liz

 

[sdsmowen]

Wow ok i have a newbie question - how is the fence performance impacted by the dryness? We are on a well and have started only watering the garden and animals a dry well is something everyone in our area has started to fear.

 

[bjjohns]

Wow ok i have a newbie question - how is the fence performance impacted by the dryness? We are on a well and have started only watering the garden and animals a dry well is something everyone in our area has started to fear.

The dryer it is, the harder your fencer has to work. It can be partially offset by running ground & hotwires (the netting in my post is that way), but the ground rods still need excellent contact for the best performance. You can see a chart of this here: http://www.premier1supplies.com/pages/energizers/comparison_chart.html?segment_id=1 Look at column3 three for wet grass, and 4 for dry grass.

 

[greybeard]

May I steer this in a slightly different direction for a moment, since the subject of drought and grounding has come up?
It's not just your fences. The ground rods protecting the electrical circuits (and thus--you) in your homes, buildings, and outbuildings also need to be in moisture bearing soil--dry soil provides virtually no grounding potential. Having been thru extreme long term drought before, I can attest to the fact that these vital parts of your home electrical supply can be problematic in dry times. lt is absolutely essential that the grounding rod works at all times, and here's why:

(in very very basic layman type terms--I'm sure a professional electrician will find fault with this, but it's a basic and not technical explanation.)
The power company (USA anyway) sends 3 wires into your home. 2 are hot--each carrying approx 110 volts but zero current to your main distribution panel. The other wire is neutral. It carries zero voltage (or very close to it) It's purpose is to return ALL the current (amps) created by any appliance or lighting back out of your home or building. All well and good--right? But IF, that neutral line is broken somewhere--anywhere, since almost all codes provide that the neutral and ground bars in your panel are tied together, any current HAS to go out thru your ground rod in the event you lose neutral. That of course, can be as much as 200 amps since most service panels are rated for that. Even if you do still have neutral, that ground rod provides for a lot shorter run than the big neutral, so it is your best chance of remaining safe from shock or electrocution. Now, your home's ground rod is most likely quite a bit longer (8 ft in the ground here) than the one for your elec fence, but, if you live in any area with a sandy porous soil and are having fence grounding problems, you may also be prone to having the same grounding problems with your buildings if the drought continues long term. btw, any time you suddenly start finding GFI outlets tripping for no apparent reason, one of the reasons for it tripping is a problem with your ground circuit including but not limited to your rod and clamp. That GFI isn't just a normal breaker-it tripping doesn't necessarily mean there is a short to ground--it can mean there is no ground available. Ground Fault Interrupt, means exactly that--there's a fault in the ground circuit. That little device is sending a "signal" to ground, and it expects to find it rather quickly--if it does not get a return within 1/60th of a second, it trips. That isn't the only thing that will cause it to trip of course, but it is one thing that will always cause it to trip.
In most localities, the homeowner is responsible for the ground rod, tho most times, if you call, the power company will come out and check your ground rod and clamp. (they really really hate to lose a paying customer)
Otherwise, IF, you think you have a ground problem CALL A QUALIFIED ELECTRICIAN!! Never ever ever assume it is safe to remove the ground rod clamp and wire. If you are experiencing a neutral problem and your ground rod is actively doubling for return, and you take the bare wire off the ground rod, you have just presented yourself as the path of return for any and all current passing thru that wire. It's a rare occurance and takes a specific set of circumstances for this to happen, but it has and people have been killed because of it.

Ok--back to the drought--sorry for the diversion.

If you want to see what drought conditions may lead to, and especially if this is your first drought, you might want to go back a few months and read:

http://www.backyardherds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5033&p=1

It's an odd reversal of misfortune I suppose--I have seen already this year, a flood that put 3 ft of water on over 50% of my property, the rainiest July I can remember, and people cutting, then losing hay because they couldn't get back in the field to bale it because of the rain and/or mud. For me, it has rained at least a little each of the last 9 days. Last July it was over 100 deg almost every day it seems. Most days this July, it's topped out in the 80s. I do hope things change and all you good folks get some rain soon. Last July Texas was on fire--and in a state wide burn ban--not this july. Hay is now abundant locally and much much more reasonable in cost than last summer/ fall/winter. Elsewhere in the State of Texas--not quite as rosy, but still at least a little better than this time last year. It was so dry here last summer, even the catfish had ticks.

 

[boykin2010]

I feel so bad for you. I wish I could send you some rain. It has been raining about every other day here. Yesterday it STORMED for a few hours.

Have you considered getting a hand pump for your well?

 

[Cornish Heritage]

Wow ok i have a newbie question - how is the fence performance impacted by the dryness?

Greybeard made some good points. The experts are telling us that we are dry 5 ft down right now which is unheard of here in the Ozarks SO if Greybeard is correct & our house ground rod is 8ft down then that is still OK. (I honestly have no idea how far down ours is.) Some folks put their fencing ground rods down 8ft too which is the recommended depth BUT here in the Ozarks we have rocks! We even hired a hammer drill "thingy" (forgot the proper name) to try & get our grounding rods down 8 feet but no go - that rock is too tough. We have our electric fences hooked to the mains - have a 12 joule & a 6 joule so they do kick out quite a shock & even when it is so dry they are still working. Our experience with solar charges is that they really lack the Oomph & when it is dry they are pretty much ineffective. We do have a couple here but rarely use them anymore.

Liz