[Jacob-list] electric fences

[Linda]

Hi Juliet,

Thank you for such an informative post.  I have limited experience with electric fencing for sheep, but have used it successfully for horses.  I purchased sheep from a Tennessee farm that used high tensile fencing that seemed to work very well.  The fence was professionally installed and very well maintained.  I do think that it's important that sheep be trained to electric fence.  It doesn't sound like being trained to an electric fence would have helped your ram lamb, though. 

I certainly like the idea that maybe I shouldn't keep the bashers.  It's annoying, even if they don't manage to destroy the fence.  At the moment, I don't have any fence challengers, which is nice.

Nina does have a piece of pvc taped to her horns, which worked well with my stupid Nubian goat.   Three years back, I had a four horned ewe lamb that knocked off both laterals.  She had good strong, long tops, but somehow would manage to get stuck in the fence.  It's hard to explain, but she would manage to get her head through the fence sideways, but then would get twisted trying to withdraw.  I taped pvc on her horns with electrical tape.  I admit I taped as tight as I could as I did not want to find this lamb dead with her head in the fence.  After three weeks - another shepherd's error (I should have checked her more often) - I noticed the horn tips were falling forward.  When I removed the pvc and the tape, I found that the horns were very weak above the tape.  Still very strong behind the tape.  I had cut off the blood flow enough to severely weaken the horns above the tape.  Her horns developed well after that, but the tips were always abit bendy.

Linda




Getting ready for 2006 lambs!
www.patchworkfibers.com
Registered Jacob Sheep, Angora Rabbits, Handspun Yarn

On Tue, 2 Aug 2005 00:20:40 +0100, gordon johnston wrote:
> Hi Linda
>
> Our near disaster occurred in our early sheep-keeping days before
> we realised how unsuitable electric netting is for sheep, horned or
> otherwise. We had put 3 or 4 Shetland ram lambs together behind
> electric mesh ; one got his horns stuck and the others then charged
> him repeatedly from behind until he was hopelessly tangled and
> continuously shocked.  Fortunately our fencing was run on an old
> tractor battery because if it had been mains he would certainly
> have been dead by the time we found him.  As it was, like your ram,
> he was seriously injured, just lying there twitching.  I had to cut
> the fence away where it was wrapped round and round him, tangled in
> the wool, and it was several days before the little lad was walking
> again.  He was destined for the pot anyway but he never really
> thrived after his experience.
> Friends of ours admitted than in their early days they had Texel
> rams and ewes separated by  electric netting (mains) and lost a
> pair when they attempted to mate across the fence.  This was of
> course not a case of getting horns stuck but their whole bodies. We
> have also had polled sheep getting stuck as their wool winds itself
> around the wires as they push their heads backwards and forwards as
> they graze.
> We have always had to have breeding groups in adjoining paddocks as
> we have used several different rams of various rare breeds and have
> limited acreage, and they frequently headbut both the fence stobs
> and eachother through the fence.  We used a single strand of
> electrified wire on each side of normal permanent sheep mesh one
> year with great success, but then we realised the potential dangers
>  now we just have very rickety fencing and shout alot at the rams !
> !
> Another point is that fence bashing varies from ram to ram - some
> do it and others don't.  We have tended to sell off the bashers to
> people with different fencing systems.
> How to stop lambs getting stuck in mesh ?  The usual way is to tie
> a piece of plastic water pipe across the horns so they can't fit
> through the mesh. The trouble with this with Jacobs is that they
> are usually quite young so still being suckled when their horns fit
> through the mesh and the pipe might impede feeding.  This year we
> have a Soay ewe lamb who gets her head stuck several times a day
> and now she is old enough that difficulty nursing will not be a
> problem, she is about to have her water pipe fitted.  She is the
> only lamb out of 40 doing it, but both her mother and her
> grandmother were culprits at the same age !
> We have tried using tensioned stranded wires at about 5" apart, but
> lambs and the smaller breeds such as Soay just step through it ;
> it's usually OK with Jacobs after the first few weeks.  We did see
> some mesh with wider spaced verticals which was specifically
> designed for horned sheep, so they could get their heads back out,
> though it didn't stop them getting them through in the first place.
> Unfortunately that was too expensive for us, so at the moment we
> rely on frequent visual checks.
> Most of our fences are internal subdivisions of our land so it
> doesn't really matter if sheep get through.  Round the perimeter,
> we have double fenced, with the two fences 2 metres apart and
> hedging planted in the middle - this is really for biosecurity, to
> lessen the risk of disease spread with our neighbours, but so far
> not a single sheep has ever got through the double barrier !
> I think I am probably correct when I say that fencing has been the
> biggest single cost on our holding.
>
> Juliet in Scotland
> ps - someone asked if we have coyotes over here - no, though wolves
> are about to be re-introduced into the Highlands.  Our fencing is
> mainly to keep our animals in and our neighbours ones out, and to
> deter deer, feral dogs and foxes though they could certainly get in
> if they were determined. Our outer perimeter fence is a sorry sight
> where the neighbour's cattle lean on it to reach in and eat our
> newly planted hedging !
>
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