electric netting

akane · #1 03/03/13, 05:39 PM

Anyone used electric netting around horses? I was thinking of using it to separate off my chickens, goats, and dogs within the perimeter fences of the pastures. It would have the spacing to keep in all but chicken chicks so I don't think a horse would get caught in it once they knew to stay away from it but it says it's strong enough to repel bears.

where I want to · #2 03/04/13, 12:50 AM

I have used it for several years to keep the goats and horses off the grass in some spots in the winter to give it a chance to grow. I have not had a problem with it- both goats and horses seem to leave alone. My horses are good with fences though so many they have not tested it as some might.
The problem has been with deer occasionally getting hooked in it somehow during the night when the horses are not out. I come out in the morning to find it pulled around.

akane · #3 03/04/13, 02:48 PM

Mine are mostly fence testers and so are my dogs. 2 of the horses break out of the electric tape regularly no matter how tight you keep it and how clean the fenceline is for the fencer to run. They'll take fasteners down with them when they pop between railings. One property we are looking at says it has fenced pastures already which I'm assuming is field fencing that I will add electric tape to or tear down if it's in bad shape. Otherwise we are talking to a company about putting in a 6' chainlink perimeter fence and then the electric tape on the inside. The netting is just to separate species. My akita can clear 6' and the shiba finds loose areas in almost any fencing but if I can zap the buggers maybe they'll think twice about going near the fence. Same with the goats. Electric sheep fencing is the only thing my akita respects and it's not even as high as my waist but she won't go near the neighbor's sheep fence.

2horses · #4 03/04/13, 06:22 PM

I have field fence around the perimeter of my property, one strand of wide electric tape with a fifty-mile charger (on about 14 acres) inside of that keeps horses, cows and goats off it (they used to lean on it badly, now they don't), and then a radio fence wire (with signal set to highest setting) woven in that field fence for the dogs and receiver collars on all four of them. No one touches the fence, nor do the dogs get near it - they know what the limit is before it starts to bite. But they sure patrol the interior boundary it sets up.

ETA - put enough juice to them - dogs and horses both - and they will respect it. I guarantee your neighbor's sheep fence is charged a lot more than your electric is, that's why they ignore yours. It doesn't hurt enough. Your neighbor's does. A lot of people just get a minimum charger and then wonder why it doesn't work. It may shock, but it doesn't knock 'em backwards. THAT'S the effect that will make an impression. Get a whole lot more charger than you need to accomplish that.

akane · #5 03/04/13, 06:37 PM

I can't find people around here who put in field fencing. We searched for 3 years to find a fencer for our current property and now we are moving near a big city with fewer such people. There are a ton of chainlink and wood fence companies though. The electric I order online and the netting has free delivery. The problem with the current tape is probably all the grounding from trees and brush plus not a deep enough grounding rod and t posts as corner posts that keep bending in making the fence have give. I did not install it though so don't look at me. The part I installed no one has escaped through. I want to use netting in place of tape though because it gives more physical barrier for the smaller animals. It's hard to get the individual strands close enough for a 30lb dog or baby dwarf goat and it definitely wouldn't hold back a small breed bantam chicken. The smaller dog is a hardcore chicken killer. I thought about invisible fencing for the dogs but they are fluffy breeds and I have to shave and really tighten down the electronic collar I have so collars getting knocked out of place and hair not getting trimmed often enough is likely to happen.

2horses · #6 03/05/13, 10:58 AM

You would think that if they can install chain link, they could handle field fence too, but I guess not every fence company does - that's too bad, hope you find someone, because I would not choose chain link for livestock at all. Birds and dogs, yeah, but it's not safe for horses.

For our electric fence, we have three grounding rods, about three feet long each, placed about a foot or two apart on ours. People will tell you that proper grounding can make or break your charge, and it's true. I'm fortunate that the place I hung my charger is also near my outdoor AC unit for the house, and the grounding rods are below the drain line so it stays fairly moist. I know it's grounded really well and any vegetation that touches it gets burned - that's how hot it is. Takes a lot to get a determined, destructive, 1500lb cow to respect a fence, but mine do.

As far as the dogs go, two of mine wearing the collars are Great Pyrenees crosses - tons of hair. I just make sure the collar is it snug enough to make contact (but not too tight, made that mistake once and caused pressure sores on one, but loosened it up one notch and it was fine), use the long prongs instead of the short ones, and have never shaved either of them. The collar and receiver make their way next to the skin on their own and make plenty of contact. The bigger, heavier receivers hang down under their throat naturally due to their weight. They don't budge.

akane · #7 03/05/13, 01:52 PM

No amount of tightening down and wiggling the collar makes the contacts work on my akita. I even had her breeder who uses them on her dogs try and we never got a reaction. I ended up using a beard trimmer to cut through the fluff around her neck so I could train her to the collar. Now so long as she's in a semi controlled environment she just listens to the warning beep and I don't have to use the shock part so it doesn't matter. In a completely uncontrolled environment though with prey to chase she'll run right through the highest setting of a sport dog collar which are some of the strongest on the market.

2horses · #8 03/05/13, 03:24 PM

Yes, sport dog is what we have. And that's crazy that it won't make contact on your Akita! One of my dogs used the beeping warning so much on her collar that her battery wore down faster than the others - I swear she knew if she made it beep long enough it eventually would quit biting! So we turned that feature off on the signal and now they just get shocked without the warning. It took away the boundary-pushing efforts of the one, once she got taken by surprise a time or two. Dogs are so smart.....

And I have no doubt mine would run through their radio fence too if it were the only form of containment. Especially chasing critters away!

rideatrail · #9 03/05/13, 08:06 PM

Instead of chain link you might want to try "No Climb" fencing, a heck of lot cheaper, uses t post or wooden post