Setting up an electric fence

[gryff]

Hi all
I've always kept my horses at livery but am due to bring them home in the next month or two. I'd like to get some electric fencing set up, but have never dealt with it before, so am not sure of all the essentials needed to for a full set up.
I won't have access to the mains electricity at all.
Do any of you know if there are full kits that can be bought? Or what are the essentials and "can't do withouts". Any recommendations of where to buy bits and pieces from.
Thanks all.

 

[rabatsa]

Most agricultural stores sell electric fencing. I can recommend a Gallagher S series energiser, this is the one I am using https://mcveighparker.com/gallagher-s40-portable-solar-fence-energiser

When estimating the distance covered remember that if you have two rows of fence it is double the distance of the fence, three rows is treble the distance and it soon adds up.

People will argue on tape width, rope ect. A lot depends on how exposed the fence is to how much wind it will have to cope with. The thinner tapes have less conductive wire and it is prone to breaking. I use galvanised wire for mine but that is a no no for many people. I also have to fence in sheep.

Standards, again people will argue what size ect. I get away with the short ones, buy the best you can afford as the cheap white ones do not last and break too easily. I have metal corner posts as they are easy to move and keep the tension in the fence.

 

[FestiveG]

We bought a couple of solar powered units this year and have been very pleased with them so far. Corners are the nuisance with electric fence set ups as the plastic poles bend under the strain!

 

[gryff]

Thanks both. That's a big help.

 

[FestiveG]

Thanks both. That's a big help.

Also make sure your ground spike is well in and watered if the ground gets very dry

 

[gryff]

Also make sure your ground spike is well in and watered if the ground gets very dry

That's really useful advice, thank you. Although the chances of "very dry" ground are minimal here is the South Wales valleys ?.

Any thoughts on this "complete" kit, anyone?
https://www.electric-fence.co.uk/voss-farming-electric-fence-starter-kit-for-horses-9-volt.html

 

[tda]

Always worth putting in wooden posts on corners.
Start up kits are ok, but you will always need more posts, and then more posts? then another two more reels of tape.
I now have a leisure battery plus a solar charger from Halfords to power mine, it's worked well so far

 

[gryff]

Always worth putting in wooden posts on corners.
Start up kits are ok, but you will always need more posts, and then more posts? then another two more reels of tape.
I now have a leisure battery plus a solar charger from Halfords to power mine, it's worked well so far

??...theywere my thoughts, too. "I'll just order more..."

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I like the thicker white rope but it doesn't always fit on some plastic posts as they do vary how the rope attaches, I use the metal pigtail or similar for the corners or sometimes doubling up with plastic can work mine is mains so don't use energisers.

 

[Alibear]

I'm a newbie to electric fencing too, but with the starter kit you've shown, the battery isn't rechargeable, so I'm not sure if that suits you or not? I've been using rope fencing to supplement what the yard already has in place, so I've needed a lot of connectors to join the rope together, and also walking around to make sure nothings touching the fence and shorting it out has been an ongoing challenge.
Good luck. With all these online courses available, maybe someone should start up an electric fencing 101 for horse owners

 

[PeterNatt]

Make sure that you reverse the fence posts so that if the wind blows them of one post it can not do it to the posts on either side as they are reversed.
If you are using a battery buy two identical Lesure Batteries and a charger - you can get thm from Halsords. I use the HL 567 Battery and we have miles of electric fencing. You then can always have a spare battery ready if the one in use discharges
Use the long fence posts.
Put 3 fence posts on the corners so that they do not bend.

I use the tall white fence posts with a tread on each side and the White Agrihealth 40mm Wide Fence Tape.

 

[Gloi]

Depending on where you are see if you can find a way to secure your energiser. We have had a few stolen often when people are passing to and from Appleby.

 

[Cahill]

if your site is windy then the tape will flap about and loosen the posts.

 

[blitznbobs]

I use entirely solar powered these days … i love them, reliable, can t forget to charge them and seem to do the job.

 

[Nudibranch]

All in one solar powered energisers all the way. I'm never going back to batteries!
Wooden posts in the corners as mentioned already. If it's a windy spot use thin rope (not thick - it does need to break if they get caught up for some bizarre reason). 5ft posts if you need to let sheep under it. They are an absolute pain in the backside with shorter posts as their fleeces both insulate them and snag on the fence. They'll take out a whole line of posts and tape.
I use corrugated pipe stuff (not sure of the name) around the actual live and earth wires as well as some animals, horses included, like to give them a nibble if they're within reach. No lasting harm done but it's a nuisance having to mend or replace the wires all the time.

 

[Leam_Carrie]

Lots of great advice already. Definitely wood posts in corners if you can. I find the taller posts better (4’6”) my horse used to hop over the others. I like green tape as it is looks better.

I’ve recently converted to these energisers > https://www.screwfix.com/p/stockshop-bx140-electric-fence-energiser-battery-powered/2033f. You’ll want rechargeable leisure batteries (if you don’t go for solar).

 

[HashRouge]

You can get heavy duty tape, which looks the same as normal tape but is a bit thicker and has more wire running through it. I've found this wears better than the normal tape and lasts longer. I like the rope but it's a faff when you can't just hook it on and off easily!

 

[L&M]

I would be wary of the kits, tend to be on the cheaper range and the energisers are often not up to much. My neighbours bought one and have already had to replace the energiser for a more meaty one, and the tape was the really thin stuff.....

I would recommend buying a fence tester too, saves you worrying whether things are working properly.

 

[gryff]

Some brilliant ideas here - especially the one about reversing the posts...I wouldn't have thought of that. Thanks everyone. Solar panelled energiser is definitely the way forward. I was looking at the heavy duty tape, too. Thanks so much for all your help.

 

[The Bouncing Bog Trotter]

We use the Gallagher S40 solar energiser - brilliant so far but on a very large chain and padlock! We use a mixture of tape and rope for our sheep and we also have a wooden post at the corners and also a wooden post every 20 metres with normal plastic posts in between. This has worked well all summer on a windy, exposed site. We shopped round for the bits as prices can vary but Farmcare UK and Mole Online have some good deals. We bought insulators that can do both tape and rope.

 

[windand rain]

Wouldn't bother with an energiser that kicks out less than 6.8 joules the small ones at o.6 are a barely a tickle

 

[Zuzan]

Another vote for the Gallagher Solar energizers .. I use the tall white posts think they're Rutland ... that I bought from local agri store.

Re corners ... I round them so not right angled but curved and use more posts .. This works v well particularly on the temporary summer track I have.

I have a semi permanent division using wooden polls and have just replaced the thick rope with fine white polywire topped with thick (20mm) brown tape .. this is also going to replace the inner boundary fence.

Last winter in the snow the white rope of the inner perimeter fence "disappeard" as was indistinguishable from the snow coloured gorse behind it.. and my horse went through it and got caught in it.. luckily not electrified and she just stood and waited to be rescused .. hence replacing with the dark brown top tape as this will stand out against the snow.

Also as in the N Highlands we can get quite windy .. I find making sure I use more poles and alternate which way they face and keeping the tape / polywire tentioned well means it will survive even almost hurrican winds!!

 

[Merry neddy man]

The tape has various numbers of conductors running through them varying between 4 and 12 read carefully when ordering the more conductors the better. Have a look at www.screwfix.com for prices there will be one near you.

 

[GoldenWillow]

I discovered metal corner posts, sometimes sold as reel posts, a couple of years ago and they are brilliant for setting up my summer track.

Second getting a tester!

One of my energisers is a solar powered one and I'm very happy with it but do need to bring it home to charge about once a week to charge up as not enough sun November to Jan, something to bear in mind if you need fence on 24/7. I also have an energiser run from leisure batteries and have two so can swap to charge as necessary.

 

[Not_so_brave_anymore]

It took me ages to realise that the battery and the energiser are two different things! Tbh I still get anxious about whether all batteries fit/work with all energisers, and the difference between 9v vs 12v....?‍

The essentials are just battery, energiser, ground spike, posts, tape/rope. But then then you have a million different options for each of those ?? I personally prefer the higher "horse specific" plastic posts. And I got all white because I was worried about the horses not seeing it, but I now wish I'd gone for all green, because it's really quite an eyesore (especially in a valley of beautifully hedged dairy grazing)

 

[Parrotperson]

and imho one of these https://www.electricfence-online.co.uk/gallagher-triple-geared-reel-stand-vidoflex-polywi.html is a must! They do double and tree le ones and it make moving the fence easy. Cos once the electric fence fairy has been and tangled all your wire....?

If you can put in wood posts in like this https://www.electricfence-online.co.uk/gallagher-electric-fencing-insulator.html it is a better solution but obviously that'll cost more.

personally I'd work out what you actually need in length of wire and fence posts (wood or electric) etc and go from there rather than buy a kit.