Electric fencing for strip grazing - help?

[Bronya]

I've been investigating this. Would need to be a large enough area for two, but small enough that the grass gets eaten right down. Would 10mx10m be ok? I think that's just under 1/4 acre. Bigger? Smaller? Really no idea here...

Looking at robinsons etc, given that there'll be other horses in the same big field, thought better safe than sorry with energisers, height etc. So does this sound ok?

Electric fencing rope (old yard had tape, every time the wind blew it all came down!), corner posts, 52" (130cm) high posts with 4 strands of rope so would need 2 packs of rope, CP250 (might extend the size of the area later in the summer), gate handle and hook thingy. Was thinking one post every 2/3m.

What's the difference between plastic posts and poly insulated posts? What battery is it ok to get? Do you have two batteries or charge it overnight?

Seriously, no idea here - heeeelp!!

 

[puzzles]

hmmm. i may prefer 15-by-15 rather than 10-by-10. this allows for more freedom of movement to burn that fat!
i think it might be a bit small, though i suppose you can always expand it a couple of metres or so either way.

 

[Jessey]

You will be supprised how quickly the grass will be eaten down, but also to avoid fights (even between the best of friends when food is limited tempers can run high) you will need an area of at least the size of a standard manege so 20x40m, so they can get away from each other.

Tall posts are well worth the extra pennies, but I doubt you will need 4 strands on them, 3 set at the top, middle and one in between should be pleanty, you may not even need the 3/4 height one.

Tape does tend to blow a bit more, and can get tangled more easily, but rope doen't break as easily and isn't as visable for the horses - personally I have always used tape, with thick/wide tape and decent posts it doesn't come off that easily.

Re your energiser, buy the best one you can afford, they are worth it, definatly get one with a replacable battery/s if you get one with a specialised battery then it goes wrong it may be very expensive or difficult to get a new one. You can get small ones that run on D batteries, they are OK for small areas but you do have to be careful to keep a regular check on them, I found they didn't last all that long in comparison. Ones that run off car batteries are good, they tend to give pleanty of whack and last pretty well, and you can get car batteries anywhere, often free if you ask local garages for old ones (they won't start cars anymore but normally have enough juice left to run your fences) that way you can have 2 and keep one on charge so you always have a spare

Also think carefully about where you set your paddock up, using a corner means you only have to leccy fence 2 sides - which can save you a fair bit I use lengths of hose pipe tied around the solid fence posts to attach the leccy onto, it insulates it and also uses up split, knackered old hoses and also it will break if a horse were to get hitched in the fence, you can also make a gate with hose pipe as a handle, tie it in a loop and just hook it over a post so you can handle the pipe without getting zapped

When setting up the paddock I would put posts every 6 - 8 meters, unless you are on top of a very windy hill, then you may need them ever 4 meters, and try and set the fence up after rain, other wise you may struggle to get the posts in you have to ensure that the tape/rope doesn't touch the ground anywhere, avoid it touching vegitation too if you can, they can sap a little of the power out of the system. I normally set my posts out first then start putting the tape in starting at the point where you want your gate work away to the fence/other end of the gateway then continue the loop back around again to your start point

Hope that helps and even makes some scense

 

[notpoodle]

welcome to the weird and wonderful world of DIY electric fencing strip fields

getting a fence tester is a good idea as well, so you can see if its on without getting zapped

i have 3ft posts with one line of tape at the top (like you, i sectioned off an existing field) and so far they (one is 12.3 the other 15-16hh) havent tried to jump it. mind you, mine is small, the other horse geriatric

Julia
x

 

[chunky monkey]

Re your energiser, buy the best one you can afford, they are worth it.
You can get small ones that run on D batteries, they are OK for small areas but you do have to be careful to keep a regular check on them, I found they didn't last all that long in comparison.
Ones that run off car batteries are good, they tend to give pleanty of whack and last pretty well, and you can get car batteries anywhere, often free if you ask local garages for old ones (they won't start cars anymore but normally have enough juice left to run your fences) that way you can have 2 and keep one on charge so you always have a spare

Definately go an energiser which runs off a car battery. Best to have two batteries. There about £15 each secondhand round here. Charge the battery for 36 hours. They will last a week. A good energiser from Gallaghers is about £200. Might sound alot I know but its well worth it. We have ours in a vandal proof box as well.

As long as you have a good enegiser then you can get away with 1 strand of tape. Of course if your horse is a jumper then you might be best to go for the taller poly posts and then you can have two strands if needs be. I intersperse the polys with the occasional wooden posts this way if the tape does blow out of the polys the wooden posts still hold the tape up.

I have 1 horse in an area which is about 10 x 10 and he eats it very quickly.

If I get chance do you want me to take some pics of the fencing paddock and the set up. So you get an idea of exactly what you need to get. I'll try and get some close ups of what exactly you need to buy. Initial outlay might seem expensive but its well worth it.

 

[puzzles]

ditto Jessey

 

[Bronya]

Pictures please!

So 1/2 acre would be better? A friend of mine has her two in half an acre, they eat it down well, but it worries me it might be too much even then - her horse got lgl (they think) even on that little grass (never rotated, her allocation at the yard, horses in at night).

The problem I'll have mostly is that one of the horses in the main field apparantly bulldozes electric fencing - I thought more lines would make it look more solid....

 

[Jessey]

If there will be more than one horse you need to allow them room to get away from each other definatly.
There is the line of thought that stressed grass can also cause lami, by continiously grazing the same bit the grass becomes stressed, if you can strip graze (allow access to fresh grass regularly, but ration this access) then that is meant to be better, when mine were on restricted I just moved a bit of the fence in and another bit out everyday by about a foot, this gave them a fresh bit to munch on and stopped it all getting too stressed, by the time we had gone right over one way (how far was dictated by the gate way which stayed still) the other way had recovered enough and we would just work our way back. Also very short grass tends to be richer than very long grass (think lawn compared to knee high 'rough' pasture and how the longer grass is browner and drier, its to do with the roots still only supply the same nutrients/water etc but to a much larger plant so the 'value per mouthful' decreases and it goes the other way when grass is kept short.

If there is a horse who lacks respect for fencing getting thicker tape and adding more 'rails' should help discourage him, for my guy like that I found the best way to get him to take notice was a mains powered energiser, they give more whack and you don't get the inconsistancy that you do with battery powered energisers If you do have access to mains power they are a pretty good option

 

[Showjumper]

Dolly's been in her own electric fenced paddock since about April and is looking very well for it! She's a good girl and only needs 2 strands of electric and her paddock follows the Shetland's about (ie each time the Shetland's moved onto fresh grazing, Dolly's is put where the Shetland's way so she gets fresh grass but not vast quantities). When the cows were put into the field to eat the grass down, I had to put up 4 strands of electric to stop the cows from knocking her paddock down - it worked!