Help the cow is walking down my fencing?

[Teacupliz]

Our heifer calf is now almost 1 and she is walking over all our fencing. We have had goats for 10 years and they are suppose to be hard on fencing. Well Tasha is just walking it all down. It has been wet so I guess the post are easy to push over. We have 4ft woven wire. Put in with T-posts. Can anyone tell me how I can improve our fencing to hold in a cow. Money is very tight. So I am looking for the cheapest way-- that also looks nice.

Thanks Liz in NY
Teacup Farm

[translplant]

Electric or barbed wire.

[Christina R.]

We've kept Corabelle out of the garden with electric fence. I bought the master unit at home depot for about $70 and one roll of the yellow electric fence line. It has worked wonders. Even with money being tight, you might want to consider getting a solar unit, especially if it isn't convenient to get electricity out to the master unit.

[unioncreek]

I'd put a strand of electric on the top. Make sure that you have at least a couple of good ground rods and preferably threee. So that when the first few times she touches it that she gets a food shock. The majority of my place was electric at one time, three wires. My cows won't even go close to it since they got some pretty good shocks when I first put it up.

Bobg

[Hammer4]

If money is tight, get the cheapest charger and enough of the lightweight wire ( 14 gauge or so ) and run a strand along the top of your fence. Horses and cattle will do the same thing, lean on and push on fences until they shove them down or over unless you have something to keep them off...and electric is more effective than barb wire, some cows will rub themselves on the barbwire to scratch an itch here and there, and over goes your fence eventually.

[Celtic Herritag]

Our hiefer is the same way any fence she comes across she'll push it down and walk over (and then look stupidly at you if you try to get her to walk back over the fence). Barbwire has no effect other than it dosen't get pushed doen with the rest of the fece, so you'll have a nice mouth shaped hole for your hiefers head to get stuck in. So learning from several combined hours putting up, restretching and tacking abused fences, and chasing the cow we have learned to install every fence with a single strand of hot wire at the top. She'll sniff it and get a good shock on her wet nose and never bother your fencing again.

[JulieLou42]

And that's the TRUTH...ELECTRIC! After 3.5 years of worrying about and repairing field fencing, such a blessing a hot wire is! Put it at her "shoulder" height, about top of their/her front legs. [I know very little bovine anatomy talk!] She STAYS clean away from it.

[Alice In TX/MO]

I like the height their nose is when they stretch forward to sniff something new. BZAP! Usually takes only once.

Yup yup, hot wire.

[unioncreek]

I had a Hereford bull that grew up around and electric fence. Had him seperated from the cows and was going to turn him in in about two weeks. I went out and he was jumping over a 5 foot high board fence to get to the cows, I just left him in since he was already doing the deed. He wouldn't even come close to the two wire electric.

Bobg