Comments for Electric Fencing Blog

Comment on European Legislation restricting the size of energisers. by admin

admin — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 09:02:11 +0000

Please note that these restrictions pertain to Europe alone and NOT South Africa. What you do in your country is entirely up to you. Sales of high energy energisers in Europe has been minuscule anyway and there is nothing to stop New Zealand manufacturers continuing to compete with lower energy energiser AS THEY HAVE BEEN FOR YEARS.

As an African with 20 years of experience I am able to assure you that a 5 joule energiser is quite capable of stopping a wild pig (or wild boar) but obviously not over long distances. Long distance fencing is NOT required in Europe unlike South Africa or Australia.

It has been clinically proven that a shock of 500milliamps will have a serious effect on a person fitted with a pacemaker. The population pressure in Europe is far greater than elsewhere in the world and the percentage of the population with these devices fitted is also greater. The odds of a person being affected is consequently greater than in other parts of the world. Unlike the rest of the world, the general population are entitled to wander over private land and are likely to come into contact with electric fencing.

For your information there have been two fatalities caused by high energy electric fences. Both were in Australia and admittedly both also involved alcohol.

Please advise me of where in Europe you are going to need an energiser that will cover 2-300 miles of fencing?

There is a model that has a high output joule rating but has the ability to register what is touching the fence and so adjusts the output accordingly. That is the horiSmart range manufactured by Horizont.

Comment on European Legislation restricting the size of energisers. by Electric Fence Specialist

Electric Fence Specialist — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 16:13:12 +0000

I don’t agree with this new standard. This new “safety standard” is a great step backwards and would deny farmers the use of a most beneficial tool, especially when it came to unsubsidised animal agriculture.

It has been proven that a five joule output energizer will not stop difficult wild animals like “wild pig” over a long electric fencing distances. Realistically speaking a 5 joule energizer has not got the capability to power long distances of electric fencing maintain good voltage and energy. They surely will not and can not power through vegetation and grass like the 15-36 joule output energizers and maintain effective stock and wild animal control.

Larger energizers also have an excellent safety track record and in most cases, because of the intelligent power transfer to the electric fence as load increases, is safer than smaller non intelligent energizers.

The New Zealand manufacturers have perfected this intelligence in their larger output energizers and for the (according to my research) record no causes of death has ever been reported in Europe or any where else in the world!

Its my opinion that this whole “safety issue” is a smoke screen and that French delegation is now greatly benefitting by this “drastically reduced power level”!

Comment on Six “do’s and don’ts” with Electric fencing by admin

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:01:55 +0000

Hi Amy,
2 strands on a 2 acre plot is about 1000m(1100 yards) Another 1 acre will add about 550 yards to the length of the wire to be fenced. I had to Google “Guage” to find out what it is so a 17 guage wire is about 1mm and that is very thin. The thinnest i have used is 1.6mm. that equates to about a 14g. In the light of that I would go to the thicker wire to improve conductivity. Saying that you have plenty of spare capacity on your energiser/fencer/charger. Of probably greater importance is the splicing and the earth post. When you’ve got it up and running, disconnect the energiser from the fence and measure the voltage directly between the terminals. This gives you the output voltage of the energiser. Anything under 6000v is inadequate. Reconnect the fence and measure on the fence. If all is well it will drop about 20% on a decently manufactured unit, any more than that then you need to find the problem.
Good luck.

Comment on Six “do’s and don’ts” with Electric fencing by Amy Allmond

Amy Allmond — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:01:09 +0000

I have a 5-mile solar panel box correctly grounded and currently running 17 guage wire both a top and bottom strand for horses and goats in approx. 2 acres. I am going to be adding an additional acre or so to the distance. My question is, if I want to make sure I have enough juice to reach, would going to a 14g and ‘by the way’ correcting my splices improve the output? thank you, Amy

Comment on Effect of Ad-hoc decision making on Wildlife by Patrick Grehan

Patrick Grehan — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 17:11:59 +0000

Interesting article, if there are elephant herds on both sides of the rail line there will still be situations when a bull is in musth (must) there is not much that will stop him. Having seen this myself and monitored the bull during that period there is one thing for certain he will either try and push over the fence using his forelegs or use his tusk which if dry is non conductive and rip off the wires. More often than not there will be damage to the fence as the live will short out on the ground or earth strands.After this it is plain sailing and he is going after the female/females.On one occasion the elephant bull detroyed around 30m of fencline. He was really angry as he got shocked in the initial approach.Bottom line is fencelines have to be checked all the time which is not often the case as with vegetation management. Like you article.

Comment on Effect of Ad-hoc decision making on Wildlife by Gaylord Cleary

Gaylord Cleary — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 18:29:56 +0000

Thanks! We know that you know what you’re talking about. I’m also waiting for your next post.

Comment on Using animals to improve Veld utilisation. by Joel Chwieroth

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Comment on Using animals to improve Veld utilisation. by Kelp Fertilizer

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