electric fencing questions

[Alameda]

I don't even like changing lightbulbs but have to fence off a long thin strip for them (am hoping they will bomb up and down it and lose some podge) - is there an idiot's guide? Are all batteries compatible with all energisers, more or less?

We've had electric fencing for 20 years at least and I've just realised I've no idea how to fix it up. My mum likes pottering around with that sort of thing and the battery charger is at her house so I've always let her get on with it. How awful is that? . Now I'm going to watch this thread so that I don't have to ask my mum how to do it as a) I'm 45 for goodness sake! and b) she will realise she's been doing all the work all these years .

Just to add to the general confusion my stepdad repaired the power pack and wired the on/off switch back in upside-down so we keep thinking it's off when it isn't and getting a shock. Do you think he did it on purpose?

haha no, that would be mean

I have set up one once before but it was for pigs so just thin string a few inches above the ground and an energiser already hooked up to mains electricity - this will go from a tree to the middle of nowhere, but with insulators apparently it is possible, doesn't have to be an actual circuit?

they are blatantly going to get tangled up in it somehow, there will be a mutiny and will be back to bad old days of lugging water for miles but there is too much grass, what can I do?

(think saggy should come and help me )

Have you got the tall canes? Dhorse just hops over the small ones even though he can barely drag himself over a trotting pole when I want him to.
Mine is now horribly obese too and I'm so ashamed but he's already on restricted grazing, a tiny little bit of feed balancer and literally a fluff of hay so he doesn't get cross when the others are fed next door. The field looks bare but judging by the speed my lawn is growing he is still getting grass as it comes through. I don't see what else I can do as all efforts at lunging have failed and he is now too fat for his saddle. I attempted bareback the other day thinking I could trot around the paddock and burn some fat off me him but he was so wide and wobbly it was all I could do to stay on at a walk, can't remember the last time I went bareback but obviously it's been far too long!
Oh yes, just remembered something about needing an earth? Think that's why we have an enormous old screwdriver stuck in the ground.

4', hope that is tall enough - I know they can jump it, they used to escape from old field and must have jumped the gate but will they bother?

if not it is grazing muzzles but don't like those and will be a nuisance to put on/off twice a day

pony especially is definitely actually obese, it is BAD

I'll help you sweetie.
My hints:
No corners. Curves are better, corners are weak.
No joining knots. Proper connectors are a god send.
Buy good old fashioned white or green posts. The coloured ones, blue or pink, are brittle and dont last anywhere near as long.
No fence contact with anything other than plastic posts or insulators. No wrapping around nails, or wooden posts.
Keep it taut. No saggy bits.
A decent earth rod.
Keep the fence line clear of undergrowth and foliage.
Make your gate wire independent, so when it's open, the rest doesn't sag.
An in line on off switch is very useful.
The cheapest places I've found for supplies are Farmcare UK and Mole Valley Farmers.

I know it's mean, but I let mine in with the fence switched off and allow them to lean on it. I then turn it on. It's a swift lesson but it's one they need to learn.
Any extreme escapologists (Shetlands are an excellent example) as a last resort, gets to wear the headcollar of shame. It has electric tape wrapped round it, with an eight inch dangly bit under the chin. Any attempt to breach the fence is met with a zap. They don't wear it for long!!

Pixel, you need to get mean. No food or hay. Not even if he looks bereft and miserable! Nice non dusty straw only if anything edible is required. If the saddle won't fit and lunging won't work, then pop his bridle on and take him for a walk.

Oh and no rugs. Keeping warm burns calories.

Having to change our electric fencing daily at the moment to section off standing water/mud in their paddock and slowly let them into the good stuff. All a nightmare to be honest.

Anyway Saggy has explained it well. Speak to your stockists - we got our from CWG in Bury - and they will help you.

We've just updated our battery and have gone for a special deal where we got 2 smaller batteries. Works well because we've always got one on charge so can swap them without a changeover period.

Don't forget that as well as posts (large white ones give height options - we likes ours low for the ponies) you need to get an earthing post, the power alternator thingy which goes between battery and fence, black rubber rings for screwing into fences/trees and (easy to forget) a special battery charger unit for your house/stable. Also consider a special gate section if that makes life easier for you. In our Winter field we have a gate section from a post to the fence but in our Summer field we just tie a loop on the end of the tape.

We use wide strips of tape - mostly because they don't seem to get so messed up when you're rolling up or out plus more easily seen.

You need to think if you're going to have one or two rows of tape - we only use one but that is because our ponies aren't natural escapers.

Try to make the fence line as short as possible because the less tape you use the stronger the electric flow.

When you unclip the battery to let them out/change posts do the red gator clip first.

oh thank you, will save on phone and refer as I go

probably someone will help too - we have the green stakes and a load of free green tape, hope it will be visible? horses are not going to be impressed are they

I'm here if you need me, you have my number.

thank you!

just remembered cannot go anywhere/do anything at moment as 1. have grandson and 2. car has a disorder of sticking accelerator to the floor (almost crashed into John Gummer's house when it revved madly round the corner and wouldn't unstick )

so probably Tues or Weds, it might even not be raining by then!

Everything Saggy and Butkin said, plus make sure you have baler twine with you. I have never managed to electric fence an area without tying off the first/last posts to something else.

If you have a Shitland Shetland, they are impervious to electric fence or is mine just a SHIT? Ours walks straight under it because she's worked out that a few shocks are worth it to get to the lush grass. Our bigger horses are all a bunch of screaming pansies in contrast and are totall terrified of the stuff!

We have a shitland cross like that Tiger. She totally ignores the zaps from the electric fencing. I think her ridiculously thick mane helps to sheild her though

You should try a headcollar of shame. It's not failed on a fuzzy felt yet!

Our shetland stays happily in her little paddock.

saggy The bloody shit actually goes down on her knees and shimmies under the fence! DH has given up. He's got so used to our Shetland following him around the yard poking in where she's not wanted, when she's actually in her field on the odd occasion she hasn't bothered to escape he misses her.

It's also extremely funny watching farming reps being greeted at their cars by 2 farm dogs and a 10.2hh Shetland!

headcollar of shame and a strand low enough to not crawl under. six inches above the ground and a 12 inch dangler will do the trick.

Will try the head-collar of shame! And will stand back and await sparks when the little cow touches the fence with interest!

Thanks for tip, Saggy. :)

You need to twizzle the electric wire/tape, all around the headcollar, so you get lots of nice contact! [evil cow emoticon] and put it on quite firmly. Ive got to do this with my sec A youngster soon. He is a right little Houdini bastard! Keeping him in is nigh on impossible sometimes!

carefully measured out all my stakes and stuck them in the ground and unwound about 800m of tape from other field then realised am missing various vital things like whatever it is hooks battery to energiser and thing to clip to tape etc

sticking tongue out at those other liveries who rolled eyes and said 'it's not difficult' IT IS, A BIT, ACTUALLY

so have carefully removed it all for time being

horse found it all highly exciting and did gymkhana bending race at high speed in and out of the stakes, followed by all his friends, which made me feel they were about to kill me at any moment

Just moved out of flooded field into a small section of dry land. Had to keep them penned into a small area without letting them escape and then had to quickly move posts, tape, battery, energiser and metal earthing post before they destroyed the bit they were in.

Certainly does take time and planning - especially to get just the right amount of tape ready.

I think my horses are just going to destroy the whole thing in no time at all, seriously - they haven't been this excited since we found a bridleway (aka miles of gallops) going round helmingham hall deer park last week!

perhaps will have another go tomorrow, expect it gets easier each time you do it? what a pain for you having to do it so often at the moment