Easiest Movable electric Fence

[perfecho]

Happy with Gallagher Tumble wheels for swath grazing, but moving to more bale grazing and corn grazing and wondering what is easiest . Have thought of doing plastic electric fence posts in a ice cream sized pail and just using a wagon to put on and off....use a hot and a ground wire.
Just wondering those that have done a lot of bale/corn grazing, what have you found to be easiest?
Thank you

[DaneG]

For bale grazing I stick electric fence posts in the ends of the bales that are spaced 30-40 feet apart and string poly wire I always use a second wire on the next row of bales usually don't have a problem when just grazing cows but if the calves are still on them they will sometimes get past the first wire.

[grassfarmer]

Don't have any great solutions for either job - we just use pigtails and aircraft cable for everything. Sometimes a fence gets taken down with elk or cows or snow load but such is life with winter fencing. Aircraft cable down and tangled around a bale grazing site is ugly to clean up believe me!
I don't reccomend the bucket idea - know a few who tried it (with oil pails not the little icecream pails) and it has it's problems. Blow over, get a mid winter thaw and they melt or if your cattle have ever been pail fed they always try to tip the pails over.

[WiltonRanch]

Rebar welded to track pads off a cat. Heavy though but no pounding or reefing posts out of frozen ground. Aircraft cable still better than high tensile wire. Haven't swath grazed for a year or two but if weather don't smarten up may have to. My fencer is on a trailer with solar panel mounted so it can be turned to sun, batteries and fencer are in an insulated box, and lots of room to hold posts. I can move it easily.

[grassfarmer]

I've got a test volunteer for you if you need it perfecho. I swear this steer must have rubber feet. He was causing me problems on the corn last winter taking the fence down and letting the rest through. He's been breaking out on occasion all summer - saw him the other day coming back into a field with a single high tensile wire. He just walks up to it, head under the wire and lets it roll up over his back as if there is no power on. I'm running a solar fencer there so only 3700 volts but still - never seen an animal apparently immune to shocks.

[perfecho]

Thanks all for the input.....

[woodland]

Grassfarmer my four year old daughter would call your steer a "bad cow" and around here that means they become "meatballs". Cargill help us take care of our animals that are problematic to our fences. Life's too short to deal with stuff like that.

[perfecho]

GF....every now and then there does seem to be one that is always a PITA....agree with Woodland...time to head em out...trouble is, our winter grazing really doesn't have anything for handling...haven't needed it....I usually entice with grain and have then follow me home when its handling time in spring.

[Blaithin]

I've got a test volunteer for you if you need it perfecho. I swear this steer must have rubber feet. He was causing me problems on the corn last winter taking the fence down and letting the rest through. He's been breaking out on occasion all summer - saw him the other day coming back into a field with a single high tensile wire. He just walks up to it, head under the wire and lets it roll up over his back as if there is no power on. I'm running a solar fencer there so only 3700 volts but still - never seen an animal apparently immune to shocks.

My calves are great for doing this. Every year. I know hair isn't as good a conductor as their noses but really, you think they'd feel something! Not a twitch though. And generally once one finds out they can walk under, others watch and learn. (Wish they'd watch and learn other things as quick!)

Only thing I've been able to do to solve it is run a second wire below. As long as it hits their nose when they duck under the top then it wakes them up! Gaping pain in the ass in some cases though.

[perfecho]

Have also heard of people putting something attractive to hang on...metal strips.......anything conductive...they smell to figure out "what?" ....and ....zap!

[smcgrath76]

We have never gotten very fancy. We use rebar posts with screw on insulators, Polywire (tinned copper).
Pound them in with a little sledge, pull them out with a 6" pipewrench. Corn we usually fence with the loader - drop it and fence behind the tractor. Swath grazing we use the loader or a calf sled with posts. Can do 1/4 mile in about 20 minutes.
Our fields are all fenced into long strips with permanent wire, then we run poly rolls cross wise. No extra grounds or anything. Our biggest challenge is spring time when frost heaves or rapid thaw can make posts fall over.