As the winter months approach, we begin to unpack our Carhartt clothing and the horse blankets. We often think about keeping things warm: ourselves, the barn, and our animals. How often do you think about keeping the fence warm by keeping the electricity flowing? Maintaining and preparing the fence for winter is a vital part of upkeep on the fence line.
Electric fences depend on a full circuit: The animal touches the fence, sends the electricity into the ground and at the end of the fence line the ground bed pulls electrons from the soil and pushes them back into the fence. The important step here is the cow is grounded when the fence is touched. There are many places that become vulnerable once the snow has hit the ground.
High tensile wire is the product of high carbon steel with a carbon content of .28%. Other wire fencing is made of low carbon steel with a maximum of 10% carbon content. The higher the carbon content, the stronger the wire. Due to the class 3-zinc coating on our high tensile wire, our wire has a life expectancy of 30-40 years.”The higher the class, the longer it will last” is our saying here at Powerfields.
Bears have a very big sweet tooth and quickly cause devastation to a well-earned apiary. They are very smart animals with a long memory of a good meal. These traits require the need for a psychological barrier to block bears from devastating the bees, hives, honey, and your hard-earned efforts and money. The use of an electric fence will serve its purpose to protect your efforts for many years when properly constructed and maintained.
The type of fence can depend widely on the species, surrounding conditions, predator threats, and sometimes the individual animal. As discussed in a previous blog, there are physical and physiological fence barriers.
Read more: Which Fence Type is Best for my Livestock Species?
A fence can act as two kinds of barriers: a physical barrier and a psychological barrier.