One of the most challenging aspects of standing up or new farm here in Texas, has been fencing. Back in Oregon we relief heavily on electric fencing to contain everyone in their space. We even developed a new setup for electric pig and sheep fencing that worked quite well... There. Here in Texas, not so much.
The problem we face here is sand. Lots of sand. Dry sand is not a good enough conductor of electricity to work. The pigs have figured that out!
The first couple months, all was ok. Well.. with the pigs. But lately they realized that the electric wires that scare them so much don't actually hurt that bad. In fact, freedom is with the light pain to get there.
As a last straw, this resulted in almost losing our entire potato crop! We ran town on a few errands and when we came back, discovered that the pigs had escaped! Apparently they hung out in the back garden and snack on a few new potatoes! When we find them, pretty much every plant was pulled out, and the roots scavaged for small tender potatoes. We scrambled to get the plants back in the ground and water heavily, but still we lost maybe half.
We have tried most everything on pig fencing. From 3 to 5 stands, from rope to plain wire, replaced the charger battery, added hot and ground alternating, etc. Even tried using hard panels and they still busted out. So. . Time for a new idea.
Here it is
This is a new type of electrical fence setup. Electric panels. Each panel is built as a self contained unit 16 feet long. It has 7 wires alternating hour and ground. Wires are about 2 inches apart. Post are step in.
Being separate panels means they are ready to stand up, pull down, and move. Much like a netting fence, but only 16ft long.
More to come in this fencing type. For now, waiting to see how well it works.
The problem we face here is sand. Lots of sand. Dry sand is not a good enough conductor of electricity to work. The pigs have figured that out!
The first couple months, all was ok. Well.. with the pigs. But lately they realized that the electric wires that scare them so much don't actually hurt that bad. In fact, freedom is with the light pain to get there.
As a last straw, this resulted in almost losing our entire potato crop! We ran town on a few errands and when we came back, discovered that the pigs had escaped! Apparently they hung out in the back garden and snack on a few new potatoes! When we find them, pretty much every plant was pulled out, and the roots scavaged for small tender potatoes. We scrambled to get the plants back in the ground and water heavily, but still we lost maybe half.
We have tried most everything on pig fencing. From 3 to 5 stands, from rope to plain wire, replaced the charger battery, added hot and ground alternating, etc. Even tried using hard panels and they still busted out. So. . Time for a new idea.
Here it is
This is a new type of electrical fence setup. Electric panels. Each panel is built as a self contained unit 16 feet long. It has 7 wires alternating hour and ground. Wires are about 2 inches apart. Post are step in.
Being separate panels means they are ready to stand up, pull down, and move. Much like a netting fence, but only 16ft long.
More to come in this fencing type. For now, waiting to see how well it works.
posted from Bloggeroid
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