Eight Acres

We have some areas of our property with severe erosion damage that we are trying to repair (more here ).  This means that the cattle need to stay out as they just do more damage, however we don't want to be building massive permanent fences all the time, particularly when it may only be a temporary need.  The solution is electric fencing. fencing off our drain area and hoping something will grow Now that we have the gear and fence set up, I can't believe we didn't do it before, its so easy!  It can be a little expensive, but so are permanent fences, so you just have to weigh up the benefits and if you want something that's quick to set up and easy to remove later, this is the way to go. Firstly, we were given a small energiser (father-in-law bought it at a garage sale, amazing what he finds sometimes!), and a small roll of tape.  We bought a new car battery and some electric fence stakes.  We plugged it all in and dared each other to touch the tape.........

When Pete’s dad bought our first electric fence energiser from a garage sale, it came with a roll of electric fence polywire that turned out to be lots of short lengths joined together with knots. When we set up the energiser with this wire it did not provide a decent shock because all the joins did not connect all the wires properly. If you have a good look at polywire you will find that it is several strands of very thin wire woven into a plastic mesh. The heavier duty more expensive polywire has more wires and stronger mesh. If you need to join two lengths of polywire, you need to make sure that all the individual wires are in contact to pass on the electrical charge down the fence. We ended up buying a new roll of polywire, and then the fence worked properly. melting the ends of the polywire Much later I came across the answer in one of the manuals that the electric fence companies give out (if you are interested in electric fencing, this is a great way to find out more, ...

Since we first experimented with electric fences, we are gradually using them more with our cattle and finding how useful it is to be able to quickly create temporary fences when and where we need them. We have also made some semi-permanent fences, around a dam at Cheslyn Rise and around the hugelkultur at Eight Acres. We leave these in place and just hook them up to an energiser when the cattle are in the paddock (but we might replace them with a permanent fence one day). The only problem we have had with electric fences is when the batteries go flat. Some of our cattle refuse to go near any electric fence no matter if it is connected to an energiser. This is very convenient as we don’t actually have to remember to attach an energiser. Bella and Molly (the dairy house cows) will not even step over a non-energised electric fence wire if I put it on the ground for them and call them over. I think they are superstitious. The braford cattle respect electric fences when they...

While I like to use electric fencing for quick temporary fences, I do think its important to have a strong permanent fence for the boundary, around the house yard and, on a larger property, other fences to divide the property into paddocks. This ensures that your cattle stay on your property even if your internal electric fence fails (for example, it the battery runs flat). For cattle, barbed wire is essential, at least four strands, if not five. Animal mesh can also be used, especially if you also keep goats or sheep, but be aware that cattle can climb over mesh by stepping on each section and gradually pulling it down (it sounds ridiculous, but I have seen this happen a couple of times), so a barbed wire top strand is needed to prevent fence climbing. To read the rest, see my article on Farm Style . Anything to add?

We've been very slow to start using electric fencing.  It all seemed very complicated to me, which is stupid really, I did study physics at high school and university, I should be able to understand how an electric fence works!  Maybe I was over-thinking it, because now they seem very simple and very very useful. Strip grazing a paddock of forage sorghum If you have a small area that you need to fence permanently or temporarily, electric fencing is the cheapest, most flexible and quickest method.  I seriously don't think we'll be doing much more barb-wired fencing, apart from our perimeter fences and maybe to split up our largest paddock. For a simple temporary fence, all you need is electric fence wire or tape, fence posts or clips to attach to an existing fence, an energiser and a battery (unless you get a mains powered energiser).  We usually run the wire/tape out around the area, and then position the posts at sensible intervals.  We ...

Before we let the new steers out of the cattle yards at Cheslyn Rise, we had to check all the fences in the first paddock.  Checking fences and tightening the barbed wire is slow, but quite easy if you have the right tools. fence strainer When I first saw fence strainers I had no idea how to use them.  Actually every time I see them I can't remember how to use them!  Luckily Pete had a tutorial from an old farmer at one stage and he can always remember how to use them.  What you do is put a chain or plain wire around the fence post and clip the big part of the tool onto the chain/wire.  Clip the small part onto the fence wire that you want to tighten (and this is the same process if fixing an existing fence, or building a new one).  You use the other end of the big part to creep over the chain on the small part, which pulls the tool together to bring the wire closer to the pole and pull the fence tight. tightening the fence wire When you have...