[Jacob-list] electric fences

[Linda]

Hi Juliet,

Right now, I do have the strand that runs outside turned off just in case.  I've seen the damage electric can do and was worried that a lamb would get a head stuck and then hit the electric, trapping her there.  A few years ago, I had a ram that managed to wrap electric fence around himself.  The fault was completely mine.  I'd gotten fed up with the two rams beating on their common fence and ran a strand of electric wire without teaching either ram about electric.  I did it in a hurry and used aluminum wire that was tightly coiled.  When Frodo hit the fence, the wire snapped and coiled around him - ending up mostly around his testicles. I found him in the morning.   He did survive, but was not able to stand for three weeks and had to be hand fed, hand watered, held upright for periods during the day and had to have his legs exercised for 45 minutes a day.  He was a bossy ram before all this - as you can imagine, he was a bit of a terror after all the treatment - which included a night next to the wood heater in our living room!  He never walked quite right after the experience, so it wasn't much of a problem to get out of his way while he was charging at a dead stumble.  His lambs weren't much and he ended up in the freezer.  Since then, we haven't run breeding groups next to each other, but this fall we may need to.  

How do you keep your two horned ewe lambs from getting stuck in the fence?  Any suggestions are welcome. We use hog wire here and there's a couple of runs that are just the right size for a ewe lambs head going in, but not out. A sheep fence is available, but the price is astronomical.  

Linda


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

On Sat, 30 Jul 2005 09:46:30 +0100, gordon johnston wrote:
> Beware with your electric strand that the sheep don't still get
> stuck in the fence - they would then be receiving shocks until
> released.  We did so nearly lose a lamb that way once that we no
> longer use electric fence other than to keep the neighbour's cattle
> out. Juliet in Scotland
>
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