The grass is growing, your tired of spending money on hay, the time has come to put up your portable electric fencing. Here are the biggest do’s and don’ts of electric fencing for your portable pastures this summer.
It was about 10 minutes into our big fencing project, and we had a big problem. It was time to setup the cows rotational grazing system with our portable electric fencing. We loaded up our UTV with all our portable electric fencing gear and headed out into the field. As we started setting up our fence we realized we were in for a long day.
All our electric twine was in a tangled mess. Last season when K put the fencing supplies away, she made a critical error…
She used a stick to wrap the electric twine around, instead of using a spool.
An electric fence twine spool is designed for twine to wrap around nicely, and it prevents your twine from tangling.
When it is time to setup your fence you unlock your spool and lay down the twine. It is easy.
Sticks are NOT designed to do that. They become a tangled mess really quickly.
DON’T USE THE WRONG EQUIPMENT FOR YOUR FENCING.
With the right equipment and a little planning setting up portable electric fencing can be easy.
Here are 3 more tips to be sure your portable electric fencing setup goes smoothly.
- Lay your fencing on paper first. It is much easier to move all your portable paddocks on paper than it is to move them around outside. Use an areal map from google earth to design your pasture’s portable paddocks. When drawing your plans, label gates, water locations, animal and human access. Think about your animals movements… will they need constant access to a barn in case of inclement weather? Do they need an additional waterer setup for a far away paddock? Will your new paddock design block your properties roads or create problems with wildlife moving through your property? All things to consider on paper first.
- Put together a diverse moveable fencing kit. I find that each new setup requires many different pieces to work. Instead of going out and buying a couple hundred plastic step in posts and some plastic 1:1 spools, get a lot of different kinds of fencing materials. I use metal t-posts, fiber class posts, plastic step in posts, electric twine, electric tape, rubber mallets, sledge hammers, alligator clamps, electric tape clamps, solar chargers, AC Chargers, and all kinds of little plastic connectors and doohickeys to get my movable paddocks setup each year. Some things just work better for different setups and only time and experimentation with LOTS of gear will help you figure out what works best for you.
- Make your first moveable electric fence setup temporary. Plan for changes to your “perfect” design. Although you planned your fence on paper first, the fact is your going to miss a few of the problems that your setup will cause. Maybe your goats will get lost in the layout. Maybe your pathways are too narrow for your cows. If you expect your first setup to be the last you will be disappointed. Instead of setting up your movable pastures with all metal t posts, or even getting fancy an pouring concrete supported corner posts, use as many moveable and temporary pieces in your first design. As you work out the kinks and get it all laid out correctly, you can turn plastic posts into metal or even wood in concrete corner posts. Learn your property and how it all works best first, then turn semi permanent into more permanent fixtures.
What you find in my Portable Electric Fencing Kit (affiliate links that cost you nothing extra to use)
Gallagher Electric Fencing Spring Gate
I like your tip about getting a moveable fencing kit. That makes sense considering you want to have the proper tools to get the fencing electrified. I’ll have to consider your tips so that I can get my backyard fenced.
This is some really good information about electrical fences. It is good to know that they can be movable. I wonder if you can get a temporary fence that is electric.