Electric Fence's

I was wondering, after repairing a single strand fence, which has wood posts, 1"x6" wood top rail and steel mesh/ag type/livestock fence below the top rail to the ground, stapled to the posts about testing same.

The charger is a 5 mile Zareba, plug in receptacle type, the run is 350-400 feet or so, 3 copper clad earth grounds, 3 feet into moist soil,(cannot get any deeper) properly clamped and #10 copper wire, feeder to electric strand is same, no splices, insulators are good, nothing touching. Feeder is securely twisted together, wire nut tightened, and tightly sealed in electrical tape copper and galvanized steel wire are dissimilar metals/materials, so maybe it will oxidize at some point. Used to be common to find stainless steel wire when I was a kid, must be too expensive now.

At the charger, the tester reads 4000, its a black plastic case, inexpensive type, has 5 filaments that illuminate, you have to shade to see them, I think max is 5000, I assume measured in volts, but am unsure for this application what that means. Electric fence for dummies

Test at the strand, it reads about the same, 4000, however, you can keep your index finger on it, feel a tingle, then bridge with your thumb and hardly notice it, however move that thumb down to the metal fabric/livestock fence, you get a real nice jolt, you cannot hold your hand there. What I am wondering, does a horse with front shoes on, in moist ground, get the same jolt or is he getting what I described for the index finger ?

Our stallion lives in here, he's a well mannered, friendly fellow, never any trouble, really kind of an exception, I trust him more than any other horse in the barn, all the riders love this guy. The only reason for the strand is, he cribs and knocks the rails off sometimes.

Billy.......didja know horses have "sensitive" noses and will actually "feel" the electrical pulses in the top wire WITHOUT touching it??? Just like you can make the hair on yer arm kinda stand-up by rubbing a rubber balloon over them.

The reason you don't seem to feel much when you touch just the topwire is yer wearing RUBBER boots/sole shoes. When you touch both the topwire and the field fencing that has been tyed the metal fencepost you are completing the circuit between the charger ground and the charger output. Yeah, 4000-volts (peak) should knock ya onnna yer dummmbutt ........respectfully, Dell

Try it BAREFOOT, Billy!

Gallagher's new recommendations are to use galvanized grounds and leads to ground and to fence due to bimetallic oxidation. I've wondered if this may be there way of saying copper is too expensive....

When I go copper to galvanized I do try to use antioxident paste inside heat shrink tubing thats then taped with rubberized tape. As to the ground rods, I dont know if it makes a difference but in shallow soils I put the rods in the ground horizontally to get a full 8 foot earth ground. 3 rods 3 feet each should yield the same effect.... with should being the key word.

I suppose you could attach a short length of wire to your fence and an insulated fence post stuck in the ground. Lead your horse over with a bucket of feed and no lead rope. Then grab the insulated post and touch the wire to the horse. That would be the quick way to train them and test your fence. Don't get trampled in the process.

Billy, I can tell you what a horse feels from an electric fence. When I was a kid on the farm, we had a work horse. It was time to get the cows up to milk. The horse was standing up by the barn in the shade. I jumped up on him bareback and no bridle, tried to get him to go and he had other ideas. Everytime I kicked him in the ribs, he'd back up a step. I turned his head around so his butt was aimed at the fence and kick him in the ribs until he backed into the fence. When he touched it all H--- broke loose. I thought the top of my head blew off. We were headed down the lane full tilt. I was hanging onto his mane with a headache and blurry vision. We did get the cows up, AND I never did that again. Never thought the horse has four bare feet for ground.

I was wondering about that, he knows its there all right, and ya hate to have it like that, but more or less for safety, having him respect that old fence line ought to keep him away from it a little better.

Seems I've got full power then, I was not sure but assumed that was how it works, does give you a nice jolt.

When was about 10 years old went after the cows for milking and crawled through the fence right where there was a big rock. My back must of touched the hot wire the same time my forehead touched the rock. I thought someone hit me in the head with a baceball bat. Was about 1/2 mile from the barn where the fencer was plugged in. Got back to the barn with the milk cows, but didn't feel worth a shi??.

- well I knew better n that, played it safe, thumb and index finger, short path, no shoes.... LOL, lets not but say we did LOL !

I think about the same age, I was up on top of the hill behind the barns, field was being used as pasture, and I crossed 2 strands, from one of those old type chargers, it knocked me on my @ss. Not sure if it was the weed burner kind, was orange and blue, with a blinking light.

That makes for one scary ride, and kinda confirms your fence is not shorted !

(quoted from post at 13:12:22 04/16/11) Billy, I can tell you what a horse feels from an electric fence. When I was a kid on the farm, we had a work horse. It was time to get the cows up to milk. The horse was standing up by the barn in the shade. I jumped up on him bareback and no bridle, tried to get him to go and he had other ideas. Everytime I kicked him in the ribs, he'd back up a step. I turned his head around so his butt was aimed at the fence and kick him in the ribs until he backed into the fence. When he touched it all H--- broke loose. I thought the top of my head blew off. We were headed down the lane full tilt. I was hanging onto his mane with a headache and blurry vision. We did get the cows up, AND I never did that again. Never thought the horse has four bare feet for ground.

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Thanks for the belly-laugh j. I haven't laughed like that in a long time. ....... :lol:

Key phrase; don't get trampled and or kicked ? LOL.... this guy knows about electric fences in years psat, this fence was in disrepair, poor splices etc., so its been off. Was time to repair it correctly.

I am sure he remembers, I don't think I'd have the 'nads to try that, the one thing I hate about dealing with horses is when they suddenly spook or something, we are very fortunate to have mostly quiet ones, though I have one from the track thats smart as a whip, but very defensive, better to let em learn on their own.

This particular stallion is just one happy fella, likes attention, calm and fun to work with, by the same token he respects you just the same when he's feeling his oats, thats the one thing I like about him, that respect, not having to worry when working around him, his offspring are very much the same.

I will admit that its funny when they first learn about that live top strand though !

I would think their rationale is to avoid dissimilar materials, that would make sense, galvanized to galvanized, always wondered how the zinc coating conducts to the steel etc. I really liked some components of old fences, locust posts, porcelain insulators and stainless steel wire, minus the barbed wire for horses, still find lengths of that stainless, makes nice tie wire, I never toss it.

Good practice to take in consideration that those materials will probably oxidize, I suppose dielectric grease might work too. It's probably going to last a lot longer, I think its wise to make good splices across the board, always comes back to haunt you when you don't. I like that 3M rubberized tape, and or most 3M products, performs the way it should.

Used to feed hogs on a feed floor with one hot wire around it. I had to learn the hard way to just turn a few out there at a time when they're new to the hot wire. The first run at it I turned 250 of them out at once. They panicked from all the squealing and went through the fence. I also learned the hard way to not use a hot wire for the gate. If I ever wanted to get them to go out the gate they wouldn't cross that line where the hot wire was. When cleaning the feed floor I'd leave the tractor in with the hogs with the loader touching the fence while I took the loaded spreader to the field. When I'd come back in from the the tractor would be sitting there untouched. Never did get tired of watching those ornery buggers find out what that wire did. Out of feeding thousands of hogs that way, the fence only killed one. It went down squeeling, got stiff and died. Must have had a bad heart. Jim

What does it do when you pee on it?

Find an older Parmak SE3 they put out 10000 volts.It will eat your tester and you wont put your fingers on the terminals more than once.

You mean one that works like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqjtz3rEPG0

Billy, I've got a couple mustangs and a couple burros. When we brought the horses home, one didn't learn until it run through the fence the first time but when they are running full bore then they probably don't notice the shock anyway. Same thing with the burros as one of them ran through the fence while carousing around in the corral.

They can feel it in the wire through their nose or whatever and I see them feeding on grass under the fence with the hot wire a half inch away from their forehead. I used to keep a wire across the gate to keep them from leaning on the gate but then they wouldn't want to go through the gate without a lot of prodding.

I run 2 wires at 2' and 4'. Have to be low enough they can't lay down and roll under it and tall enough they can't be tempted to jump it. I've watched them stand next to a 3' fence and jump it. Horses have been known to just side up to a fence and roll over it.

I also keep a gapped spark plug hooked to the fence with an old spark plug wire and regular wire wrapped around the threads going to ground. It zaps every fourth time or so which lets them and me know the fence is working. At night you can see the spark at a distance.

No hot wire is going to stop your stallion if a mare in heat comes by.

You should be fine..... Slaughter is common here and some of our girls don't know how close to death they are :roll: ......

Got some that respect the fence and some that are electrical engineers and only respect the shock and can tell where it's the weakest spot.
One place, I have a water trailer backed up with the drinker sticking thru the fence for them. Couple of genious' figured out the pulse and if they pushed the band against the tank, they could go thru the fence without getting shocked. I made a couple modifications that humbled them though......... Couple will not pass the boundary if the fence is laying on the ground. I quit trying to figure them and just concentrate on outsmarting them....

Good Luck,


Dave