Pos/neg fencing for equines?

[Thefarmofdreams]

Has anyone used pos/neg fencing for horses? We are expecting trouble grounding our fence- it didn't go well with our temporary fence over the winter. And our soil is sandy and OVER drained, it can rain all day and you can drive a truck over it a few hours later. It's great for usability re trucks and not being swampy, but not promising for our fence.

So I'm contemplating running twice as many wires, and alternating wiring to the ground and the power, and spacing the ground wires super close to power wires so they're garaunteed to touch 2 if they touch it.

But I am hesitant, I've never fenced with such a system and am having trouble finding info on it, other than pos/neg netting for goats and such.

Thanks in advance for help!

 

[Alaskan]

Hummmmmm

I have wet soil... so I should bite my tongue...

But... just to give you some info... I worked hard to set up my fences so that I could always use the ground on my house. Would that help you?

And yes.... for my main pasture I had to run the electric maybe 150 feet from the charger and ground to the fence... it still worked great... the wires from the charger to the fence were insulated.

Have you tried copper rods as the grounding rods? How deep is your water table? If you could hammer the grounding rod in deep enough to hit moist soil, would that work? Is that possible where you are at?

 

[Thefarmofdreams]

Hummmmmm

I have wet soil... so I should bite my tongue...

But... just to give you some info... I worked hard to set up my fences so that I could always use the ground on my house. Would that help you?

And yes.... for my main pasture I had to run the electric maybe 150 feet from the charger and ground to the fence... it still worked great... the wires from the charger to the fence were insulated.

Have you tried copper rods as the grounding rods? How deep is your water table? If you could hammer the grounding rod in deep enough to hit moist soil, would that work? Is that possible where you are at?

These are all questions I do not know the answer to but I'll definitely look into them to see if they help! We've only been here since November, so I don't know what summer looks like, but even now, when the "creek" became a 12' wide flood plain 50' behind the barn with 3ft of snow melt... The barn area is dry enough to drive a truck through hours after the rain stops. Fall, also a bit wet, was the same. We do have 2 wells, so there's water down there somewhere... (Although I'm told the city has had trouble trying to dig new wells?) It's gonna be great for avoiding mud, but tricky for fencing.

I'm considering doing the POS/neg but also grounding? Double back ups??? Lol. My horse will stay in just bc the fence is there. But the donkeys are happy to climb thru if it doesn't bite them.

 

[Alaskan]

Good luck!

 

[Stephine]

Has anyone used pos/neg fencing for horses? We are expecting trouble grounding our fence- it didn't go well with our temporary fence over the winter. And our soil is sandy and OVER drained, it can rain all day and you can drive a truck over it a few hours later. It's great for usability re trucks and not being swampy, but not promising for our fence.

So I'm contemplating running twice as many wires, and alternating wiring to the ground and the power, and spacing the ground wires super close to power wires so they're garaunteed to touch 2 if they touch it.

But I am hesitant, I've never fenced with such a system and am having trouble finding info on it, other than pos/neg netting for goats and such.

Thanks in advance for help!

We have very rocky soil and no rain for 6-10 months, so grounding a fence is a problem. I use the pos/neg netting fence for temporary enclosures, and no climb wire mesh or fencing panels and t-posts for permanent fencing. If your area isn’t huge I can highly recommend the non-electrical solution. So much less hassle and worry once it’s up. Make it high enough that the horse can’t try and graze on the other side and lean on the fence and you are all set.

 

[Thefarmofdreams]

Hummmmmm

I have wet soil... so I should bite my tongue...

But... just to give you some info... I worked hard to set up my fences so that I could always use the ground on my house. Would that help you?

And yes.... for my main pasture I had to run the electric maybe 150 feet from the charger and ground to the fence... it still worked great... the wires from the charger to the fence were insulated.

Have you tried copper rods as the grounding rods? How deep is your water table? If you could hammer the grounding rod in deep enough to hit moist soil, would that work? Is that possible where you are at?

I ended up grounding to the house! Meter reads at 10k. Huzzah! Horse and evil fence ignoring donkeys all stay in,

We have very rocky soil and no rain for 6-10 months, so grounding a fence is a problem. I use the pos/neg netting fence for temporary enclosures, and no climb wire mesh or fencing panels and t-posts for permanent fencing. If your area isn’t huge I can highly recommend the non-electrical solution. So much less hassle and worry once it’s up. Make it high enough that the horse can’t try and graze on the other side and lean on the fence and you are all set.

We really wanted the electric to prevent chewing and cribbing. My QH is notorious for cribbing. Even turned out he has to wear his collar bc he cribs on anything. And the donkeys come from a place with run down fencing and definitely see all fencing as optional. So we needed it to bite if they tested it.