electric fence

MDSteve · Sep 21, 2005

This will be my first electric fence project. We are adding an extra pasture for this winter to try and let our other pastures rest and not get muddy during the winter rains. Our plan is to run an electric fence for about 3 acres thru the woods just to give the horses somewhere to walk around during the winter instead of being stuck in the stalls. Currently I can't find any fence boards so this will only need to last the winter. Should I get a battery fence charger or a 110 volt one? I would like to use tape instead of wire but is it all the same or are there diffrent grades? I have been looking thru Jeffers and state line tack in the bathroom for the past few days but would like some input from folks that have done this before.

Thanks,
Steve

MikePA · Sep 21, 2005

Horse Guard Fence with a Parmak solar charger. See attched picture. They have solutions for using wooden posts or T posts.

mathey · Sep 21, 2005

we live in a pretty windy area, so we we advised to not use the tape...we ended up using the Polyrope and the little Parmak solar charger...the fence is 4 lines around 6 acres or so, with several cross field lines as well...installed for 2 years now...whole system works pretty well

MDSteve · Sep 21, 2005

Thanks guys. Keep the info coming. Seems like the solar charger is the way to go. I will have to continue looking at the tape or polywire. I thought the tape would be easier for the kids/horses to see but I think everyone will get zapped at least once to learn not to mess with the fence.

Steve

Charolais · Sep 21, 2005

If you have 110 close enough to use I'd go with the 110 volt models. You get more bang for your buck. I currently have 4 fence chargers going. Started out with one. Those mile figures are misleading. I have one Range Master 12.5 joule output (parmak) one galleger 800-5 joule and two Kencove k6-6 joule chargers .

The key to any good electric fence is voltage. You want the animals to stay in,make sure it's HOT. With cattle I want no less that 3000 volts on the wires. The key to any good fence charger is the ground rod system. For a charger to operate correct it needs one 8 ft. ground rod per 1000 volts of output. When to soil is moist you don't need that many rods but it does get dry and if you don't have a proper ground system the charger isn't much good.

I know nothing about horse fencing but I do have 130 acres fenced in with High Tensile wire for cattle. Here's a site with lots of information for your needs. I've been buying from these folks for 14 years. You need it, they got it and are very very good on a timely shipping. Great folks to deal with. I'm sure there are others as well. http://www.kencove.com/ They also have a large selection of horse fencing supplies. Even if you don't buy from them spend some time reading what they have in their free fence guide. They know electric fence.

kensfarm · Sep 22, 2005

The white polyrope is pretty visable.. I just took some down for a temp enclosure for steers.. ran 3 strands on t-posts.

heehaw · Sep 22, 2005

i've repaired fence chargers as a sideline for about 20 years, and i agree 1000%. if 110 is available, use it instead of a solar unit. a neighbor put in an electric fence just like the link described, lasted several years, then he went back and put in a barbed wire fence, the electric fences work great on most critters, but the web wire or barbed wire works on all but the worse.
heehaw

Jimbrown · Sep 22, 2005

I have about a mile of electic fence. I would use the 110 if you can but the battery ones work ok. I prefer the battery ones running off of a car or deep cycle over the solar ones. The solar ones for the most part use a very small battery and some are only 4.5 volts. I have used all types of wire. Steel and aluminumin. I like the poly rope the best. It is the strongest and last much better than the tape. The tape takes special insulators and the poly rope works with standard insulators. As already stated grounding is the key to a good fence.

MFL · Sep 22, 2005

MDSteve,

Let me second Charolais recomendation for Kencove. They are great to work with and sell high quality, fairly priced products. I have the same size property you do, and I am just finishing my high tensile fence for seven acres. I installed four lines of standard H.T wire for the bottom lines and used Kencoves 'Hotcote' line for the top line. I'm charging lines 1, 3 and the Hotcote, and using 2 and 4 as grounds. Since pasture is surrounded on four sides with pine forest, I decided to use the Hotcote line on top as a sightline. The plain wire is hard to see against the forest background but the Hotcote is very visible to our horses.

Some random thoughts to keep in mind:
Your hot lines will work only as well as your ground. Make sure you have good, deep set ground rods.
If you're farther than 150 ft. from an outlet to your charger, consider a solar/battery charger. The voltage drop on an AC unit will not let it work to its full capacity.
Try and stay away from electric tapes. All the ones I've seen tend to sag in the wind alot more than a wire style.

Good luck. Post pics when the project is done.

MikePA · Sep 22, 2005

<font color="blue"> The solar ones for the most part use a very small battery and some are only 4.5 volts. </font>
The Parmaks use either 6 or 12 volt batteries. Click Here.