Overview of electric fencing

[vancheese]

Dear Nice people

I'm looking at getting 2 electric fences to control piggies and keep my doggies separate. Do people have any advice/websites/links about layout, equipment, lifetime and suitable voltages etc

I guess I know nothing and would appreciate some input

have a rocking day!

Andy

[oldjerry]

Sorry I cant do a link, google in Rutland electric fencing,most info ,supplies etc are there.
(With pigs,If you're on mains,and can connect it's loads better,but it works on solar and battery too.) Best Wishes.

[boboff]

Agreed get mains if you possibly can.

Cheapest solution with pigs is a "hot wire" if you can have one at about 18 inches high which is at least a foot in from the fence, with a lower one against the fence at about 6 - 10 inches, this will stop the pigs rooting to close to the wire and earthing it.

The thin blue water pipe you can buy cut in lengths and nailed to the fence is a cheap option rather than buying the proper stuff.

This stystem though is not best if you want to "strip graze" an area, when you would be better off with sheep netting. Mole Valley Farmers had this cheapest a while back at about £70 for a 50 meter run.

Spend your money on a decent earth spike, this makes a real difference.

Have the fence on from the minute the piggies arrive, they will learn to avoid it, and then later on it's arguable whether it needs to be on all the time....

As for the dogs, sorry no idea, although the sheep netting would keep them seprated better I presume.

As for Rocking, well I have got to mop the floors now, thats about as rock and roll as it gets in Cornwall,!

Good luck.

[oldjerry]

Yeah,but isnt the sheep netting stuff a sod to use? I'd sooner have say 3 permanently laid out grazing areas accessible from the sty,(with electric wire surrounding) and rotate between them ,not in the winter. You could grow something interesting for them in one(J artichokes?).Everyones got their own road to hell,so do whatever,but moving electric sheep netting around?(I've got a load here somewhere I got at an auction, used for about a month,been in a shed for over 4 years!).

[boboff]

I have not used it personally, but have seen it used.

Why is it so hard to use out of interest? I would imagine it can fall over and is difficult to put up in stony ground? Or is it the same as with a long hose or rope, that magic knot fairy has a go at it?

Floor is nice and clean, even did the pets porch which was mingin'

[oldjerry]

For me it's like trying to make a decent fence with pigwire you've just taken down off another,it just sort of flaps about,anyhow the stuff I've got goes right down to ground level,so a serious strimming situation.Anyhow what could be simpler than the 2 strand method we both use?.........well there's T***o's meat dept,..........the local pub's restaurant.........doesn't the winter do your head in.

[boboff]

Not when you have just finished butchering your own rare breed.

I have lots of joints, a few chops and ribs, 15 kilo in brine ready for smoking, and 5 kilo of pate maturing in the fridge, I may well smoke some of that.

This co-operative idea worked really well for me, we had 9 pigs, we fed them twice a week ( I mean I did, they got fed twice a day), and that was that, dead easy.

[oldjerry]

We've (hopefully) just got enoughleft in the freezer till we leave.The co-op idea seems good,but being an old git I find sharing responsibility a bit difficult(in truth a complete control freak).I've visited a place over Gloustershire where this massive old house is divided into apartments and the people there have communal spaces and cooperatively keep livestock and manage the biggest and best kitchen garden I've ever seen,they're not (I think) doing some political thing,most have outside jobs,but it seems to work really well.

[vancheese]

Thanks for the responses - I'll be mains powering both systems.
The links are Excellent - Have people experience of the two companies mentioned so far?

[oldjerry]

Rutland are a serious outfit,much used on holdings round here. Good Luck,sorry if we got a bit off thread!

[vancheese]

Do any Mainland-Europe based people have any suppliers/advice?