Electric Fencing Question

Mattie420 · #1 07/28/14, 10:57 AM

I don't know what the deal is but I decided to set up an electric fence to keep my "Houdini" goats in the pasture area and set it up exactly like the instructions say but the shock is only at a deterring level in the first 50ft or so of fencing. I have the required amount of grounding rods spaced the right amount. the only thing I can think of thats causing the drop in power is because of weeds?? Now the weeds are bad in some spots but not even a factor in others. Do the weeds effect the shock that much? After that first 50ft i can touch the wire and only feel little tiny prick like the tippy tip of a thorn where as the first 50ft will make me jump

BTW I'm using polywire with a "10 mile controller" and the length of electric fence is a total of about 600ft or so at the most. Please help cause these goats are driving me crazy by continuing to prove that my fence is no match for them

Alice In TX/MO · #2 07/28/14, 12:08 PM

Inadequate charger. Weeds. Polywire that won't stop goats anyway.

paintpony · #3 07/28/14, 12:12 PM

Not enough info on your fence. Single strand of polywire? or...how tall, how much space between wires.. how old are the goats? All these contribute to how to help you with the fencing problem.

Personally, I never had luck keeping goats in with just polywire strands. Once they can get their head through, the body usually follows.

Mattie420 · #4 07/28/14, 12:39 PM

One strand that goes about 250-300ft around the bottom of an existing fence and then up back along the top of the fence to the start place. It's one wire to answer your question that's on top and bottom of an existing fence. Goats are both about 6-7 months old.

MDKatie · #5 07/28/14, 12:43 PM

It has been dry in NC, hasn't it? My first guess would be that the grounding rods aren't getting a sufficient ground because the soil is too dry. Turn your fence off, and slowly pour a 5 gallon bucket of water over each rod. When it gets droughty here in the summers, my fence charger isn't as effective.

Polywire should do fine as a deterrent as long as the charger is working properly. It wouldn't hurt to trim the weeds if possible. Also make sure to walk around the fence and make sure it's not grounding out somewhere else.

paintpony · #6 07/28/14, 01:21 PM

Mattie420,

What kind of fence is the polywire attached to? Woven wire board? How are the goats getting out? Jumping? or going through?

Do you have a fence tester? If you do, you can check for shorts easier. I agree that if it's been dry to water the ground rods, weekly. And you can check the fence controller with the tester to see how hot it is without the fence hooked to it.

unregistered41671 · #7 07/28/14, 02:10 PM

I did not answer the poll but from my experience poor ground and shorts are the most common problems with electric fence. I think the statistics say that approx 80% of electric fence problems are from poor grounding. Polywire is poly with little tiny filaments of wire woven in the wire. IF the animal touches the small filament, he may get shocked BUT solid wire would carry more voltage if nothing else because of the wire size. Lightning has been known to melt some of the filaments in poly and it is very difficult to find. I may use poly for temp fencing but not for permanent.

Mattie420 · #8 07/28/14, 07:28 PM

What would you use for permanent?

TeenyTinyFarm · #9 07/28/14, 07:54 PM

How many joules is your charger? How many grounding rods and how deep? I personally use aluminum wire. I think our charger is .5 joules and we have 2 8ft grounding rods. The charger is rated 10 mile, 2 miles in heavy weeds. It knocks the crap out of us and sends the goats running the other way.

Mattie420 · #10 07/28/14, 09:26 PM

Mines the same as yours, .5 joule 10 mile and I have 3 8ft grounding rods

unregistered41671 · #11 07/28/14, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mattie420

Mines the same as yours, .5 joule 10 mile and I have 3 8ft grounding rods

How far apart are the rods and how deep are they? Are they connected together without splicing the wire? What kind of wire is connecting them and how big or what gauge is it. Is it rusty?

TeenyTinyFarm · #12 07/29/14, 09:28 AM

Bad splices?

Ground yourself and then touch the wire. (Shoes are insulators. Put a hand to the ground and one hand to the wire.) still weak?

Beyond all that, I don't know. Like I said earlier we use aluminum wire. Hard to believe the poly rope would be the problem, but maybe it is? I am no fence expert.....

MDKatie · #13 07/29/14, 09:46 AM

Poly wire is what's used in electric netting fence, and it works. I can't imagine that's the problem alone.

paintpony · #14 07/29/14, 10:04 AM

MDKatie,

I agree. I do have electric net fencing, and they do stay in that. But, way back when I first got goats, had polywire strands. I had five strands if I remember right. And if the goats could get their head through, their body soon followed.

Which is why I was asking all those questions to Mattie420. The only way to help is to find out how the goats are getting out and what the perimeter fence is made of. Then can we move on to the electric part and determine if there is an issue there.

wintrrwolf · #15 07/29/14, 10:05 AM

I use both wire and polyrope, my charger is strong enough to kill any grass or weeds touching it, if it gets to touching something grounding it out it pops where that is, I have my ground wire actually attached to my metal posts using those as grounding posts decreasing the amount of time and space the zap needs to travel. A tester is very handy.

paintpony · #16 07/29/14, 10:07 AM

Wintrrwolf,

That's very interesting on using the posts as grounding! Can you explain how to set that up? or have a pic to show how to do that?

unregistered41671 · #17 07/29/14, 11:25 AM

I hope I am not causing any confusion about my comment on poly wire above. NO, I do NOT think it is part of your problem. I think you have and insufficient ground or possible loose connection or some hard shorts. Maybe all of the above. I just would not use poly wire on any kind of permanent fencing.

paintpony · #18 07/29/14, 11:31 AM

I think it depends on the usage Possum. I have polywire on the top of my garden fence. The garden fence is 2x4 welded wire. The polywire keeps the horses/goats from leaning over the garden fence and then pushing down the 2x4 wire.

Awnry Abe · #19 07/29/14, 08:33 PM

Ditch the polywire. It was designed for daily/weekly moves, ie. Taken up on a reel and dispensed from a reel often. Not as a long term relationship. When it shorts, it melts. Splices are a point of signal loss. Even in its prime, it isn't well suited for goat hair and low weight animals. Ironically, it works better better with a heavy animal. (Not really ironic when you consider the physics involved)

hurryiml8 · #20 07/29/14, 09:09 PM

I spend lots of time walking my fence when it's not working. Walking and walking until I see that one little spot where the wire is touching something it shouldn't and grounding out. If the fence doesn't work at all, I know it's touching metal or completely down somewhere. If it works a little or at the beginning and then gets weaker, it's wet weeds or a small branch or the ground is not good. Electric fences are so frustrating. I use them for temporary pastures though where things get overgrown, but we don't want goats there all the time.