Electric Fence DIY for electrically impaired

[dmccarty]

Our garden fence is mesh for the first four feet and then two strand of HT wire. Total height is 6ish feet. I used 8' T posts to hold up the HT wire.

The deer have not gotten into the garden. I was afraid they would and I would have to go up another couple of feet but the fence has worked as is, so far.

Now, that @#$%^&* rascaly rabbit......

Going to have to buy some chicken fence to keep Bugs and his pals out of the garden.

Later,
Dan

 

[impdaddy]

Here is a good article on deer management by the Univ of Nebraska. Many different types of control. We are looking at the 2 fence system for our garden. The 'peanut butter fence' alluded to above is also covered. Good reading.:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Deer Control and Management Information

 

[MtHam]

An eight foot fence is considered necessary to keep deer from jumping over. Electric for deer is rarely used, but I suppose could work if it is high enough. I have my garden and orchard fenced with 8' mesh, no electric. My 3 strand 4' electric fence around a much larger area (5acres) is used to keep the free range cattle out! Steel T posts with plastic standoffs. 3 choices for the charger: 110v, 12v, or solar. The solar probably doesn't need to be out of the rain as it is designed to be out in the sun! Ground rods are a necessity, unless you choose to run + and - parallel wires close together. This is usually only done where the soil has poor conductivity. Most charger manufactures have detailed brochures on proper installation. Visit your local TSC or similar type retailer to study what's available.

 

[grsthegreat]

First, despite years of education in other matters, I am a total moron when it comes to electricity and I need some help.

I have a 120 x 120 foot plot of sweetcorn. The last two years it has been wiped out by lack of rain and deer. I can't do much about the rain and all the home remedies have failed for the deer.

So I want to try an electric fence. The plot is about 30 yards in front of my cabin so I'll have a place to plug it in.

So, I'll need a charger, some poly-wire, some plastic posts. What else will I need and need to know? Any help would be appreciated.

The chargers don't cost too much. How about the wire and posts?

(By the time I'm done I should be able to get delicious, fresh, sweet corn at about $2 an ear!)

chargers work on standard 120 volt outlet. You run one wire out to the electric fence wires and one wire out to the ground rod. I have my charger placed about 600 feet from the fence, inside of my garage. The charger powers up 10 acres of fencing (3 wire fence). As long as you use heavy enough, heavily insulated fencing wire to run from charger to fence, it doesnt matter how far unit is from fence. You dont need to complete the circuit back to the charger. Most farm supply stores sell the insulated underground wire to run long feeder wires to charger.

My electric fence deterred deer for one season...the next season they ate the fence. Deer and moose get frightened of anything new for a little while. once they get use to it, they like to destroy it (hehe). My wifes corn ends up costing me about $8.00/ear after you figure in water, fencing, electricity, loss of hair from me pulling it out, etc.

Metal t post are easier then wooden post to install, and there are plastic insulators that clip on the tpost that the wires attach to. I would add a plastic hand switch by the man gate, so you can shut off the charge while working in the field.. I personally have 3 ground rods in use on my fence, as the ground gets awfully dry in the summer time. If your soil stays moist, 1 ground rod is enough. Place ground rods at least 6' apart if you use multiple rods.

Also, PLEASE buy a voltage tester to test your fence after its installed. Buy one thats ment to test elect fences. Our friend installed a new charger last year, hooked it up 100% correct. It killed his horse. turned out that it was defective and when i placed my tester on the fence, it maxed out the display. instead of the 3,000- 4,000 volts the unit was designed to put out, (very low mili maps though) it was over the 8,000 the reader went to...not sure how high it was actually putting out, as no one had a meter that could read that high. Luckly his kids never touched the fence......... And dont buy a real cheep charger.... i personally love the Gallagher brand chargers. Have ued them for years. Nice units.

heres a site for some info...fencing for dummies hehe. helped me.

Red Snap'r Electric Fencing Systems

 

[valley]

We have two grounding rods, one by each corral. I bought a tester like the one grs is showing in his post but the insulation is too thin and I get a shock if I try to use to test the fence. Our charger has an LED read out, at 13 on the LED the fence is no fun to touch.

 

[ragkar]

Somewhere on one of these threads a member complained that his five foot high fence wasn't high enough. So he put three foot extensions on the posts and strung clothes line with ribbons from the extensions. Apparently the visual deterred the deer from attempting a jump.
Don't pee on your electric fence! :laughing:

 

[Redneck in training]

Our garden fence is mesh for the first four feet and then two strand of HT wire. Total height is 6ish feet. I used 8' T posts to hold up the HT wire.

The deer have not gotten into the garden. I was afraid they would and I would have to go up another couple of feet but the fence has worked as is, so far.

Now, that @#$%^&* rascaly rabbit......

Going to have to buy some chicken fence to keep Bugs and his pals out of the garden.

Later,
Dan

If you have owls around place a perch (simple post about 8 -10 ft above ground) in sight of the area you want to clear from rabbits. I discovered it just by accident. The owl decimated the rabbit population in short order.

 

[Redneck in training]

We are at war with deer. We have about 2700 ft of electric fence to protect trees from deer. First there were four poly lines. One of them on a cantilever sticking about 4 ft from the top of the 8 foot tall T post. It worked only for a while. Later on I added one more line. They still got trough it. Then I added two more poly lines. Now there is no way for them to go trough without touching it. They still do go through it though. They just jump trough it. Since the fencer pulses it is quite likely they don't get always zapped. My next step is to add plastic mesh combined with the electric lines on the top.

 

[forgeblast]

around our orchard we have 4' of redbrand field fence with 3' of chicken wire on top of that, to give us the 7' height. The only time i had a deer in there was when a day old deer squeezed through the fence.
I have heard of people using fishing line as fencing to have the deer bump into it it freeks them out. I have not used it and I would think if it broke you would have a mess to clean up.

 

[dmccarty]

If you have owls around place a perch (simple post about 8 -10 ft above ground) in sight of the area you want to clear from rabbits. I discovered it just by accident. The owl decimated the rabbit population in short order.

We have foxes, owls and hawks yet we have a very healthy population of tree rats and rabbits. :laughing: I have seen the hawks catch the tree rats.

A few weeks ago I heard TWO owls a hoot'n at each other right near the garden. I hope they ate Bugs before they starting to talk'n. :laughing: However I suspect Bugs is still out there.

Later,
Dan