Electric fence makes an impression

Have had 5 or 6 acres next to the house cut off with one strand of electric fence because the fence there need rebuilding. Well, I finally got the fence built and took down most of the electric fence Saturday. Cows haden't gone in today so I tried to get the cows into the new grass. Drove tractor into grass after calling cows up. Walked out in grass in front of cows and called. Got some sweet feed, called cows, walked out in grass, poured some feed out in front of the cows, got 2 to stick there nose over where the fence had been, but they wound up leaving. It was interesting to see the cows graze right up to the former fence line and then back off.

KEH

Yeah, BTDT. My daughter's horse will not cross an electric fence, not over and not under. She will only leave the paddock by opening the fence up like a gate....Those large animals make much better ground contact than smaller animals and probably get a heck of a jolt when they touch the fence. Can't say I blame them for being shy of it.

Christopher

When I was a kid, the neighbors built a 12 X 12 pig pen in the middle of a field, with electric fence about 6 inches off the ground. When it came time to butcher, they took the fence down, and the idea was to just drive them into the field, where a waiting executioner would dispatch them, on the grass and out of the mess.

"So, how'd that work out for ya?". They couldn't get those pigs to leave the pen, for love or money. Ended up with 4 half intoxicated men, waving their arms and running and cussing, with the pigs countering their every move, determined not to get into the hot fence that was no longer there. For their size, pigs have definitely "got game".

They finally dispatched them "in place" and then dragged them out onto the grass to finish the job. I must admit, I didn't stiffle my laughter as well as I should have. But when you're 10, you can get away with stuff.

A old farmer showed me once how to get cattle in to a dehorning chute. He walked to the back of the pen with two dry feed sacks one in each hand. All of the sudden he screamed, hollered and started flaping his feed bag wings. The cattle went in to the chute on their hind legs.

So The following Sat. we were to move the calves (25 - 30) from one pen with a electric fence. They had to cross the feed lot and go down a cement flight of steps to the lower story. This always involed a 8N Ford, ropes, and a half day at best. I showed the boss how I was taught, and within three munites it was all done, like you moved them on a computer game.

Come Monday morning one hired man was way back in the feed lot so I yelled real loud at him. I spooked the fat (175) steers, they crowded in to a old cattle shed that had two silage wagon roofs tied to the rafters. They knocked out a post and droped the two roofs on their backs.

The farm was around three hundred acres, another hundred in river bluff timbers over looking the Mississippi River. We chased cattle for over a week. The boss said I'm not mad at you, just don't ever do it again.

Old timmers told me mules were the ones that remembered where eletric fences had been.

See how long it takes to get the horses to drink out of an electric waterer that has shorted out and shocks them each time they try to drink.

dont ask how I know

Gene

That reminds me of a story I heard many years ago. One rainy day they were trying to load some pigs onto a truck on a farm here in England. The body of the livestock truck was made of aluminum. As soon as the pigs touched the tailboard they would scream and run back, NO WAY would they go onto that truck no matter what the farmer, truck driver and several farmhands tried to do to 'persuade' them. Then one of the guys just happened to touch the body of the truck with his hand, he jumped up in the air and then screamed with pain. What had happened was there was a mains electricity wire just above the truck that had developed a little hole in the insulation and it was just touching the damp body of the truck rendering the whole thing live! Suffice to say, even when they moved the wire out of the way, there were no pigs going to market that week.

(quoted from post at 19:08:05 05/04/10) See how long it takes to get the horses to drink out of an electric waterer that has shorted out and shocks them each time they try to drink.

dont ask how I know

Gene

Click to expand...

Have two horses in a paddock with electric fence and a water tank with drink bowl backed up to the outside with the bowl inside. There was a big wind and/or the ground flexed a little as it dried and the fence sagged a little to where it would get against the tank in a breeze. They looked thirsty when I checked them but there was water in the bowl. I went to taste it to see if someone had put something in and LOOKOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!.

One drank right away, but the other would lick the water that she spilled off the ground. Had to move the tank away and and put it back in a different spot before braveheart would take a drink.


Dave

I used to have a thoroughbred mare. She was a real hard head. Every time I rode her it was a 45 minute "discussion" over who was the boss.

I had just run hot wires on the 2x4 rails around the tack/feed room to keep the horses from leaning on them. She wasn't doing anything wrong, just stretched and yawned. The tip of one of her nostrils just touched the wire. There was about a 2 inch blue spark and she went bucking and kicking across the corral.

That's the only time I felt sorry for her.