The very cold winter has resulted in a situation that we had not encountered in the past. We found that the hot air emanating from the hot tub was getting trapped in the roof so that the area was some degrees warmer than the outside. The doves are roosting on the cross beams and that would be fine, unfortunately that is not all they are doing as they naturally have to complete their bodily functions so are messing on the tub.

The debris on the top of the tub.

The culprit

The solution used to solve the issue was to utilise a variation on the system used to exclude feral Pigeons from buildings  and fit two wires about 2 cm apart along the top of the offending beam and connected to a battery powered electric fencing energiser. The one wire is the live wire and the second the earth return. No insulators have been used as the wood is permanently dry so is not a risk.

The bird now lands on the beam and virtually immediately connects the two wires and gets a shock. This causes him to fly off.

This shows the two wires on the two beams.

I do feel for the doves – they are also cold but they should learn to poop elsewhere.

24th. May 2013.

The question is – has it worked? I can report that the top of the hot tub has been clear of droppings for a month now and the weather has been miserable most of the time. The picture shows a clean top.

He was “thrown to the ground” by the shock and sustained injuries for which he is seeking compensation.

For him to be “thrown to the ground” the energiser in use would have to be one with a high joule rating – possibly in excess of 20 joules. These high rated energisers push out a substantial amount of energy especially when used on short fences for security purposes. These are commonly available in America and Australia where considerable distances are covered by a single energiser and should not be employed on short fences.

It was for this safety reason that the European Union instituted legislation restricting the size of energisers onto the market to a maximum continuous output of 6 joules. This has been outlined in this plog post.

This does not necessarily restrict the manufacturer to 6 joules providing the energisers’ circuitry prevents the continuous output of 6 joules. There is the HoriSmart range of electric fence energisers that are able to recognise what sort of contact is being applied to the fence and so deals with it accordingly

There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that an electric fence is very effective, mainly from satisfied users and that is very welcoming but is not at all scientific and not something that may be quoted. There is very little – or no – tests done in a scientific manner in the UK so we have to rely on outside sources. Even then they are pretty slim.

A very good source of an experiment is this one carried out by the Central Science Laboratory, Surrey on the protection of a field crop of Cauliflowers from Rabbits. It shows that both types of Electric Fencing are over 95% effective and far superior to the existing fence. The outlay was shown to pay for itself in one crop.

We did install a trial specific to electric poultry netting and the results were as expected. The netting gave complete protection from the attentions of feeding foxes.

That is not to say however that a fox will not find its way through a netting system and wreck havoc in a poultry flock.

I was reading another blog where the writer was describing his first fall off a horse, to be honest I cannot recall my first fall as there were so many but I can certainly describe the most memorable.

It occurred in a practise game of polocrosse taking place at Rhodesdale club in Zimbabwe when I was in possession of the ball and heading full gallop to the goal when my buddy Andy Watson came across at virtually right angles, we collided and all four ended up on the ground in a cloud of dust and bodies. Lying there all I heard was a soft laugh coming from the midst of the cloud  and the words “That stopped you…”

Fortunately we were all OK and only superficial damage to a saddle was evident. However I made sure Andy bought me a beer.

Another very scary occasion occurred when I was on a casual ride on the property we had when cantering round a corner I came upon a family of cheetah sunning themselves on the path. As we were less than 5 meters away from them they exploded into action and the horse exploded in the opposite direction. How I stayed on I will never know as his reaction to being in amongst a group of predators was violent. Fortunately the cheetah were as surprised as the horse and ran in the opposite direction but the adrenaline was flowing and the heart was pounding.

See what you think?

They lady was absolutely adamant and took some convincing this was totally illegal and downright dangerous for these reasons outlined on this posting on the Safety of Electric Fencing. Despite attempts to establish if there was an energiser between the socket and the net I eventually said that purchasing a net and connecting to the mains was dangerous and illegal – I pointed out she was purchasing a net designed to be connected to the energiser and left it at that.

The fence as a whole would not be that effective as the voltage drop over the length of the fence would be substantial due to the small filaments having basically poor conductivity and at the end the result would probably barely be felt.

This battery must then be removed and taken to a mains outlet to be recharged by a trickle charger over a period of time

One solution to this is to use a solar panel that will harvest the sun’s rays converting them to an electrical charge suitable to recharge a battery. A solar charger converts light energy into a DC current. They obtain energy from the sun, although they can also be used in low light or cloudy applications. Portable solar chargers are used for trickle charging, meaning that low level current is fed continuously to the battery so that it maintains its charge.

Under normal sunny conditions a solar panel will easily cope with maintaining a battery but the amount of available light varies hugely throughout the year. The image shows the weekly  generation of a panel over a 12 month period here in the UK. As you can see the winter period is very poor with one 7 day period reflecting NO charge at all.

You need to know that solar power is not the cure all for replacing spent energy. For example some people are trying to recharge batteries and they want it done in very short time,  usually in just a few days. Assume you  take a discharged 100 ampHour battery and charge it with a 10-watt solar panel under ideal summer time light conditions. After a full week the battery will be just about fully charged. Conditions such as an overcast sky, shadows, improper mounting angle, or short winter days will reduce the actual solar panel output to well below the rated values.

In addition to the low output achieved in the winter period, battery output is severely affected by cold weather. The electric current generated by a battery is produced when a connection is made between its positive and negative terminals. When the terminals are connected, a chemical reaction is initiated that generates electrons to supply the current of the battery. Lowering the temperature causes chemical reactions to proceed slowly, so if a battery is used at a low temperature then less current is produced than at a higher temperature. As the batteries run down they quickly reach the point where they cannot deliver enough current to keep up with the demand. If the battery is warmed up again it will operate normally. In severe cold the liquid will freeze resulting in expansion and possible rupturing of the battery components.

Solar panels will maintain a charge in the battery for extended periods however this cannot be guaranteed in the winter months. As a result a panel of less than 10 watt output should not be considered at all. For energisers in excess of 2 Joule output then a 20 watt panel should be the minimum considered. In both cases the battery must be monitored during periods of extended cloud cover or snow deposition. Both will result in a poor generation on energy to maintain your battery.

There are various methods of reducing theft. The first is the use of an energised metal box. This is simply a metal box that is insulated from the ground with the energiser and battery enclosed. It is then connected to the energiser so is live in itself. This metal box will have upwards of 6000v attached to it so is a pretty good deterrent in itself and has proved successful over the years. Access to the box is usually by an insulated key so is reasonably user friendly whilst being reasonably effective. There have however been reports that the whole box has been taken probably by using insulating gloves to prevent the electric shock being effective.

Another method is to cover the energiser in a camouflaged cover in an effort to make it less visible. This has been ineffective as the fence itself is still highly visible and very simple to track back to find the energiser.

Horizont Electric Fencing (Germany) has developed a range of energisers with active electronics that are able to register that the energiser has been tampered with. As the energiser is moved or removed from the input power source the electronics register this change and stimulate a text message to be sent to a pre set mobile number. This function will remove the fear that a fence will be compromised and ineffective for an unknown period whilst predators invade or your valuable animals escape to pastures new.

The GPS Anti-Theft function immediately notifies you that a theft has taken place the minute it is disconnected and taken and will transmit the co-ordinates of the energiser together with the current speed over the ground. This location may be viewed directly on Google Maps using a standard Smartphone.   This signal will be transmitted for 48 hours allowing you to track it and recover it from a possible theft situation.

A second a highly useful function of the electric fence energiser  is that it will notify you via your mobile phone when the energy in the fence drops below a pre-determined point allowing you to investigate a problem before a catastrophe occurs. The same function will allow you to switch the energiser off remotely when you find the fault by an Application on the phone. As soon as the necessary repairs are completed the fence may again be switched on. This function removes the necessity of traipsing back and forth to switch off the energiser to effect repairs to the fence.

His research on ranches that successfully used multi-paddock grazing management compared the impact on the soil, vegetation, hydrological function and profitability to more traditional continuous grazing methods. Teague examined neighboring ranches to determine the impact of multi-paddock grazing by managers who achieved excellent livestock and vegetation results compared with areas grazed continuously at either light or heavy stocking rates.

He found the multi-paddock managers were able to carry many more animals, have more forage than their neighbors and have excellent wildlife habitat. They also achieved high levels of animal performance per acre while equaling the vegetation composition, soil cover, soil carbon, soil health and infiltration rates measured on ranches under light continuous grazing.

In contrast, Teague said, the ranches managed under lower stocking rates with continuous grazing had a higher degree of soil compaction, more bare ground, lower soil carbon, poorer grass composition, more weeds and lower forage production than those under multi-paddock management at high stocking rates or the continuous grazing at low stocking rates.

“The reason the multi-paddock grazers were able to achieve these positive results is they aimed at managing to give the best vegetation and animal performance,” he said. “The key to doing this is to match animal numbers with available forage at all times to avoid overgrazing and poor animal performance.”

Teague said to achieve top plant and animal performance, the time cattle are left on the paddock must be short enough to prevent a second bite, defoliate moderately during the growing season and allow adequate recovery time before grazing again. Using these guidelines, the range will improve over time so the highest possible condition is attained.

Research shows potential grazing income is four times higher on pastures with excellent range condition compared to that in poor condition, he said. The problem is, in order to maximize profits, pastures have to be stocked at a rate that will decrease range conditions; whereas to improved range conditions, pastures have to be stocked at a rate that will lower overall income.

Teague said past research has shown that to improve range condition under continuous grazing, at least 1,000 to 1,500 pounds of forage per acre must be left at the end of the season. At least 800 pounds per acre must remain just to maintain range conditions.

Multi-paddock grazing management offers a more sustainable and productive alternative, but it takes goal-setting, monitoring and flexibility, he said. It allows better distribution, better control of use of palatable plants, adjustment of recovery periods, increased percentage of green leaf and less seasonal fluctuation in the diet.

Plan and manage for success by creating sound, achievable goals, Teague said. The plan should consider income and expenses, as well as a biological plan. It will take monitoring, control and replanning. Flexible stocking rates must be matched with forage availability.

Under continuous grazing in large pastures, cattle tend to concentrate on areas close to rivers or other sources of water and the more palatable plants, he said. Even under light or moderate stocking these areas are more heavily grazed while the rest of the paddock is under grazed during the growing season.

“This weakens the plants on these heavily grazed areas and plants so they produce less and are more adversely affected during dry years,” he said.

Subdividing existing paddocks with electric fencing and providing water points is a modest investment that enables a manager to graze a larger portion of the ranch, Teague said.

“More of the ranch would be used, and the plants would not be overgrazed,” he said. “This improves the rangeland if conducted properly and both productivity and profitability can be improved, as indicated by numerous ranchers.”

Teague said successful multi-paddock managers plan grazing and finances to improve forage species composition and production, minimize impact of drought, reduce costs, improve work efficiency and increase profits.

Multi-paddock managers who have succeeded have received training and coaching and then practice to develop better skills, he said. They report that changing to multi-paddock management has simplified their job and allowed them to be more efficient.

Producers considering multi-paddock grazing should base decisions on goals set in advance, Teague said. These need to include desired landscape, profit and quality of life elements to guide all management decisions. Land restoration, animal performance and wildlife needs should be incorporated into the grazing part of the plan each year.

The management plan must regularly assess forage on hand to adjust livestock numbers or area grazed, he said. Grazing periods need to be based on different recovery during periods of fast or slow growth.

“So in dry areas, the rest period will be 90 or more days, while in wetter areas, it will be 40 to 60 days,” Teague said. “Such management can provide recovery on all areas of the ranch for 340 or more days each year.”

By allowing only moderate defoliation during the growing season with short grazing periods, allowing recovery before regrazing, and grazing again before the forage gets too mature, animal performance can be high without damaging the grasses, he said.

Planned multi-paddock grazing, when managed to give best vegetation and animal performance, has the potential to produce superior conservation and restoration of resources, and to increase ranch profitability, Teague said.

Obviously there are factors that inhibit this transfer of power, poor foot contact with the ground, horse wearing a blanket amongst others but the principal item that has been looked at is the component of the earth stake. Many installers simply make use of a length of mild steel lying around, drive that into the ground and connect it to the circuit. Initially this is fine but steel is affected by chemicals in the soil and will in time form a coating of rust between it and the soil. Rust is a naturally occurring phenomenon when certain metals are exposed to oxygen and water for a length of time. The actual chemical make-up of rust is 4Fe + 3O² = 2Fe²O³.

This rust is a poor conductor of electricity so as the rust forms so the ability to transmit electricity diminishes. This rust formation is dictated to by the availability of both water and air plus may be speeded up by other factors such as warmth (a steel rod will rust faster in warm soil) and the presence of an electrical current. If you have two different metals ( the metal rod and other metals commonly present in all soil) in an electrical environment then effectively a battery is created. This environment allows for the rapid transfer of electrons hence the rapid creation of rust on the surface of the metal rod you are hoping to use for your Electric Fence.

A trial has been completed to test the effect of a mild steel rod in an electric fence. Two parameters were utilised:-

1/. An energiser connected to the ground but only switched on to take a reading, effectively a test of the natural rusting of a metal bar. (The Yellow Line)

2/. An energiser connected to the ground and constantly on. This would be the other end of the scale with power continually flowing in the circuit. (The Red line)

From this it is easy to see the effect of electricity on a plain mild steel rod being used as an electrical earth. It is important that a galvanised steel, stainless steel material or copper be used for grounding an electric fence.

The ground constitutes 50% of the electrical circuit but 90% of all problems originate at poor earthing, either at the earth stake itself or on the fence. Fortunately this is easy to rectify. Additional electric fencing earth posts may be added by driving them into the ground about 2m away from the existing stake and joining them together. Copper, Stainless Steel or Galvanized steel rods are best as mild steel will rust so creating a poor conducting barrier. All rods should be in permanently moist soil, under the building eaves, in a river bed, below a dripping tap or in an irrigated flower bed. In particularly dry weather the soil around the stakes may be watered.