High-tensile smooth electric wire fencing has been used widely used in Australia and New Zealand for many years. Its popularity in North America is beginning to grow rapidly. The lower cost, minimal maintenance, ease of installation, and proven effectiveness make electric fencing a viable alternative to traditional fencing options. These advantages must not be associated with a job that can be hastily completed. Electric fences require more care during installation with particular attention to detail with insulating, grounding, and ensuring proper electrical connections.
Electric fencing will extend the life of another type of fencing it is used in conjunction with, for example paige wire or rail fencing. The high cost and labour involved in installing and maintaining traditional fences has made electric fencing a very attractive alternative. Electric fencing may be less robustly constructed using more affordable materials than non-electric fencing.
For optimal effectiveness, electric fencing must have…
- The physical structure (i.e. posts and wire)
- The electric circuit (i.e. a complete path for the current)
- Proper maintenance to ensure the circuit is not “shorted out” (i.e. by ensuring there is no plant material in contact with the current)
The success of electric fencing largely depends on training your livestock to respect the boundary. Once an animal has been shocked once it will remember the discomfort and will most likely avoid it after that.
When training livestock to acclimatize to electric fencing…
- Keep your training area relatively small
- Place a charged wire inside a permanent corral or barnyard fence, where this is little opportunity for escape
- Leave your livestock inside this area for a few days to familiarize them with this new type of fencing before putting them out to pasture
If untrained, an animal may try to go through the fence, but much time and grief can be saved when rounding up livestock and repairing fences if the animals are well-trained.
Electric Fencing Principles
Electrical flow in an electric fencing system requires a complete circuit. The electrical current must travel from its source through the complete system and then return to the source. When electricity flows, the current is referred to as “closed.” When the means are there, but no electricity flows, the circuit is “open.” Electric fence currents remain “open” until an animal closes the circuit by touching a charged wire, allowing the electricity to flow back to its source.
An electric current prompts two animal reactions. The first of which is a small current that causes a tingling or burning sensation when the fence is touched; the sensory nerves are stimulated in the same way the animal feels hot or cold. The other is a large electric current that interferes with muscle control signals and causes involuntary muscle reaction; the strength of the shock increases with the current amount. After involuntary muscle reaction has occurred, increasing the strength of the current does not have any additional sensual effect, but instead begins to produce an electrical burn.
To be effective, an electric fence has to deliver a minimum guard voltage to overcome the insulation resistance of the hide and hair of an animal. In addition, once the insulation resistance of the animal is overcome, the controller must deliver a pulse of electrical energy to the animal to create a shock.
Never use barbed wire with electric fencing.
Because animals (or humans) may get caught and tangled in barbed wire, it is strongly advised to avoid using barbed with electric fencing. If an animal or person is not able to separate themselves from an energized electric fence used in combination with barbed wire, serious damage not excluding death may occur.
Note: Barbed wire—even when used not in combination with electric fencing—is a poor fencing material for horses.