Need Help: Electric Fence

SCRich · #1 04/05/08, 10:10 PM

I am running really late but I wanted to get a garden set up about 30x50 or 20x20 depending on some different things. Problem is that we have countless DOZENS of deer, some racoon and fox along with some turkey.

I have some rye grass grown to control errosion during the winter months till we had a chance to do landscaping and with our worst drought last year the deer had nothing to eat so they ate my rye every night. It is fun to watch but it will not be with a garden.

I want to put up an electric fence, I know that deer can jump 8ft sometimes even more but most of what we have are does and yearlings, not much in the way of large deer. Anything is going to help to prevent the deer that do not roam my property but actually live here. Problem is I have NO expirience with electric fences except for how to open one up at a driveway entrance with the insulated handles. Electrical is not a problem for me, I am an engineer but any words of advice ? I am thinking of about 3 or 4 strands of wire on some T poles. How high of a voltage should I go ? I saw a solar powered one at TSC that does 3Kv for $98. I know I need 3 6ft ground rods, a spool or two of wire, insulators and T bars anything else? How far can the T-bars can be from each other. I do not want to get too fancy since this will be my rush garden job so I do not miss out on the season, I'll probably either move the garden or expand it next year. I do not want to sink several hundred dollars into it and have to do something different next year wasting all of this money.

Rich

Bearfootfarm · #2 04/05/08, 10:32 PM

http://www.ibiblio.org/farming-conne...s/fencebld.htm

You can find all the answers here

SCRich · #3 04/05/08, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bearfootfarm

http://www.ibiblio.org/farming-conne...s/fencebld.htm

You can find all the answers here

All but 2 or 3 of the vendor links are dead. It's a start but I'd like to hear from people who actually own them and have built them instead of someone trying to make a buck selling something. Most vendors will just give you the advice they need to line their pockets.

Wisconsin Ann · #4 04/06/08, 07:04 AM

You can do a couple of things...one is surround by a dear barrier....7ft tall screening...comes in black usually..it's VERY lightweight plastic fencing. easy to string from poles.

another thing...deer can jump high, but not far, so if you put up two short fences, 3ft apart, they won't jump. they look at the first fence and calculate if they can fit inside the pathway...they can't. so they don't jump.

BUT you asked about electric. Good article from a gardening master about how to use electric to keep out deer here

If you're going to keep the fenceline clear, then a simple controller will work fine for you. even a small charge will work great for the size you have in mind. If there's a chance that grass/weeds/vines will be on the lines, then you'll want a low impedance. zaps critters right thru heavy wet grass.

a .5 joule output would be enough. 1joule keeps in cattle and deer are a LOT more sensitive

Tposts I'd put maybe 12ft apart. You could also use the step in posts or the fiberglass ones....just check them everyso often to make sure they haven't loosened in the ground. you don't want your wire sagging. put one wire at nose height, another at just a couple inches from the ground will keep out the bunnies and coons, too. (well, at least it will HELP!)

fencing is easy. pound your posts into the ground. secure your insulators to the posts. string the wire. make sure your ground is good. hook it up. the controller will have a light that blinks...you can tell if the charge is good that way, or get a fence tester. cheap to buy, handy to have. lets you isolate WHERE the charge is being stopped.

hmm. Make sure your wire is nice and tight, without pulling your stakes out of line

Wisconsin Ann · #5 04/06/08, 07:06 AM

about biblio....try this link on the mistakes NOT to make

it has links to other "how to do it" sections, too.

http://www.ibiblio.org/farming-conne...s/fencemis.htm

Just remember...he's talking about fencing a HUGE chunk of land out in Montana

agmantoo · #6 04/06/08, 09:09 AM

Information and supplies are available here http://fence-electric.com/fence/99_E...n_resource.php

I would get a Parmak mains charger as it will be reliable and not have a battery to maintain from year to year. This is the most charger for the money that I am aware of http://www.jefferslivestock.com/ssc/...4F&pf_id=12151

If you make the fence 6 feet tall and install another fence on the outside of this fence (3 ft out from the inner fence) using just a couple of strains of hot wire about at 24 and 36 inch high the deer will not attempt to jump the higher inner fence.

Wolf mom · #7 04/06/08, 10:32 AM

I used 10 ft t-posts with 6 ft field fencing. for my garden. Elk don't bother it at all and they jump higher than deer.

I have electric fencing around my baby fruit trees. T-posts & 2 strand electric. With florescent ties waving in the breeze on the top strand.

What I have found interesting, is that I have tied florescent ties (the kind that surveyors, contractors & the electric co. use) around the border of my property (5 acres) on the fencing. Since I have done that, no elk or deer come onto the property at night. (Dogs are loose during the day.)

Little Quacker in OR · #8 04/06/08, 01:28 PM

I am no expert at this but we have electric fencing that runs a few hundred feet keeping the cattle out of my meadow and flowers. Keeps the deer out too although I don't mind them coming in. It's solar powered and works great.
Requires a lot of maintenence though as I must keep any vegetation from growing up and touching any wire or it will short out. So, I just spray that line underneath with Roundup and check it every day especially during the spring and summer when the grasses etc are going crazy.

Good luck with things. LQ

SCRich · #9 04/06/08, 01:29 PM

I like the deer fence idea, have not heard of many locals using it. I'll look into it some more, may cost more than single strand wire but probably cheaper than the posts, insulators, wire and transformer together.

Quote:

Originally Posted by agmantoo

I would get a Parmak mains charger as it will be reliable and not have a battery to maintain from year to year. This is the most charger for the money that I am aware of http://www.jefferslivestock.com/ssc/...4F&pf_id=12151

I do not like batteries or solar either but I got no economical choice. The garden and food plot will be about 650ft + from the home. We have very little flat land other than here, about 2 acres total and then the house area. I'd like to get power out there so I can set up a few camera's and maybe a light or two and some convinence outlet but with the cost of copper wire it would be EXPENSIVE. Yes I am going to do that eventually but right now I can't afford the wire needed to do that long of a run. 1st off will be a 300ft run to the main driveway at the road for a gate,camera and light and that I priced out at $1200!

Other option is having the power company do a power run to that area, thought of that but then I'd get a second power bill for I think $15 a month forever, break even point would be about 13 years. I can do electrical work so it would only be the cost of materials for me. Good thing is that if I take it from the house I'll be dropping circuits here and there along the 650ft to branch off to other locations (27 acres), not if I just have the power company drop a meter on the far end. Decisions Decisions...

ErinP · #10 04/06/08, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Problem is that we have countless DOZENS of deer, some racoon and fox along with some turkey.

An easier solution is: more dogs.
We have five.
The only critter we've ever had to worry about in our garden was one of our border collies who liked to mine in his spare time.

Ed Norman · #11 04/06/08, 02:10 PM

We're putting in an orchard this week and are going with a slant fence like this: http://www.ext.vt.edu/news/periodica...997-10-02.html

RedneckPete · #12 04/06/08, 02:13 PM

If rabbits are a problem in your area, electric wire does little to control them. Not sure why, but they hop in and our of our pastures at will.

Dogs would work better for eliminating deer and coons.

Pete

fishhead · #13 04/06/08, 02:49 PM

I kept deer out of my garden with a $20 pet fence charger and a single strand of wire over the top of a 3 chicken wire fence. The strand was only about 3 1/2'.

The important thing to do is to train the deer to avoid the fence. Put some tin foil smeared with peanut butter on the hot wire.

The day I did that was the last day the deer ate my peas.

Randy Rooster · #14 04/06/08, 02:55 PM

I put up a electric deer fence last year. Ran 3 strands of the poly rope type of fencing- the highest strand set at about 6 feet. I use a battery powered fence charger-it puts out about 7000 volts in pulses. Im about 750 feet from a plug in- thyus the battery type. I special ordered 8 foot t poles from a garden center. I got advice and everything else I needed from premier fence company. Since I put it up I have no more deer problems in my garden.

Randy Rooster · #15 04/06/08, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SCRich

I like the deer fence idea, have not heard of many locals using it. I'll look into it some more, may cost more than single strand wire but probably cheaper than the posts, insulators, wire and transformer together.

I do not like batteries or solar either but I got no economical choice. The garden and food plot will be about 650ft + from the home. We have very little flat land other than here, about 2 acres total and then the house area. I'd like to get power out there so I can set up a few camera's and maybe a light or two and some convinence outlet but with the cost of copper wire it would be EXPENSIVE. Yes I am going to do that eventually but right now I can't afford the wire needed to do that long of a run. 1st off will be a 300ft run to the main driveway at the road for a gate,camera and light and that I priced out at $1200!

Other option is having the power company do a power run to that area, thought of that but then I'd get a second power bill for I think $15 a month forever, break even point would be about 13 years. I can do electrical work so it would only be the cost of materials for me. Good thing is that if I take it from the house I'll be dropping circuits here and there along the 650ft to branch off to other locations (27 acres), not if I just have the power company drop a meter on the far end. Decisions Decisions...

Why not run alumium wire?

agmantoo · #16 04/06/08, 10:28 PM

SCRich, put the charger at the house and run a single hot wire to the garden area. I run temporary fences every day that distance with my rotational grazing. I use the poly wire with the small stainless steel conductors. A roll of that wire would do you entire fence and the poly wire is not very expensive.

SCRich · #17 04/06/08, 11:00 PM

I got to check out the AL wire, I looked at it in Lowes and it was still a bit expensive but if purchased from a commercial supplier it will lower the costs I know. The only issue is having to buy anything that connects to it designed for Aluminum, not a big deal but I got to keep that in mind.

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll look into all of them. It's a great starting point!

agmantoo · #18 04/07/08, 07:49 AM

Since this is a seasonal fence and you need something quick you need to consider this product as it is super user friendly. You can run this all the way from the house where you have AC power. The 9 wire stainless conductor would be my choice. http://www.kencove.com/fence/catalog...=R49GO&page=42

LamiPub · #19 04/07/08, 08:10 AM

My oldest ds just put up a solar powered electric fence this weekend...this our first try so sorry don't have much advice and not sure how ours will work out...I am worried about the grass touching the low wires like mentioned in above post. Not sure how we should take care of that but appreciate the post and links. It is charging now and I hope it works out well!

As for the plastic netting fence.....it might keep out the deer but not any other vermin. We tried the plastic fence first and that is why we know have the electric. The vermin/coons/stray dogs (?) literally chewed holes along the bottom of the fence and had no trouble getting in and out.

Money wasted-lesson learned.

SCRich · #20 04/07/08, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by agmantoo

Since this is a seasonal fence and you need something quick you need to consider this product as it is super user friendly. You can run this all the way from the house where you have AC power. The 9 wire stainless conductor would be my choice. http://www.kencove.com/fence/catalog...=R49GO&page=42

Looks interesting, I'll have to check it out when I get home, right now I am sitting in my truck "somewhat working".

Yes coons are a problem. I have not seen many recently but they are all over, when I first moved here one almost lost it's life. He/She is lucky that I am not as quick at the draw as I should be. I heard something REAL CLOSE to me and by the time the barrel cleared my holster I saw the tail running away!

I have not had the deer feeder out since October but when it was my deer camera would take daily shots at night of coon eating the corn, and sometimes getting stomped by the bolder deer. Maybe now that I do not feed as much (at all) they will not be around.

Rich