Hey gang, long time no post with little time in the shop.
I intend to installl 1/4 mile of electric fence (my first time) and I have 3 questions.
1. I intend to use insulators that attach to my t-posts. My posts are set at 9 feet apart. Q: Do I have to put an insulator on each post? Can I space them at 12 or 18 feet apart?
2. My power source is dang near in the middle of this stretch. Can I attach my hot wire there and have it run in both directions? I.E. run 1/8 mile West and 1/8 East.
3. The supply store wants to sell me a $25 grounding rod. Uh....I have plenty of t-posts available. Can I just drive a 6’ t-post about 5 foot in the ground and use that?
Thanks in advance for all your valuable knowledge and advice.
Use an insulator on every post, over time the wire will get some sag.
You can place the energizer wherever it is convenient.
Those first two, I am sure of. As to the grounding, I would try with just the T-post, making sure you have good contact with bare metal on the post. This one is conjecture.
I intend to installl 1/4 mile of electric fence (my first time) and I have 3 questions.
1. ...Do I have to put an insulator on each post?...
2. My power source is dang near in the middle of this stretch. Can I attach my hot wire there and have it run in both directions?...
3. ...Can I just drive a 6’ t-post about 5 foot in the ground and use that?
Terry,
I've run a lot of electric fence at my farm. A 1/4 mile is short - I think the chargers I have are rated for 20 miles. You can attach the hot wire from the charger anywhere and it will work just as well.
You need an insulator on each post. I have ceramic insulators on wood posts and plastic snap on insulators on metal posts.
Is this to keep livestock in or out? To keep dogs or varmints out? The type of fence you need might be different. (It takes very little to keep horses and llamas in compared to goats and donkeys. It can be challenging to keep dogs and varmints out.)
You really need a good ground. For a long run it is recommended to put a ground rod at the charger and another one or two at some distance from the charger, depending on the run. I suspect just one would be ok for a short run like that but I used three on one run that was about the same. The type of soil and how damp it is should be considered. The fence relies on the animal touching the ground and then touching the charged fence. If the path through the soil is poor the shock at the furthest point may not be effective.
I would spring for the real ground rod. A T-post has several possible problems - they are usually painted and where not painted the steel may rust and may eventually quit conducting. The ground rods I used are galvanized to prevent rust. A ground rod is best driven deep but fence posts are hard to drive deep into some soils. A real ground rod uses a clamp for a good electrical connection but it may be difficult to make a good connection that lasts to a T-post.
The fence itself can help with the grounding. The woven wire fencing helps with the grounding. Are you running barbed wire or high tensile wire? Alternating strands of hot and ground which can help provide a shock path when the animal touches in two places. But animals with heavy coats are insulated so the best path is still through the feet to the nose.
One thing I like to do is run a length of galvanized high tensile barbed wire directly on the ground around the entire fenced in area. For woven wire fencing this helps prevent digging. For any type of fencing it helps with the grounding. When installing new fencing I install the corner posts with bracing first, stretch the barbed wire tight against the ground, then use that to guide driving the posts in a straight line.
I used quality crimp connectors for wire and screw-on clamps for rope and tape. I run the electrical path under metal fences with their direct burial wire.
Are you getting government assistance on the fencing? They paid for 75% of my fencing. (They will not cover boundary fencing.) If you use their program, you have to follow their guidelines for materials and construction. I drove 6" PT wood posts 3' into the ground in all corners, bracing posts 10' on either side of the corners, and metal posts between.
I put my posts around the horse pasture at 10 ft but could easily have gone 12-15' - stretched conductive tape and some wire. I put posts around my llama fields at 10' and stretched 4x4" woven wire with electrified 12ga on top and two strands of conductive rope spaced on standoffs on the inside.
Also, check your state fencing laws, they may have specific requirements.
I don't have photos specifically of my fencing but this is the woven wire with high tensile electric on top and two strands of conductive rope to prevent animals from destroying the woven wire by using it for a back scratcher.
Bear fences, and that is the real term, are pretty common for people living in parts of Alaska and Canada. Some are portable and are used around campsites. When they are done properly they can deter even a big brown although nothing short of a tall concrete wall will absolutely stop one if they are determined.
I keep bees as one of my hobbies and last year I had to put up a fence after a bear rummaged through my hives. He came by three times in two days...so I moved my hives much closer to my house, behind my shop. It took him about a week to find the hives again, and after two visits in two days I had to put up a fence to save my last hive. There are many beekeepers in my area so I had some good advice.
It takes a powerful fencer (mine is 3.1 joules) to keep a bear away. Bears have thicker fur than most animals, so a fencer for horses or cattle won’t be strong enough to send a shock through it. You also have to start the fence wires fairly low to the ground (6”) and have a wire every foot or so up to around four feet high. The higher wires are usually what stops them but they know how to stoop and dig so a few wires are not enough. We have had drought conditions several times in the last few years, so instead of installing ground rods I ran ground wires on the fence itself, alternating between ground and charged. The bears have to hit two wires to get a shock but I ran the lower wires 6” apart, the higher wires around 8”, so I’m also covered for skunks and raccoons.
I read the post where a member said he has a problem with drought and thus used several grounding rods.
Q: Can I attach my grounding wire to the grounding rod AND to the barbed wire fence? Seems like this way whenever an animal (our problem is feral hogs) touches the electrified wired and any part of the fence that the circuit would be complete.
Do not charge a barbed wire fence. Skin is an excellent insulator and limits the charge passing through a person touching the wire. A barb stuck through skin could cause injury or death with a robust charger.
In dry soil grounding is a problem.
My experience confirms everything Jordan said. Premier Fence company has lots of good information on fencing - raccoons to elephants.
I wasn’t going to electrify the fence, I was just thinking of using the fence as a “universal” ground. I mean, it has a t-post driven 2’ deep every 9 feet. I would have a single strand isolated hot wire attached to the t-posts with insulators.
Any person or animal speared and/or tangled in the barbed wire is going to be potentially part of the circuit. I tried grounding to a section of field fence and tee posts and the whole fence become charged. Tee posts are not very deep and in dry weather they provided little ground.
My fence is grounded to a 30' culvert. The fence is no better than the ground. If you think your dirt is too dry to get a good ground then alternate the hot/ground wires on the posts.
Our problem is feral hogs. They have done thousands of dollars of damage to parts of our 186 acres. I have an 18 acre pasture that we have spent thousands of dollars to get it in an income producing state. We only got 40 bales of hay off of it last year and had (notice past tense) really high expectations this year....until...the hogs have torn up so much of it that we may be back to square one. Sigh....country living.
A good 30-06 round is quite effective, but I just can’t hunt all night, every night.
Again, thanks for the input. I’ll get “back in the box” and do it correctly.
you need some professional advice. Premier Fence company is an excellent choice. You local ag office is another. You need advice on grounding, wire spacing and energy source for your specific application. Don't go cheap on the energy source- Premier or Gallager would be my choices. These boxes require some more than trivial grounding. It is fair game to run a ground wire for many feet to find a water source for ground.
Different animals require different fence strategy. When shocked sheep bull ahead so they have to be trained with electric in front of a physical barrier fence.....for example. pigs, I don't know.
High tensile wire is likely the wire of choice, but your ag office will know what has been effective in your area. Given what you are trying to keep out I might violate good sense and possibly State Law and the bottom wire where they would try to dig under with would have barbs.
The good news is domestic pigs are extremely terrified by electricity, so feral pigs may be too.
I run a Gallager energizer that dumps several joules of charge into the fence at something over 10,000 volts. It is recommended to use 3 grounding rods for this device. A few tee posts driven 10" into dry ground does not equal the grounding capacity recommended. Touching a ground floating above true ground will result in the person touching establishing an additional ground and you will feel a tingle-more of less- as you become an additional grounding point.
“There are three kinds of men. The ones that learn by readin’. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.” --Will Rogers
When you get into exotics it is best to consult experts and in my mind that would be Premier Fence Company in Iowa, or perhaps your local Ag office. The provide fencing solutions for elephants to coons.
My fence energizer will make your arm numb for a while if you get a good shot from it. I have found dead birds that have provided a path from fence to ground. Rather than fight bears we gave up sheep.
I've also learned a few of his rope tricks from the old Western Horseman book (to say I ain't no Will Rogers is an understatement but I can still spin a wedding ring ):
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