Electric Fence Questions

[mbosma]

Hi folks,

I'm new to electric fencing, and need some advice.

I have a two acre field that I'm going to pasture two-three pigs in this summer. I'm planning to set up a 2 wire fence with three or four sections for rotational grazing. I've purchased a .5 joule low impedence Gallagher charger and a good grounding system.

Will the .5 joule charger be enough? I plan to move the fence every few weeks and will mow the grass along the lines before setting it up so there shouldn't be too many places where weeds get into it.

Most places I've read online say to buy at least a 3 joule charger for hogs, but I'm setting up less than 1 mile of wire. I know the joule rating is used to determine how long I can go with the wire, and have read 1 joule for ever 6 miles to keep the voltage up.

Is the joule rating the ammount of shock the animal will recieve, or is it a measurement of how far the voltage can travel to reach the end of the fence? I'm confused.

My goal is to give a very strong shock, but not over-spend on a charger. I may not like raising pigs and don't want to invest too much.

Thanks for the education,
-Matt

 

[whistlepig]

Chargers are kind of the least to worry about for a strong electric fence. More important is the quality of the connections and the ground. We have all stainless steel connections (Ramm). We also have three 8' grounds 10' apart for the charger connected in parallel. A really good charger with poor connections and poor ground is not as good as a really bad charger with good connections and and good grounds.RAMM - Horse Fencing, Stalls, and Equipment, Electric Fences, and Equine Products

 

[sweettractors]

I have found by experience, that where you run a hot wire, it will take forever for a hog to go past that line even though you remove the wire. Ken Sweet

 

[whistlepig]

I would think it difficult to turn a hog with an electric fence. I have raised a few hogs but not with electric fencing. We use our electric fence to turn horses. It works very well for that.