Buying Electric Fencing for the first time can be a bit scary! DON’T WORRY!
This buyers guide will help you understand the best options for your homestead
and make sure you don’t end up like little Timmy…
Here is the Homesteady Buyers Guide to electric fencing!
NOTE: This guide is focused on homesteaders with smaller amounts of animals and land… not advice for commercial farmers.
(FYI… these links are mostly affiliate links, buying through them earns us a little commission without costing you any extra)
VIDEOS SHOWING OUR SETUP
Energizers for electric fencing
There are 2 types of energizers for electric fencing I recommend… Either the kind the plugs right into a normal outlet, or a solar charger version. I don’t recommend using a battery version as it complicates your charging process.
The Solar Charger I recommend is the Premier 1 Intellishock Fence Energizer. For a homesteader with a few animals on pasture,, some movable netting or twine, this charger will do just fine! Not a commercial option.
If you are going to have access to power and want to have a model that plugs in and works great… We use the Staffix 1 Joule Model
Those two chargers work great for a homestead of our size. Up the Joules if you have more land to fence, but those are great models for 1 acre homesteads, up to our 100 acre homestead with moveable fencing!
Now that you have a charger, what gear is best for what animals?
Fencing Cows
For fencing cows we prefer to use 2 strands of Gallagher electric twine. We use T POSTS in the corners, with plastic multi post insulators. At times when we can’t seem to hammer a T Post into the hard ledge we live on here in PA, we will use a Gallagher Glass Post. The twine is stretched out on a Gallagher Geared Reel, and when we do small moveable sections or paddocks we may use smaller plastic reels. Where we want a gate we use the Gallagher Spring Gate.
Gallagher Electric Fencing Spring Gate
Gallagher Fiberglass Posts (10 Pack)
Gallagher Multi-Post insulators
Fencing Goats and Sheep
When fencing goats and sheep with more permanent paddocks, the same equipment as the cow list will suffice, only a 3 or 4 strand setup would be required. When our setup needs to be more portable, we use moveable netting or Gallagher Smart Fencing.
Premier 1 sells a premium moveable netting kit. It is awesome! It comes with the charger, extra corner posts, and if you can afford it the upgrade is nice, the net will be less droopy, ground out less, and the steaks are easier to get into the ground when the ground is tough. But the less expensive regular version of the net works well too. We use both.
Gallagher smart fencing is super cool. It sets up a moveable paddock pretty quickly, and can be easier to use at times than the netting. As it is twine and not a net it gets tangled less and grounded less. BUT it is NOT good in the winter. Ours got ruined in a mild early snow and hasn’t come back from the damage. So put it away early.
Fencing Chickens
Finally when fencing chickens on pasture we like to use the poultry netting from Premier 1. Like the sheep and goat version there is a premium chicken netting and budget netting. This is another area that if you can afford the premium netting it is really nice to use… but the budget stuff works too. The premium is easier to step into the ground, it bends and gets messed up less, and is less droopy, causing less ground outs. BUT the budget stuff works too, it just takes longer to get right.
Fencing INSIDE of a Hard fenced Paddock with wood posts?
use these – ELECTRIC WOOD POST INSULATORS
THIS IS A LIVING PAGE… as in I update it from time to time when I find better solutions to our fencing needs. Please leave any questions below and I would be happy to answer them and update the page to address future questions!
