The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Ladygrey on June 29, 2012, 03:44:09 pm
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I am having a major fencing malfunction :-\
I currently have sheep grazing the garden, the field, the fruit tree bit of the field and the pig pens!!, and the sheep pen where two of the ewes are meant to be is empty....
The kunekunes are going to run out of grazing due to having so many sheep sharing their grass!! and the garden is looking umm bare.. wiltshire horn ewe is jumping everything and the other sheep are following, she is jumping stock netting plus two strand barbed wire!! and she isnt stressed and has loads of grass and she is jumping into areas of less grass.
What fencing do other people use?? I cant afford deer fencing :o going to have to add another strand of wire to the very tops of the posts!
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I have only had my sheep for 3 weeks and so far they have kept their feet firmly on the ground.
I believe that some types of sheep are more likely to be escape artists than others.
Hopefully someone will be along soon with some more constructive advice
Sally
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Mine easy jump the standard stock fence 32inches so we now have the next height up which is 46inches put on 6ft posts with a strand of electric wire on top of the post so far so good no escapes.Having just bought a roll i can tell you it £20 more than the standard roll but £50 cheaper than deer fencing,plus if you went for deer fencing you would need some really tall posts to put it on or the top will just flop.
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Well some of mine can jump 3 strands of electric, about 3' but not challenged them to anything higher. The other grass must be tastier even if a bit sparse. No idea how you stop them other than up the voltage on top piece of electric.
Mine only do it if short of grass and usually jump back when they see me.
Good Luck!
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Thanks Sally :)
Piggie where do you get your wire from?
As we are looking to replace the wire we have anyway with stock netting with slightly smaller holes it in. Electric fencing on the top sounds good as I dont like so much of the barbed wire due to the lurcher (which jumps 5ft) leaping over fences for fun...
Also my sheep dont jump back when they see me... they sort of just say hi :wave: and keep grazing
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We're moving all ours today to wean the remaining lambs who have patient mothers and split off the entire male lambs to where their growing inclinations can do no harm. But it's today because the lambs have all started hurdling the temporary 3-line electric that is supposed to contain them. That's always a signal that they fancy the grass more on the other side so time to move them anyway.
Only one of our ewes can really jump and only then if she's scared. We had her in a hurdle pen for examination because she was limping and next minute she'd buggered off. Still limping.
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First off - get rid of the barbed wire - it's evil stuff. It doesn't stop anything from jumping over, or trying to, but rips them on the way over - livestock as well as pets. You can replace it with tensioned plain wire. Barbed wire is a pet hate of mine :)
You could try adding your strand of electric wire on the inside of the fence, projecting horizontally from the top (you can buy extension thingies which do that) It then looks too complicated for them to jump.
Have you seen your sheep jumping, or are you assuming that's how they get over? There might be a way through somewhere. Mine don't jump, even though they are Hebrideans and Soay. Years ago our Jacobs jumped but only to examine some new arrivals, then they jumped back to their own side. A Soay tup did fly over fences so we had to put up double height mesh around his pen so he didn't get to the neighbour's ewes :o
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Too high !!!!!
No, seriously, :fc: our Soay's have not attempted to jump our normal height stock fence ...... yet. ;D
Always seem fairly content to be where they are.
We did find one a couple of weeks ago having a rather good time eating the new apple tree in our garden! Couldn't see how she had managed to get in but then spotted that the wind had blown the pallet from the end of the compost heap. She had climbed on top of that and then leapt into the garden. Obviously need to move that! Could your sheep be finding something similar to help them over the fences? ???
A neighbour called me a while ago to say that he was really worried because one of my lambs had got into the farmers field and was very nearly clearing the normal height fence that is topped with a strand of wire in an attempt to get back ..... thought he might get caught by the back legs. Guess that if they wanted to they could easily clear my fences. :(
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I have standard height fencing and my shetlands dont jump.
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Wilts horns can be a pain in the backside for this. you either: run three strands of electric on the inside of the stock fence (electric fencing works pretty well on the shedding breeds) or get rid of that ewe. Ewes with a tendency to wander cause more heatbreak than they are worth in the end - either they wind up vanishing or you annoy all your neighbours by having to go and fetch the sheep back all the time.
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I'm with Fleecewife on barbed wire :thumbsup:
My Herdies went over 6ft drystone walls ::) (my goats go over 6ft stone walls with 2ft of wall topping fencing above it :o)
My Shetland tup went over standard stock fencing - there were 12 very nice girls the other side ;) He hasn't since I added a top wire and the girls never went over to him.
A couple of electric wires inside the fence are the only things that stop the goats.
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My North Ronnie Girl's have jumped a 4ft electric fence from standing still. I think they could easily manage more with a run up!
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My Shetlands (one is called Zebedee) can jump straight over hurdles without touching them - but they don't usually bother, thank goodness. I hate barbed wire too but it seems to be standard practice around here to put two strands on top of stock netting.
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Mine have all found a way UNDER fences/hedges/gates but so far we've been very lucky and not had any jump over! Now I'm worried having read this! Am hoping that the fact they are all Texel crosses will mean they are too heavy to be jumping ;) :fc:
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I have never seen sheep jumping fences! What are you lot feeding them on? racehorse nuts. But seriously, if ours ever go to try out the neighbours grass they usually go under the fence. They are experts at it. Check if any stakes are loose. They could squeeze under if the stakes will lift a few inches.
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I've had a portland sail past my eye level, about 5ft 10 :o
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My Lleyns don't jump fences, but when I move them they always jump 4 to 5 feet high when they go through gateways!
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I get mine from newatlanticonline.co.uk
They are local to me but i think they do deliver nationwide.
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When you are checking out other people's stock fencing, look at what is below the stocknetting as well as what is above. Around here, you run one strand of plain wire just above the gound - so you can comfortably get your toe under it - and put the stocknetting the same distance above that strand. Then two wires above the stock netting, about 3-4" apart and above the netting. The height of the top wire is therefore about 11-12" higher than the height of the stocknetting alone.
If you have cattle or horses you will probably need to use either barbed wire or electric for your top strand, or accept that the fence will get broken quite quickly. And if you have pigs, the bottom strand below the netting will need to be barbed, or you will need to electrify the lower part of the fence.
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Sally, horses and barbed wire don't make for good outcomes. We protect the fence with white electric tape on stand-offs. Electric fences also don't work well near the ground: when the grass grows and it rains you lose a lot of voltage. Normally the bottom line of our fences is earthed so inquisitive noses get a real bang from the live line above.
Unusual to be able to tell you something!
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Sally, horses and barbed wire don't make for good outcomes. We protect the fence with white electric tape on stand-offs. Electric fences also don't work well near the ground: when the grass grows and it rains you lose a lot of voltage. Normally the bottom line of our fences is earthed so inquisitive noses get a real bang from the live line above.
Unusual to be able to tell you something!
I phrased it as I did because I know some horses and barbed wire don't mix. We have Dales and Fells, and in common with many other owners of sensible but very heavy and greedy ponies, use barbed wire. If I had thoroughbreds, I wouldn't dream of it. But I don't know whether it would be practical to let my thoroughbreds roam over the hectares and hectares of rough grazing I can let the ponies have!
Your idea of plain wire below electrified is a good one - I'm pinching that! It'll save a lot of strimming, and with pigs, help reduce the literal "earthing" they do with their snouts!
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I just installed perimeter fencing 48" page wire after chasing sheep for 3 years with electric 4 strand high tensile. They haven't got out yet. I have 1 suffolk ewe that can clear 5' easily,sails over fences like a thoroughbred horse. I'm going to move her out this year just so she can't teach all the others her tricks. I've seen some put a blocker on sheep just like a dog to stop them from chasing. It's a piece of wood dangling down in front their front legs that hits their legs when they try to run. I would think you would have to make sure they couldn't catch it on anything. It hangs from a collar and takes a while until they quit but after that seems to work and they don't try anymore
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Well i didn't know our sheep could jump so high until about a month ago when a dog got into the show lambs in our polytunne, four out of five lambs easily cleared the hurdles and a wooden pallet behind them. After showing them a bit they've calmed down but we were worried they would get out at a show :o
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Do you know, we've discussed this one. Thinking about giving showing a go but we thought we would have to tie their leads to the hurdles ;D . One spring and they could be gone. That would be soooo embarrassing .... already get enough stick from the local farmers about our "goats".
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Hi :) thanks for all the replies :)
I have been busy and havnt been able to get on a laptop recently,
My Sheep do jump over the fence, I can walk outside and watch them jumping over it as if I was counting sheep to fall asleep!! They do push through the hedge into the neighboring field but thats soon to be cut back and stock wired infront of the hedge.
Unfortunatly I have limited funds ( im sure most of us do! ) and have to rely on the fencing that I am able to use from my boyfriends farm, which includeds rolls and rolls of barbed wire but no plain wire :( So I was thinking, if I can afford to buy a small amount of plain wire, I can put one strand above the two strand barbed wire, thus using the barbed wire to increase the height but plain ontop.
As my kunekunes share fencing with the sheep (thank goodness pigs dont jump!) I cannot make the stock fencing above the ground, as naughty noses will soon be under the fencing!
I looked at some stock fencing in scats this morning and they do the 48 inch high stuff, but then will struggle to get posts in, how do you get taller posts in? so will think about that.
I was just about to go off out at 12 today and 5 sheep walked up to the car!!!!! I could only count 7 of them and the rest were in the farmers wheat field ::) so all sheep for now are shoved in the little lamb pen with hay! (apart from two wiltshire horn lambs that are impossible to catch!!!)
Bought two straining posts this morning and so when the man power arrives this evening we will try and get some more fencing done!
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hi :wave:
Did you get a chance to look at the web site i gave you,on there is a big price difference for 46 inch and 47 inch about £30 i think not worth it for an inch!
Mine is knocked on to 6 ft posts with still a bit to spare at the top,can post a pic if you like?
I knock mine all in myself with no problems with a post knocker.
Karen
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Hi piggy :wave:
I see what you mean with the wire being a bit too much for an extra inch!
Would be great to see a pic :)
My only worry is, 48 inches is 4 feet, my posts are all 5ft 6, and theres no way I can replace all the posts! that means only 1 foot of post in the ground... so would have to barb wire the bottoms of posts to prevent pigs rubbing on them and pushing them out of the ground.
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Oh and Karen I cant belive you can knock them in by your self!! I cant even pick up our post rammer by myself :-\ and the ground is pretty solid! the post rammer is a two man one though
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Unless I am misunderstanding you, I can't see why you can't use your boyfriend's barbed wire under the stock netting, then the usual height of stocknetting, then some more barbed and finally some plain.
Ie:
--------------------------------------------- plain strand on top
x----x----x----x----x----x----x----x-- barbed 3" above the netting and below the top strand
----+----+-----+-----+-----+----+-----+
----+----+-----+-----+-----+----+-----+
----+----+-----+-----+-----+----+-----+
----+----+-----+-----+-----+----+-----+ stock netting 3" above the row(s) of barbed wire
x----x----x----x----x----x----x----x-- if required, another strand of barbed 3" between the lower and the net
x----x----x----x----x----x----x----x-- barbed 2" above the gound
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Thats so cool! I have never thought of putting fencing that way, also I think that could encourage lambs not to get heads stuck!
Thanks :)